When Disney announced Jerry Bruckheimer's THE LONE RANGER with a literal fanfare in the fall of 2008, it was known that Johnny Depp would star as Tonto and assumed that PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN's Gore Verbinski would direct. Two years later, it's been confirmed by Deadline's Michael Fleming and Nikki Finke that Gore Verbinski will direct Johnny Depp in Jerry Bruckheimer's THE LONE RANGER. Bam.
What took 'em so long? Well, Verbinski's been off making a very interesting-looking animated film called RANGO, while Depp's kept busy by starring in four movies (ALICE IN WONDERLAND, THE TOURIST, THE RUM DIARY and PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES) and voicing the character of Rango for his moviemakin' buddy Verbinski. Hopefully, Bruckheimer took advantage of this delay by concocting a story worth telling - one that doesn't simply settle for the "unconventional" notion of Tonto as the real hero of the tale (a dynamic that's already been explored in Michel Gondry's forthcoming update of Trendle and Striker's THE GREEN HORNET).
Justin Haythe (THE CLEARING and the horribly botched adaptation of REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) was brought on earlier this year to write the screenplay. As for potential Lone Rangers, your speculation is as informed as mine. Go nuts.
