Javier Bardem gives good villain. He’s put in memorably slimy, sleazy or psychopathic performances in the likes of No Country For Old Men, Skyfall and, to a less evil (but no less weird) extent, The Counsellor. Warner Bros. clearly wants some of his malevolent mojo, as the studio is now offering him the role of Captain Blackbeard in its gestating look at the early days of **Peter Pan.
Anna Karenina’s Joe Wright is negotiating to direct the film, with Jason Fuchs providing the script. Here, J.M. Barrie’s famous character will be seen as an orphan transported to Neverland, where he stops aging and becomes the leader of the natives in their rebellion against pirate forces.
Bardem, should he take the role – and he may feel that he doesn’t want to portray another bad guy for a while – would be Blackbeard, the Pirate Captain who decides that Pan and co need to go. Of course, the chance to sport another ridiculous (and ridiculously entertaining) barnet might tempt him, so perhaps this could be a good idea after all.
He’s on our screens now in The Counsellor and will follow that with Sean Penn action thriller The Gunman and a role in J.C. Chandor’s A Most Violent Year.