Press Release
Production has commenced on location in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado on Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ epic adventure “The Lone Ranger.” The film reunites the filmmaking team of the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” blockbusters—producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski—with Johnny Depp, who created Captain Jack Sparrow in his iconic, Academy Award®-nominated performance and contributed the voice of the title character of Verbinski’s Academy Award-winning “Rango.”
Depp plays spirit warrior Tonto in “The Lone Ranger,” with Armie Hammer (“The Social Network,” “J. Edgar”) starring in the title role. Depp and Hammer are joined by a prestigious international cast which includes Tom Wilkinson, two-time Academy Award nominee (“Michael Clayton,” “In the Bedroom”) and Golden Globe® and Emmy® winner (“John Adams”); William Fichtner (Jerry Bruckheimer’s productions of “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and “Black Hawk Down”); Emmy Award-winner Barry Pepper (TV’s “The Kennedys,” “True Grit,” “Saving Private Ryan”); James Badge Dale (“The Grey,” TV’s “The Pacific” and “Rubicon”); Ruth Wilson (television’s “Jane Eyre” and “Luther”); and two-time Academy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe nominee Helena Bonham Carter (“The King’s Speech,” “Alice in Wonderland”). The film is slated to open on May 31, 2013.
“The Lone Ranger” is a thrilling adventure infused with action and humor, in which the famed masked hero is brought to life through new eyes. Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice—taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.
“The Lone Ranger” is written by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” Eric Aronson and Justin Haythe. The executive producers are Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Eric Ellenbogen and Eric McLeod.
Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski are joined by a remarkable team of behind-the-scenes artists, including director of photography Bojan Bazelli (Verbinski’s “The Ring,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”); visual consultant Mark “Crash” McCreery (production designer of Verbinski’s “Rango); costume designer Penny Rose (“Pirates of the Caribbean” films); film editor James Haygood (“Panic Room,” “Fight Club”); visual effects supervisor Tim Alexander (“Rango,” three “Harry Potter” films); Academy Award®-winning special effects supervisor John Frazier, a 10-time nominee whose previous collaborations with Jerry Bruckheimer have included “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and, with Verbinski as well, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”; and stunt coordinator Tommy Harper (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2”).
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Gore Verbinski has enjoyed tremendous box office success as the innovative director of both character-driven franchises and thoughtful genre-bending fare. Most recently, Verbinski released his first animated film, the smash hit “Rango,” starring Johnny Depp. Grossing over $240 million worldwide, the film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as BAFTA and Annie awards, and received Golden Globe® and PGA nominations. Verbinski previously helmed the hit franchise “Pirates of the Caribbean,” directing the first three films starring Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley. The films have collectively grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide since release. He made his directorial debut with “Mouse Hunt,” starring Nathan Lane, followed by the road movie “The Mexican,” starring Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini. He also directed the smash horror film “The Ring,” starring Naomi Watts.
Verbinski is also a successful award-winning commercial director, having been honored with four Clio Awards and a Cannes Silver Lion Award for his work on an assortment of memorable advertising spots. In addition, he directed music videos for bands including Bad Religion and Crystal Method.
First in partnership with Don Simpson, and then as the chief of Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Bruckheimer has produced an unprecedented string of worldwide smashes, impacting not only the industry, but mass culture as well. Bruckheimer’s films include (producing with Don Simpson) “Top Gun,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Beverly Hills Cop 2,” “American Gigolo,” “Flashdance,” “Bad Boys,” “Dangerous Minds,” “Crimson Tide,” “The Rock,” and (producing solo) “Con Air,” “Armageddon,” “Enemy of the State,” “Gone in 60 Seconds,” “Coyote Ugly,” “Remember the Titans,” “Pearl Harbor,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” “Bad Boys II,” “Veronica Guerin,” “King Arthur,” “National Treasure,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “National Treasure: Book of Secrets” and the 2011 blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”
On television, Bruckheimer had an unprecedented 10 television series airing in the 2005-6 season, a record in the medium for an individual producer. JBTV’s series include “C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation” and its spinoffs “C.S.I.: Miami,” “C.S.I.: NY” and “Without a Trace,” “Cold Case” and the eight-time Emmy® Award-winner “The Amazing Race.”
Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Television have been honored with 41 Academy Award® nominations, six wins, eight GRAMMY® Award nominations, five wins, 23 Golden Globe® nominations, four wins, 105 Emmy® Award nominations, 21 wins, 30 People’s Choice nominations, 15 wins, numerous MTV Awards, including one for Best Picture of the Decade for “Beverly Hills Cop.”
“The Lone Ranger” will film exteriors and studio work in New Mexico, followed by locations in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
via Disney
8 Comments
I’m actually pretty excited about this since I love the Western genre and that’s not just confined to Spaghetti westerns or other deconstruction takes like Unforgiven, Tombstone, or Deadwood.
Rango was really off-beat and an acquired delightfully grotesque taste which I loved (besides the weak story and heavy handed preaching) so I’m hoping for great things with this film.
With a production team like that, this movie stands a pretty good chance of actually being good! That said, when I look at the list of Bruckheimer films, there’s only about 50% of them I liked, which means that the movie stands a 50% chance of sucking, also. Now, for those of you who are too young to have seen the Lone Ranger on TV or listened to it on the radio, here’s the deal. The Lone Ranger was a young man who joined a band of Texas rangers. Before he completed his training, the Ranger Band, whose leader was his older brother, was ambushed by the Butch Cavendish gang. Our boy happens along the bodies and cuts the domino mask out of his dead brother’s vest and vowed vengence. There was an alternate version where TLR is also in the ambush, and is the only survivor and is nursed back to health by Tonto. Which ever version you chose, the producers of the radio and television show then proceded to more or less ignore the origin story for the next 21 years (radio) or 8 years (television) and sent the Lone Ranger and his trusty companion Tonto on a series of adventures that were little better than Lassie episodes. The origin story was only used as an excuse to explain why the Lone Ranger wore a mask. Now, here’s the point I am trying to come to. The Lone Ranger was a Texas ranger. Why in the heck have none of the television series, movie serials or movies EVER been filmed in Texas? It sounds like Disney is filming this thing in every State within shouting distance of Texas, but not in Texas itself. Is Texas toxic? Or doesn’t Texas have a film board to recruit movies?
More than likely the other states are cheaper to film in, and don’t forget, NM, AZ, and Southern CO all look like West Texas.
No they don’t… and I lived in West Texas.
Those states look like what has been filmed before, and what people expect Texas to look like. (Old West)
We have a great state with many types of environmental backgrounds for their movies.
And some good movies have been shot here… some without Chuck Norris.
It would be great to see a Texas Ranger in a movie… in Texas.
This movie looks like it is off to a great start…
I just hope it’s better than the last Lone Ranger movie. That stinking pile has deservedly been forgotten. But it’s always been a puzzle to me why movie studios film where they do. True Grit, supposedly set in Arkansas and Olklahoma, was filmed in the Colorado rockies. No resemblance whatsoever! Rooster Cogburn and the lady was filmed along the Deschutes River in Eastern Oregon and the Rogue River in Southern Oregon: again, no resemblance to Arkansas or Oklahoma. California stood in for Kansas in the first Superman movie even though there are no deep ravines, mountains or hardly any hills in Kansas. And the list goes on and on. The one thing that really worries me about a new Lone Ranger movie, aside from the very real possibility of suckage, is the whole Tonto thing. I just don’t see how they can pull that off without insulting just about every Native American in sight. The very name “Tonto” is an insult.
Hardly any hills in Kansas? Obviously you’ve never been on I-70 Topeka and Junction City. Where were there mountains and ravines that were supposed to be in Kansas in Superman? Also, Canada, specifically Alberta, was where Donner filmed the Smallville scenes from Superman.
I’m worried about the whole “Mystic Shaman” thing supposedly going on with Tonto. Not to mention the werewolves. Although, if anyone is equipped to deal with them, it’s a man who carries silver bullets.
Hardly any hills in Kansas? Obviously you’ve never been on I-70 Topeka and Junction City. Where were there mountains and ravines that were supposed to be in Kansas in Superman? Also, Canada, specifically Alberta, was where Donner filmed the Smallville scenes from Superman.
There are some pretty pronounced hills on this side of Kansas, yes. But it’s a particular problem with any movie’s “Midwestern” setting that there are often mountains in the background. I still love the bit in the DC Atlas of the 80’s that described Smallville as a small town of 90,000 in the middle of the Kansas plains. The location given was for, approximately, Wilson, Kansas, which has a population of less than a thousand people.
By contrast, Hays, Kansas (the population and cultural center of the area, in many ways) tops 20,000 residents, but only barely, and Salina (which serves a similar role a couple hundred miles to the east) isn’t quite 50,000 people. 90,000 would make said “small town) on a par with the capital of the state and approximately the fourth largest city in the state. Which is very much like Canada, apparently…
Normally, I’m “I’ll keep an open mind until I see it, etc.” type of guy but in the case of the Lone Ranger…
Mental door just went SLAM!