Back to Black(beard): Deadwood’s Ian McShane is in talks to play the villain Blackbeard in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the upcoming fourth film in the series. The Rob Marshall–helmed movie, from a script by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott, would pit McShane as the nemesis of Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, who is on a quest for the Fountain of Youth. Though let’s hope he doesn’t actually reach the fountain or we’ll be dealing with these sequels for the next 50 years. [Variety]
Cheaters: Kevin James is in talks to join Ron Howard’s “untitled cheating project†(that’s seriously how The Hollywood Reporter is referring to it) for Universal, starring Vince Vaughn. The plot centers on a man (James) who finds out his best friend’s wife is having an affair, and then must figure out what to do next. Frankly, we’d be more interested in a story about an Oscar winner who finds out he’s directing an “untitled cheating project†with Kevin James, and then must figure out what to do next. [HR]
Life After Jim: Jim Belushi will star in the CBS legal-drama pilot The Defenders, written by Niels Mueller and Kevin Kennedy and directed by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth). Coming off of a long stint on the comedy series According to Jim, Belushi will play a Las Vegas attorney with Draper-esque “marital and drinking issues,†marking perhaps the only time “Belushi†and “Draper†(debatably) belong in the same sentence. [Variety]
Who Gets the Leads?: Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle) and Adam Arkin (Sons of Anarchy) will play the leads in ABC’s comedy pilot Who Gets The Parents?, in which they portray a couple who divorces after 30 years of marriage, both taking on more active roles in the lives of their three adult children. Which makes us wonder … what does Dewey look like now? [HR]
Killer Instinct: Kenny Golde’s script Killer has been snatched up by Hyde Park Entertainment and Parkes/MacDonald Productions, who will produce the film together. The story follows a “rogue police officer†who finds a video left by a killer, setting off a chase, “with the investigator several steps behind his prey†… and months behind the release of the identically titled Katherine Heigl–Ashton Kutcher rom-com. [Variety]