Deadline reports that Paul McCartney has become the latest music icon to heed the siren’s call of the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise. The legendary musician has been lured to the set of Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg’s contribution to Disney’s sea dog oeuvre, though his role is currently not known. But the presence of a former Beatle and emoji composer is seemingly required for the “extra big set-piece scene” the directors have just tacked on to the film.
This latest casting news really raises questions about what it is about the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies that attracts rock stars to its casts: Was Keith Richards truly swayed by Johnny Depp’s theory that pirates were basically the rock stars of their day? We’ll concede that there’s some truth to his remarks—after all, sea shanties are pretty catchy, and Blackbeard totally looked like an axman. But the film franchise born of an amusement park ride grows less inspired with each new installment, as the plot of the latest film—subtitled Dead Men Tell No Tales—is practically indistinguishable from all the rest. In any case, we can probably look forward to McCartney singing about yaarsterday’s troubles when Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales premieres on May 26, 2017.