[caption id="attachment_361" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Rob Marshall"][/caption]

Variety reports that Marshall (who directed Hollywood's "Chicago" and "Memoirs of a Geisha," and the upcoming "Nine") is a serious contender to direct the third sequel in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" film franchise starring Johnny Depp. "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" would start filming in 2010. "Nine," the musical film based on the stage musical, will be released Nov. 25. Marshall would bring his potent visual sensibility to the swashbuckling epic: Remember the beauty of the fantasy sequences in the Academy Award-winning Best Picture, "Chicago"?

Among many other projects, Tony Award nominee Marshall also choreographed and co-directed Broadway's Cabaret revival, choreographed Damn Yankees and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum on Broadway and directed the Disney TV movie "Annie."

—Kenneth Jones