First Look at Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer in the Lone Ranger

Steve Barton |

Mar 8, 2012

Source Name:

Jerry Bruckheimer on Twitter

Source Url:

https://twitter.com/#!/BRUCKHEIMERJB/status/177771145297264640/photo/1

Post Thumb:

/studios/disney.jpg

Forgive me, but I’m a bit speechless. We’ve been talking about Disney’s The Lone Ranger for a while because it possibly finds the masked man and his sidekick fending off werewolves. The first image of leads Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer is here and… oh, just see for yourselves.

The original plan was to begin shooting last fall. That was until the studio shockingly pulled the plug on a project it feared could come in at between $250 million-$275 million. The risk of such a figure on a Western became more glaring after Cowboys & Aliens had just turned in a severely disappointing domestic gross, to be followed by an even worse offshore performance, proving the adage that most Westerns don’t travel well. On Lone Ranger there has been a lot of behind-the-scenes drama as the three principal players made concessions in their deals and worked on the script to salvage the spectacle that made the movie worth making in the first place while bringing the budget down to a more manageable figure in the $215 million range.

That being said, The Lone Ranger just recently started filming under the direction of Gore Verbinski and is slated to be in theatres on May 31st, 2013. No reveal if it’s still going with the werewolf plot. We’ll do some digging. Now then the first image. Hammer as The Ranger and Depp as Tonto with a bird plastered to his head. I ask you… is this any less ridiculous looking than the image I originally Photoshopped?

More soon!