Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

The Lone Ranger

3/8/12 - Johnny Depp’s costume and makeup just-released in a first look at The Lone Ranger, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  He is working with his Pirates of the Caribbean costume designer Penny Rose.  The film stars Tom Wilkinson, William Fichtner, Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson, and Helena Bonham Carter. The Lone Ranger opens May 31, 2013.

10/13/11 - Disney set a new release date, May 31, 2013, for The Lone Ranger film.

7/19/11 - Helena Bonham Carter, Dwight Yoakam and Barry Pepper are in talks to join Disney’s The Lone Ranger, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Gore Verbinski is returning to Disney to direct the movie, which is being toplined by Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer.  If a deal makes, Carter will play the madam of a brothel who deals with gentlemen and scoundrels.  Yoakam will play Butch Cavendish, leader of the gang that attacks the ranger and leaves his for dead.  Pepper will act as a military officer.

6/22/11 - Variety reported that Tom Wilkinson is in early talks to join the cast of Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer's Lone Ranger.  Wilkinson would portray a railroad tycoon in the Old West who plays a prominent role.  Gore Verbinski will direct with a release date of Dec. 21, 2012.

6/8/11 - Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer's The Lone Ranger has been given a December 21, 2012 release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  The film stars Armie Hammer in the title role, with Johnny Depp attached as Tonto.  Gore Verbinski will direct a script by Justin Haythe; Bruckheimer will produce.  Production is set to begin later this year on the film, which takes place in 1869 and centers on the masked Texas Ranger who, with the help of Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. 

5/17/11 - Armie Hammer has been tapped to play the title character in the upcoming Lone Ranger reboot, according to Variety.  Hammer will join Johnny Depp, who was previously announced as the masked man's famed sidekick, Tonto, in the Disney film.  Production is expected to kick off later this year, with a fall 2012 release targeted.

11/4/09 – SCI FI Wire reported that Jerry Bruckheimer is developing a new movie based on The Lone Ranger, the popular western hero from radio plays and movie serials, and Johnny Depp is attached to play the Native American sidekick, Tonto.  Bruckheimer said to expect Depp to do for Tonto what he did with Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean.  "Writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio worked on that also with some other writers and with Johnny Depp," Bruckheimer said. "So they're creating something that has a kind of true-to-the-western feel, but adding other additional elements like we did with Pirates so it won't be just a straight-ahead western."  Depp's choice to play the Native American sidekick fits the actor's quirky tastes. Bruckheimer has his work cut out for him finding a lead who can make a good Ranger to a superstar Tonto.  "We're still creating a pretty wide net and figuring it out," Bruckheimer said. "It comes down to who is available when we want to make it. We have a wish list."  The Lone Ranger is in development for a tentative 2012 release date.

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