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Gore Verbinski In Talks To Reteam With Johnny Depp On ‘Lone Ranger’
EXCLUSIVE: When we last left this project, Pirates of the Caribbean 1-3 director Gore Verbinski was getting serious about saddling up for The Lone Ranger, the Disney pic that has Jerry Bruckheimer producing with Johnny Depp playing Tonto. Now we’ve learned that Disney just locked in the helmer. Still no word on when the film will begin production or who’ll play the Lone Ranger. Verbinski had been looking around for his next job after completing his first animated film as a director in Rango, which Paramount Pictures distributes next year. (Depp, of course, voiced the goggle-eyed title lizard.) Verbinski is repped by CAA.
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And by the time this film comes out there will be a huge new western themed addition to Disneyland where the stables are (in between Casey Jr. and Toon Town)…
Gore and Johnny were a great team on Pirates, but I fear The Lone Ranger may be a subject matter that even they cannot bring to the screen with serious impact.
And, even Jerry Bruckheimer’s magic touch seems to have lessened in 2010.
I wish them well, but have serious doubts and will hold final judgement until the film is released.
This could of course be VERY COOL. My only request: PLEASE NO FUCKING ALIENS! Keep the Western story as is and let’s not make this into something its not.
John Hamm for the Lone Ranger.
Seconded.
wtf, really?
anyway, here’s some relevant trivia from endeavor comics:
Isn’t it true that Tonto means “fool” in Spanish?
This *is* true, but it was not that meaning that was intended by the producers of the show.
There are two versions of the story.
Fran Striker told the Saturday Evening Post that he invented Tonto’s name and that it was picked by merely alterring the consanants in the name Bobo. (This was a caveman character Striker had created in another radio program.)
Jim Jewell says that Striker was remembering wrong. Tonto, he said, is another Potowatomie word.
There were a few Indians who would come to the camp to tell stories to the children.
One of the Indians apparently had a penchant for drinking after the children had gone to sleep. Sometimes he would get rowdy and the other Indians would call him “tonto.” This meant “wild one.”
Jewell remembered the word, liked it, and gave the name to the Lone Ranger’s Indian companion.
Yes, please make a western. Please make it gorgeous. Make me believe Tonto and the Lone Ranger lived an exciting life.
I want to see beautiful open landscapes, cattle stampedes, scalps,
pretty woman in western gowns. I want the casting to be correct-dont gimmick it up like Wild Wild West. There was a lousy movie-but the look of it was really good. The train they rode in,the town they walked, and the pretty costumes of the saloon girls.
God if it stayed true to its core it could have been good. Alot
rides on the Lone Ranger in what you decide in the next few months. Seeing Harrison Ford with the same grumpy look and space saucers flying down a dusty western town-No Thanks. Stay True
I am with you on what I’d like this movie to be — but I’m afraid we’re going to get a huge dose of post modern irony and wise-cracking and winking at the audience and Depp in makeup and wigs hamming it up. No one does irony-free epic filmmaking anymore.
I like what you guys are saying here and mostly agree, but would just add that we’ve seen a promising trend away from the wink-wink tone of the 80′s and 90′s with movies like Casino Royale and The Dark Knight… I think Hollywood, or at least a few of its powerful filmmakers, have caught the vision that there’s a real hunger in the public for more classic, irony-free stuff. Pixar is another powerful entity that has been fighting the good fight. I think Verbinski could go either way… it all depends on that script (the Pirate movies are well directed and acted but the scripts are a jumbled pukey mess). So I’m not ruling this one out yet. We’ll see.
As for the Cowboys & Aliens comments, you have to understand that the genre bending aspect is the REASON it is getting made… It didn’t start as a western and then somewhere in the dumb Hollywood development process someone said “hey— howz bout aliens?” I have to say its potentially the genre-bender I’ve been waiting 20 years to see. I think Favreau is a smart guy and I like what he’s said about playing both genres straight so their combination is what can be special about it. And I think Favreau is well aware of Harrison Ford’s iconic strengths as well as his “Firewall” pitfalls. I believe he sees this as a chance to add a classic new character to Ford’s repertoire and I for one am rooting for him to pull it off. Add the screenwriting talents of Lindelof, Orci and Kurtzman to the mix and it starts to look pretty damn promising. I wasn’t blown away by the teaser trailer last week, but I attribute that to it being mostly the one night scene… they still have a year of visual effects ahead… clearly we’re in for some grand sweeping day sequences that they’re keeping close to the vest for now.
My overall point… a critical point of view is great, but I’d encourage all film fans out there in cyber space not to get overwhelmed by cynicism. There are a lot of filmmakers who fight hard to deliver the goods, and of course we could use more of them, but every once in a while someone knocks it out of the park. Keep the faith!
Just make sure you hire an actor that doesn’t need to have all his dialogue looped by James Keach after the movie is finished.
I haven’t forgotten Klinton Spilsbury!
I try, but the awfulness just won’t go away.
I wish he would work on BIOSHOCK. Last I heard, he ain’t directing it, but hes still producing it. I wish he would spend more time on that instead of more dumb Disney flicks.
Josh Brolin for the Masked Man.
Somebody beat me to it, but Jon Hamm would be ideal! (Clooney is a little long in the tooth, now, for that particular role.)
The Davey Crockett re-do HAS to be on the drawing board!
I’m actually looking forward to this. I love the mythology. Jon Hamm would be awesome, but I heard George Clooney was circling this as well. But Hamm would be the best choice by far.
I am no PC bleeding heart, but for Christ’s sake, why not cast a Native American as Tonto and let Johnny play the Lone Ranger? Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Actually, Johnny has said in interviews he is part Cherokee, Irish, and German descent, with some Navajo as well.
With those gorgeous cheekbones I would say he has a native american look.
I know that everyone thinks Depp could play any part and this might be true. However, to state that he has “Cherokee and Navajo” in his background means it is OK for him be cast as a full blooded Native is just silly. I also have that same make-you can throw in African too, but since it includes caucasian, I guess I can try out for the Lone Ranger. Halle Berry is half white, but would you say it is OK for her to play Jacqueline Kennedy? I think a Native actor with some caucasian in him should be the Lone Ranger, if it is ok for Depp to be Tonto.
NYC, that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
Having some Native American ancestry (Cherokee, of course — I’m sure he’s one of the millions of Americans who claim they are descended from a Cherokee princess) does not make one a Native American any more than the Scottish ancestry I have a couple of generations back make my non-white self Scottish.
For some reason, it’s perfectly acceptable for people to give actors a pass on this. Yet think of the outrage if a white actor whose great-great-great-great-grandmother was black was cast in a black role because “they have black ancestry” and thus have a black “look.”
Millions of people in this country are actually members of hundreds of tribes. We can do better than casting someone who vaguely has a Native American “look” (ie, is not blond and blue-eyed).
Hollywood has a very long tradition of casting non-Natives in Native roles. This goes hand-in-hand with the troubling depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood, particularly in Westerns and, especially, in the Lone Ranger. Casting a white guy like Johnny Depp, no matter how talented an actor he may be (and he is), is just more of the same and doesn’t give me much hope that this will be anything more than the incredibly offensive stereotypes that are always used by Hollywood.
wow. the third straight deadline post on gore/johnny lone ranger where the comments section erupted into a debate on whether or not it’s PC for johnny to play Tonto. everyone give it a GD rest, it’s happening and you’ll see it.
This is the best possible to utilize Depp’s talents. Why cast him in a role that a true Indian can do.
However, I do like Jon Hamm will also do a fantastic job with this role.
Johnny Depp is Native American
There’s a wild Crockett reboot that went out this summer. But after the JONAH HEX debacle, people didn’t want to commit. However the script is genius.
Toldja toldja toldja toldja toldja toldja
The word used for fool is tonta. Often one will spout, Yo tonta… after making a mistake. However, this is good natured self-deprecating humor. Mostly what one hears among those who speak spanish dialects is, Esta bien, when botching something.
Christian Bale, first guy I thought of, as did my wife
OH YES! SECOND THAT!
or………..
Hugh Jackman?
Tonto: “Doctor say you gonna die…”
I heard they’re using the “Prey” story line! Wait, sorry, wrong forum. Yeah, Jon Hamm could be pretty funny.
I think Gore Verbinski will do a fantastic job with this and that Lone Ranger will help resurrect westerns the way Pirates of the Caribbean helped resurrect the pirate film. While Jon Hamm would be awesome as Lone Ranger, I would like to see them give an unknown the role. After watching The Pacific, James Badge Dale would be great in the role.
i’m thinking ryan reynolds would represent here – he’s just white bread enough
“What you mean, ‘We,’ white man?”
Now, maybe, my daughter will get that joke.
If this is going to happen, why not find a way to tie it in
with the new ‘Green Hornet?’ After all, they were created by
the same person, and the Hornet’s alter-ego Britt Reid is the
great nephew of Cliff Reid,who is the Lone Ranger (under the
mask). Maybe in ‘Hornet 2′ – if there is one.
I wasn’t blown away by the teaser trailer last week, but I attribute that to it being mostly the one night scene… they still have a year of visual effects ahead… clearly we’re in for some grand sweeping day sequences that they’re keeping close to the vest for now.