Johnny Depp is The Lone Ranger

I never saw this coming, and apparently, neither did those in attendance at the Disney preview today in Los Angeles: Johnny Depp is playing The Lone Ranger. There were other announcements, like Depp will be in Alice in Wonderland (which we kind of knew in our heart of hearts), and since he appeared onstage dressed in full Captain Jack regalia, the talk that there would be a fourth Pirates movie was reportedly in the air, even though The House of Mouse didn't confirm that today. Coming Soon broke the news this afternoon, adding that Pirates writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio will write the script for The Lone Ranger. It's a Jerry Bruckheimer production, with Elliott and Rossio, so it only makes sense to at least call Johnny Depp to see if he's interested. I have to admit, though, I'm a little put off by Depp's gravy training these days. Certainly, he's earned bigger checks because he was virtually ignored for so long. But The Lone Ranger? Wouldn't have guessed that. I'm sure he can pull it off, but do we really want him to? I dunno, to me, this looks like a vintage pair of Bad Idea jeans.

Update on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 11:53PM by Get The Big Picture

Almost as quickly as the news hit about Depp playing The Lone Ranger, Variety reported that Depp will in fact play Tonto. It's much, much better casting for Depp, although why we was wearing a Lone Ranger mask at the Disney event is now just confusing. Variety also says that Pirates 4 is confirmed, which is not terribly good news unless you happen to own Disney stock.

Comments

[Sensaes]

I'm waiting for you to suggest Chiwetel Ejofor as Tonto...

[Sensaes]

Insert an 'i' in there...somewhere.

[Chris]

Might want to do a quick edit, Colin. Apparently he's playing Tonto, not The Lone Ranger.