Sister Monica to Stand In for Heavily Pregnant Penelope Cruz on ‘Pirates’

Penelope Cruz is now working on the upcoming “Pirates of the Caribbean” film “On Stranger Tides.” However, her baby bump is making certain scenes hard to shoot, so her sister Monica Cruz has been summoned on set.

As we also reported on several previous occasions, in the upcoming “Pirates” installment, Penelope plays the love interest of Cpt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).

She was first pictured on set in July this year and then, in September, amidst talks that she was looking rounder, confirmation came that she was pregnant.

Production on the film has continued after that – but producers recently realized that Penelope was showing more than they believed she would, which meant it would be obvious on film that she was with child.

According to The Sun, they found the perfect way to solve that by turning their attention to her sister, Monica Cruz, who is a famous actress in her native country, Spain.

“Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp will be seeing double when he gets to romance two Cruz sisters at once,” The Sun writes.

“His co-star Penelope’s baby bump is showing sooner than producers on the fourth movie – On Stranger Tides – predicted,” the tab adds.

“Now lookalike Monica has agreed to stand in for big sis as Blackbeard’s daughter Angelica,” informs the publication.

Indeed, the two sisters look very much alike, which made producers conclude that moviegoers won’t be able to tell the difference between the two from afar.

“Penelope will do close-ups above her bump and Monica will do the distance shots. Penelope is five months pregnant with her first child with hubby Javier Bardem,” The Sun explains.

This way, production will not come to a halt until Penelope gives birth and is ready to come back to work, and no delays will appear in the release schedule.

Speaking of which, “Pirates of Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” is set to arrive in US theaters in May 2011.