British actor
Stephen Graham has been cast as "Scram, a Machiavellian pirate" aka - the new sidekick of
Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow in
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, according to
Variety. Depp and Graham previously worked together last year in Michael Mann's
Public Enemies where Graham took on the role of violent hot-heated gangster Baby Face Nelson. Presumably Depp remembers the screen presence of Graham and was instrumental in his casting. If you haven't seen
Public Enemies and are from outside of the U.K. you maybe be unaware of Graham who came onto the scene playing Tommy in Guy Ritchie's
Snatch ten years ago. Unlike co-star
Jason Statham who is now a worldwide household name, despite his er, acting credentials, Graham has been taking roles mostly in Brit Indie films (
This Is England, The Damned United) and television shows but now he's landed a role in one of next year's biggest movies. The casting is very atypical of the franchise which has thrived on a wealth of talented British character actors (to name a few... Jack Davenport, Bill Nighy, Jonathan Pryce, Kevin McNally, MacKenzie Crook and David Schofield). Though according to IMDB,
only Kevin McNally (Gibbs) of the above mentioned are set to return for the next film. Looks like Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow will get a new boat as well for
Pirates 4 if these photos are anything to go by; taken by a reader and sent in to
Ain't It Cool News, the pictures show a skeleton mounted on the front of the ship.
Opening on
May 20th 2011,
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides revolves around Jack Sparrow's attempts to find the mythical fountain of youth. Ian McShane is the main atagnois - the villainous Blackbeard, Penelope Cruz is his daughter and the new love interest of Sparrow. So far - only
Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbosa, alongside McNally are due to return alongside Depp from the original series. Shooting begins this month in Hawaii with
Chicago director
Rob Marshall helming from the script by franchise writers
Terry Rossio and
Ted Elliott.