Tony Earnshaw: Sparrow is potential albatross around Johnny Depp’s neck

The word on 47-year-old Depp is that he wants to make a stack of hay while the sun shines brightly. And at a reported $35 million pay cheque for the new flick, he’s going to be stacking hay until he’s an old man. With that kind of money on the table, it’s the kind of offer few in Hollywood would refuse.

Yet Mr Depp has also allegedly told bosses at Disney that he needs a breather. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sees Depp leading a growing (and changing) ensemble of actors that doesn’t include Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom.

Instead Penelope Cruz crops up as Captain Jack Sparrow’s love interest and Ian McShane makes an appearance as the pirate Blackbeard.

The big difference is that while Depp is earning every cent of his obscene salary, he’s perhaps also feeling the pressure.

Many actors can lay claim to their own franchise; not many have quite so much riding on it as Johnny Depp.

Pirates 4 is said to be sexier, darker and, guess what? It’s in 3D. Yet Depp’s caution may well be due to the punishing schedule that saw him filming the second and third instalments of the Pirates franchise back-to-back in 2006 and 2007.

Sure, the series has made $3 billion worldwide, but any actor worth his or her salt is going to accept that the law of diminishing returns means each successive film gets tougher to make.

Depp wants the Pirates franchise to remain “special”. He apparently has no wish to rush from one to the next to hit the Christmas 2012 market. Take in the brutal production schedule of the previous movies and one can appreciate his reluctance.

Some unkind observers have pointed out that the last Pirates adventure, At World’s End, was a poor relation to the seafaring adventure/comedies that had gone before. Is this, then, the reason for Depp’s concern?

He was 40 when he made the first film. Now he’s pushing 50. To many cinemagoers he and Captain Jack are indivisible.

If he’s not careful, Depp will spend his middle years attempting to escape from typecasting he fought like the devil to avoid in his early roles.

Making more money than a minor African state is one thing. Becoming pigeonholed as a cartoon character after years of unique, unusual and eclectic work is something else entirely.

Swaggering, posturing, foppish Captain Jack may yet become Johnny Depp’s albatross.