A couple of months ago we reported that Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski was circling the long-gestating (it was first announced in 2007) Lone Ranger movie. However little more news emerged about this until now, with Deadline confirming that Verbinski is getting serious about saddling up for the pic and that Disney have now locked him into a deal.
Johnny Depp has long been attached to the movie and still wants to play Toto, although there’s still no word on when the film might go ahead. The movie was originally meant to shoot earlier this year, but got pushed back so Depp had time to make Pirates 4 (a film that was a bigger priority for Disney) and The Tourist. His schedule is still pretty packed, with the likes of Dark Shadows ensuring he won’t have a gap until at least late next summer.
We don’t know either who will play the Lone Ranger, although whoever it is may have a slightly thankless if Depp is Tonto – rather as Orlando Bloom discovered when Jack Sparrow stole all the glory in Pirates Of The Caribbean. Hopefully all will become clear soon, as with Verbiski having only made the animated Rango since the third Pirates movie, you’ve got to imagine he’s itching to shoot something else soon.