The reason Jerry Bruckheimer’s Lone Ranger movie would have been too expensive: Werewolves

“Werewolves? You white man come up with some stupid shit.”

A few days ago, there was news that Disney had canceled their Lone Ranger movie and then news a little later that maybe it hadn’t been canceled, but they were just looking to work with new people on it after they were unable to come to a budget agreement with Jerry Bruckheimer. And now there’s word that the reason Jerry Bruckheimer’s Lone Ranger would have gone over what Disney wanted to budget was that he really wanted to have werewolves. 

The Lone Ranger and Tonto vs. Werewolves.

Co-screenwriter Ted Elliott posted some Lone Ranger plot details on a private writer‘s website, and the writer shared them with Hollywood-Elsewhere:

“It was always going to be a big Bruckheimer CG movie with traditional Bruckheimer elements [and] an eye toward being a tentpole –totally Pirates-style. It was going to be a Tonto show mainly. Tonto as the top dog and more dominant than the Lone Ranger. Tonto and the Indian spirits like Obi Wan Kenobi and the force. The driving engine was going to be Native American occult aspects worked in with werewolves and special effects, [b]ut flavored with doses of Native American spirituality in a serious way.”

In a serious way? With werewolves? But also it sounds like that Disney had been thinking about meeting Bruckheimer’s budget, and then Cowboys and Aliens didn’t do so well at the box office and Disney got cold feet.

“But then Cowboys & Aliens came along and tanked and Disney got cold tenderfeet, spooked by the idea of a pricey mashup. If Cowboys & Aliens had made $200 million, this wouldn’t be happening. A Bruckheimer-style western in the wake of Cowboys & Aliens is nothing anyone is feeling secure about at this stage. Trust me, the writers of tentpole garbage are all scared now.” “Depp’s interest in playing Tonto is about fulfilling his Marlon Brando legacy,” the director-writer believes. “Depp is partly Native American himself and he was partly mentored by Brando, who was a big Indians’ rights advocate. So he didn’t want to do any kind of jaunty performance that plays it light and spoofy with the Native American thing. No Captain Jack crap this time around.”

Via