The Hughes Bros. Could’ve Directed ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean 4′

Movies — January 8, 2010 at 20:54 — no comments

Nearly a decade passed between films for Albert and Allen Hughes—2001′s “From Hell” to next week’s “Book of Eli“—but don’t think for a second the twin brothers weren’t busy. They pursued a bunch of different Hollywood projects, and were pursued for many more. Two such films, as MTV News has exclusively learned, were mammoth Disney productions.

Clark Kent says: I like The Hughes Brothers. They get some burn in Hollywood and the streets. More after the jump.

VIA MTV:

The Hughes brothers were approached to direct both “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “The Lone Ranger.” Once Gore Verbinksi dropped out of the “Pirates” franchise in April after directing the first three films and before Rob Marshall signed on, the Hughes brothers met with Johnny Depp (their “From Hell” star) and Jerry Bruckheimer to discuss boarding the big screen flicks.

“That right there we had to entertain for a minute, one, because it came from Johnny and, two, because it came from Johnny,” said Allen. “Johnny is one of the most lovely people you could encounter in this godforsaken business, and if he asked us to jump through fire, we’d do it.”

Said Albert, “We were thinking, ‘We’re not those guys, but if Johnny wants us to do it, we’ll talk to Johnny. He’s cool.’ We’re seriously going to consider anything he says to us.”

Even though they suspected they weren’t the right filmmakers for the project, things might have worked out had the Hughes’ not finally jumped back to directing. But by the time the “Pirates” meeting materialized, the duo was already knee-deep in post-production on “Book of Eli.”

“It was just bad timing because we were in the middle of editing ‘Eli,’” explained Allen. “When we fall in love with something, we’re in love. It’s like cheating on your woman to go, ‘Oh, let’s go start dating someone else.’ That wasn’t gonna happen. But it was so much appreciated to be in a room with Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny and be talking about that.”

The Hughes brothers had stayed in close touch with Depp since “From Hell,” exchanging emails and making long distance phone calls, always holding out hope they’d work together again. “He knows and we know it doesn’t get any easier than what we had together,” said Albert. “We’re all very similar in a way. We’re all very sensitive and cynical at some points. Funny and goofy and we like relaxed sets. We don’t like stress. We don’t want to do this just to go make some money.”

Clark Kent says: The Hughes Brothers doing ‘Pirates…’ could’ve been an interesting look. But ‘The Lone Ranger’ on the other hand… not so much.