Since Gore Verbinski stepped down from the director’s chair of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 to focus on a movie version of the vidgame “Bioshock” (which never took off), there’s been one question that Pirates fans have been desperate to have answered – WHO will step up to direct?

Well it seems we may have our answer to that question folks, as Variety have announced that Disney are close to signing up Rob Marshall to direct Johnny Depp and Co. in the fourth installment of the popular fantasy adventure.

According to Variety, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney have been meeting with a number of directors in recent weeks, because the studio wants to pull the “Pirates” film together and have Depp star in it before he does “The Lone Ranger” for the producer and the studio.

And while Marshall’s involvement hasn’t been immediately confirmed, sources have said that things look good enough that the studio has begun casting new characters that will appear in the picture.

I’m of two minds about this film, I love the first two installments in the Pirates series but the third one left me feeling a little deflated. Assuming this film is the start of a new trilogy it needs to recapture the magic and the surprise of that initial installment – 2003′s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

With rumours rife that Captain Jack Sparrow’s BROTHER could well make an appearance in the film (with names like Russell Brand attached to star) it could well be that Disney sends the characters on one voyage too many in the name of box office takings.

Still, Brand could work as a character. Lets face it the guy IS a real life Jack Sparrow already, and provided the story (and the scope) is toned down as has been suggested hopefully we can get back to a good, character driven story.

Source: Variety.