I know you're going to love this news, and that's exactly why I'm here today! Remember that The Lone Ranger project guys?
Remember all the budget problems this project was dealing with? Well, guess what! It looks that the whole thing is back on! As the matter of fact, it's officially back on, and folks from Walt Disney Studios are ready to “ride” again, together with director Gore Verbinski, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp, only this time at a lower budget.
Yeah, we knew there was something! We must admit that previously reported $250 million budget was a little bit… absurd? Anyway, Variety reports that Verbinski, Bruckheimer, and stars Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer will all take 20% paycuts; although certain payments will be deferred until The Lone Ranger starts making money.
That basically means today we have a new deal – a budget closer to $215 million and zeroed in on a new release date! And again – it's official – Disney's Lone Ranger has set a May 31st, 2013 release date , with its production start delayed from November to February. Of course, Bruckheimer Films will be responsible for any cost overruns.
As for Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (team behind Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl) reworked the script by Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road) to eliminate a few expensive sequences involving supernatural elements that require a lot of effects work.
Johnny Depp definitely looks excited about The Lone Ranger, since he, in an interview with MTV revealed that he really likes the character and that he thinks he has some interesting plans for the whole thing. He also added:
“I think the film itself could be entertaining and very funny. But also I like the idea of having the opportunity to make fun of the idea of the Indian as a sidekick, which has always been [the case] throughout the history of Hollywood, the Native American has always been a second-class, third-class, fourth-class citizen, and I don't see Tonto that way at all. So it's an opportunity for me to salute Native Americans. We knew that the budget was going to be huge initially, and we also knew that it was going to be shut down for a while, and it was kind of like we patiently wait – we shave a little bit here, we do a little bit there, and they fix it.”
We're so happy for The Lone Ranger!
And you?
