Over the past few months Disney’s planned big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger has made movie news headlines a number of times; generally regarding a number of potential casting announcements, and most recently due to the studio pulling the plug on the film; and has now done so again, as it appears Disney could soon perform another U-turn and put The Lone Ranger back in the saddle once more.
It was August 12th when Disney officially curbed the western; which was due to star Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as the titular do-gooder, and place Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) as his Native American sidekick Tonto; due to concerns that the budget was rapidly spiraling out of control (with figures listed in the region of $275 million), and fears over inadvertently replicating the failure of Paramount’s Cowboys & Aliens (which, despite the hype, proved to be one of this summer’s biggest duds); which have led to those involved having to make a number of concessions in order to get the movie back on track.
According to Deadline’s article, Disney has been pushing to get the budget down to $200 million, and though the studio is desperate to keep Depp involved, they’ve had to deal with the fact that the easily marketable star doesn’t want to make the movie without Gore Verbinski (who directed him in the first three Pirates movies, and Rango); a director who’s been struggling to lower the costs while simultaneously maintain the sense of spectacle he was hoping to inject into the modern re-telling of the classic tale; and the fact that both Gore and producer Jerry Bruckheimer (who gave the studio the incredibly successful Pirates franchise, but has also been attached to a number of flops over the past few years) wish to keep at least $215 million in the pot.
The budgetary issues are still ongoing, though it now appears as if a compromise could soon be reached; as not only the the film being scaled back somewhat from the original vision that made it such an extravagance, but both Depp, Verbinski, and Bruckheimer, have agreed to sacrifice portions of their salary in order to get The Lone Ranger back off the ground; and hopefully put the film back on track for its originally scheduled December 2012 release date (something which Disney is expected to officially answer shortly).
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Deadline.
