Lone Ranger movie caught in budgetary cliffhanger
By Joe Southern
jsouthern@hcnonline.com
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear when a masked man on a white horse accompanied by an Indian companion were the most exciting heroes in pop culture.
Established well before the days of super humans in spandex, The Lone Ranger galloped across the 1940s and ’50s as the ultimate he-man hero of a now aged baby boomer generation. For 78 years the Lone Ranger and Tonto have been righting wrongs and saving the day as one of the most powerful entertainment and marketing creations in America’s 20th century history.
Long since left in a cloud of dust by spacemen and macho men in cowls and tights, the Lone Ranger has made occasional leaps into our collective consciousness, just enough to give baby boomers a sense of nostalgia. They rallied for actor Clayton Moore in his battle to wear the mask during personal appearances. They stayed away from the movie theaters in droves when “The Legend of the Lone Ranger” came out and fell flat on its face.
Occasional comic books, toys and keepsakes were all that kept our intrepid hero visible for 20 years until about 10 years ago when it was announced that a major motion picture was going to be made by Sony. The WB had also green-lighted a pilot for a new Lone Ranger television show. In 2003 the pilot, then turned into a made for TV movie, aired and established itself as the “Ishtar” of TV Westerns. The series was thankfully never made.
The movie, however, kept plodding along through development hell at Sony, finally succumbing in 2007. A few months later in 2008, super producer Jerry Bruckheimer announced he wanted a shot at it. A major announcement was made by Disney Studios that Bruckheimer would again pair up with his “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp in a remake of the masked man. Only this time Depp would star as Tonto and the movie would focus on that character.
For the next two years the project lingered on. A script was written by the powerhouse duo of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who gave us such wonderful stories as the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, “Shrek”, the two recent Zorro movies, the National Treasure films, “Aladdin”, “The Road to El Dorado” and many more. That script was rejected by Disney and handed over to Justin Haythe for a rewrite.
While Haythe sank his teeth into it, rumors went wild as to who would star as the Lone Ranger and who would sit in the director’s chair. Depp stayed busy doing Alice in Wonderland, Public Enemy and another Pirates movie with Bruckheimer. The producer extraordinaire, however, plowed into his popular television shows and gave us lukewarm films such as “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
Finally, a couple months ago the movie moved into production. Former Pirates director Gore Verbinski hired on to direct. Armie Hammer won the right to wear the mask and an all-star cast began to populate the growing list of characters. Set construction began in southwest New Mexico and casting for extras was announced. It was given a Dec. 21, 2012, release date.
Just as soon as the light of day finally shone on this project, Disney CEO Robert Iger thrust it back into darkness over budgetary concerns. With a reported $250 million budget and a lackluster performance record of modern-day Westerns and Bruckheimer’s own silver screen letdowns, Disney was not ready to play high-stakes poker with an uncertain economy and fickle moviegoers.
Following a week-long dollar détente and the willingness of Depp and Bruckheimer to cut their own fees, the director and producer were unwilling to trim their vision for the film. The game of brinkmanship ended with the purse strings pulled and the project thrust back into the pits of development hell. It’s just as well, as the movie reportedly contained Indian mysticism and werewolves. (Western werewolves? Oh, brother!)
While I remain hopeful that a Lone Ranger movie will be made and am frustrated at the current turn of events, I must applaud Iger and Disney for their financial frugalness. (Now, if we can just get our elected officials to learn from that lesson, maybe we can get this country back on track.)
In the meantime, Disney and Marvel will continue to pump out spandex-hero blockbusters while Bruckheimer and Depp circle the wagons and figure out a way to make the Lone Ranger ride again.
jsouthern@hcnonline.com
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear when a masked man on a white horse accompanied by an Indian companion were the most exciting heroes in pop culture.
Established well before the days of super humans in spandex, The Lone Ranger galloped across the 1940s and ’50s as the ultimate he-man hero of a now aged baby boomer generation. For 78 years the Lone Ranger and Tonto have been righting wrongs and saving the day as one of the most powerful entertainment and marketing creations in America’s 20th century history.
Long since left in a cloud of dust by spacemen and macho men in cowls and tights, the Lone Ranger has made occasional leaps into our collective consciousness, just enough to give baby boomers a sense of nostalgia. They rallied for actor Clayton Moore in his battle to wear the mask during personal appearances. They stayed away from the movie theaters in droves when “The Legend of the Lone Ranger” came out and fell flat on its face.
Occasional comic books, toys and keepsakes were all that kept our intrepid hero visible for 20 years until about 10 years ago when it was announced that a major motion picture was going to be made by Sony. The WB had also green-lighted a pilot for a new Lone Ranger television show. In 2003 the pilot, then turned into a made for TV movie, aired and established itself as the “Ishtar” of TV Westerns. The series was thankfully never made.
The movie, however, kept plodding along through development hell at Sony, finally succumbing in 2007. A few months later in 2008, super producer Jerry Bruckheimer announced he wanted a shot at it. A major announcement was made by Disney Studios that Bruckheimer would again pair up with his “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp in a remake of the masked man. Only this time Depp would star as Tonto and the movie would focus on that character.
For the next two years the project lingered on. A script was written by the powerhouse duo of Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who gave us such wonderful stories as the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, “Shrek”, the two recent Zorro movies, the National Treasure films, “Aladdin”, “The Road to El Dorado” and many more. That script was rejected by Disney and handed over to Justin Haythe for a rewrite.
While Haythe sank his teeth into it, rumors went wild as to who would star as the Lone Ranger and who would sit in the director’s chair. Depp stayed busy doing Alice in Wonderland, Public Enemy and another Pirates movie with Bruckheimer. The producer extraordinaire, however, plowed into his popular television shows and gave us lukewarm films such as “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”
Finally, a couple months ago the movie moved into production. Former Pirates director Gore Verbinski hired on to direct. Armie Hammer won the right to wear the mask and an all-star cast began to populate the growing list of characters. Set construction began in southwest New Mexico and casting for extras was announced. It was given a Dec. 21, 2012, release date.
Just as soon as the light of day finally shone on this project, Disney CEO Robert Iger thrust it back into darkness over budgetary concerns. With a reported $250 million budget and a lackluster performance record of modern-day Westerns and Bruckheimer’s own silver screen letdowns, Disney was not ready to play high-stakes poker with an uncertain economy and fickle moviegoers.
Following a week-long dollar détente and the willingness of Depp and Bruckheimer to cut their own fees, the director and producer were unwilling to trim their vision for the film. The game of brinkmanship ended with the purse strings pulled and the project thrust back into the pits of development hell. It’s just as well, as the movie reportedly contained Indian mysticism and werewolves. (Western werewolves? Oh, brother!)
While I remain hopeful that a Lone Ranger movie will be made and am frustrated at the current turn of events, I must applaud Iger and Disney for their financial frugalness. (Now, if we can just get our elected officials to learn from that lesson, maybe we can get this country back on track.)
In the meantime, Disney and Marvel will continue to pump out spandex-hero blockbusters while Bruckheimer and Depp circle the wagons and figure out a way to make the Lone Ranger ride again.
posted by Joe Southern | 2:41 PM
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