We reported last month that the next film adventure with Jack Sparrow would be entitled Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and it was noted the similarities between a 1987 book dubbed On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. It turns out that wasn't a coincidence. The Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex blog recently spoke with Powers who revealed that his novel was indeed optioned almost three years ago and will serve as a basis for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Here's an excerpt from the article about how his book will translate to film.

I've watched all the movies several times, of course, and I think the clear thing they would use is the trip to the Fountain of Youth," Powers said. "My main character doesn't overlap with Jack Sparrow at all [in personality or circumstance]; they're totally different characters. I suppose they might overlap the Geoffrey Rush character Barbossa and Blackbeard. The only thing I feel certain they will hold on to is the Fountain of Youth since they telegraphed that at the end of the last movie."

CLICK HERE for the rest of the article. Meanwhile, Empire caught up with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides screenwriter Terry Rossio, who co-wrote the previous three installments, and spoke about the similarities between the book and the film.

"We wanted to do a story about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth, and Tim Powers wrote a book about Blackbeard and the Fountain of Youth... it just turns out that to do that story you would need that book. It's a brilliant and Tim Powers is an amazing writer - and it's a great title. It allows us to draw material from that universe and his expertise."

The question remains, was it based on it or not?

"I don't know if its proper to say it's based on it but there are enough common elements to think that the book had to be optioned to us to reasonably proceed along that story line."

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will set sail in theaters in July 2011.