The beauty will be cast as the daughter of British actor Ian McShane's Blackbeard character in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
'She's the daughter of the bad guy... very feisty. There's a little romance between Captain Jack and the character that Penelope plays,' the Daily Express quoted McShane as saying.
Depp and Cruz had starred together in 2001 film Blow.
Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters