PRODUCER JERRY BRUCKHEIMER BRINGS HIS SIGNATURE FLAIR FOR
CHARACTER-DRIVEN ACTION STORIES TO “THE LONE RANGER”

Legendary motion picture and television producer Jerry Bruckheimer, whose long list of international blockbusters include the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, as well as “Pearl Harbor,” “Armageddon,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Black Hawk Down,” the “National Treasure” films and “Top Gun,” now delves into a classic story of the American old West. “‘The Lone Ranger’ was part of my youth,” Bruckheimer recalls of the television series he enjoyed watching as a child. “It was about two characters who were out to find justice in the old West. I thought it would be a great theme for today.”

Many years later, still intrigued by the “The Lone Ranger,” Bruckheimer purchased the rights to adapt the popular series into a feature film. He approached his friend and “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp about portraying the iconic Native American, Tonto. “Johnny started thinking about it and he decided to take his makeup artist and create the look of character of Tonto,” Bruckheimer says. “And it’s the exact character that is in the movie. He showed me a picture of him in makeup as Tonto, and I didn’t even realize it was him. That’s how good the makeup was. So we were very thrilled when we saw what he had added to the character.”

For his feature film adaptation of “The Lone Ranger,” Bruckheimer called upon many of his most creative filmmaking colleagues to bring a fresh modern approach to this archetypal old West story. Director Gore Verbinski, who helmed three of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films for Bruckheimer, was eager to work again with his producer and star Johnny Depp. “Gore is a masterful director,” Bruckheimer enthuses. “He shoots fantastic action and understands drama and he’s a good storyteller who also understands comedy. That’s an amazing combination for a director.”

In the tradition of classic Westerns from director John Ford, such as “Stagecoach,” Bruckheimer’s “The Lone Ranger” takes audiences on an exciting adventure in which one character strongly believes in justice through following the law, and the other character merely wants vengeance. As Jerry Bruckheimer says of the story, “The Lone Ranger is a character who’s been to law school and he follows the letter of the law. That might work back East, but when he comes to the West where there’s a lot of lawlessness, it doesn’t work. And Tonto teaches him the ways of the West, and how you have to take the law into your own hands at certain times. There’s butting of heads between these characters. One believes in righteousness and the other just wants a means to an end.”

When casting the role of the Lone Ranger, the producer says that he saw Armie Hammer in “The Social Network” and intuitively knew he would be right for the title role. “He’s a wonderful actor, and that’s where you have to start. The fact that he’s 6’5” and very handsome and has a twinkle in his eye doesn’t hurt either,” Bruckheimer laughs. As for the Lone Ranger’s sidekick Tonto, “Johnny Depp creates amazing characters, no matter what movie he’s in,” Bruckheimer continues. “Captain Jack Sparrow is a good example. We’ve made four movies in the ‘Pirates’ franchise and we’re hoping to make another one, so it’s really based on his creativity for creating characters. His Tonto will be different from any Tonto you’ve ever seen before. He has a whole different look, a whole different feel. We don’t even know until the cameras roll what he’s going to do, but we know it’s going to be entertaining and very interesting.”

Westerns have always been about good guys versus bad guys. In “The Lone Ranger” there is no shortage of villains. Butch Cavendish, played with fierce intensity by William Fichtner, is a brutal man who grew up in the West and embodies all that is ugly about the West at the time. Producer Bruckheimer had previously worked with Fichtner on “Armageddon” and “Black Hawk Down,” and was thrilled for the opportunity to once again work with him. “Bill’s character, Cavendish, is somebody you don’t want to mess with,” the producer says. “He’s somebody you don’t want to be around. He has some terrible characteristics and therefore he’s a formidable villain for the Lone Ranger and Tonto.”

Two other important talents with whom Bruckheimer has always wanted to work are Academy Award® nominees Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter, who play Cole Latham and Red, respectively. “Latham Cole is the character who is building the railroad through the West,” Bruckheimer says. “He’s a very strong businessman with a real passion to get the job done. I’ve wanted to work with Tom after seeing many of his performances, especially in ‘Michael Clayton.’ He was brilliant. Helena’s character plays Red Harrington, the owner of the saloon. I’ve tracked Helena’s career and have always wanted to work with her, but never had the right part that would interest her.”

Maintaining the integrity of the source material, while creating a new interpretation of the story and characters for modern audiences, was not without its many challenges. Among the elements from the original story that Bruckheimer insisted be retained are the Lone Ranger’s horse Silver, Tonto’s horse Scout, and of course, the famous silver bullet. “We wanted to create a really interesting look for the Lone Ranger, which we changed from the TV series,” Bruckheimer says. “The same thing with Tonto. We contemporized, but we stuck to the theme of the series. The Lone Ranger doesn’t kill anybody. He never uses his gun as a weapon to destroy somebody. He doesn’t believe in that.”

Audiences who have come to expect a lot of action in a Jerry Bruckheimer film will definitely not be disappointed by the excitement that takes place in “The Lone Ranger.” As Jerry Bruckheimer marvels, “We have a couple of train sequences that are truly something I’ve never seen before. There are chases on trains, horses on a train, gunfights on a train, all done at very fast speeds. Gore Verbinski likes to shoot it for real, so those trains are moving pretty fast!”

One of the hallmarks of a Jerry Bruckheimer film is the authenticity that the producer insists be evident throughout the movie. “The Lone Ranger” production designers Jess Gonchor and Crash McCreery did an enormous amount of research to make the smallest details factual. “Crash got paintings and photographs from the period and tried to recreate it as it actually was,” Bruckheimer says. “We created two towns. We created a railroad. We have a five-mile loop railroad track. We built two trains. It was an enormous undertaking, and we built all this out in New Mexico outside of Albuquerque, in a kind of dust bowl. Every day around four, the winds would whip up and we’d have sand storms. But it added to the authenticity. That’s how it was in the old West, people weren’t clean; they were dirty and dusty because the winds were brutal.”

The old American Southwest, despite the brutal weather conditions and the constant dangers was a spectacularly beautiful place. Thanks to the Navajo Nation, it is still one of the most beautiful places on the planet. “Monument Valley, in Arizona, is still beyond beautiful,” Bruckheimer says. “It’s one of the biggest national parks we have; it’s apparently the size of Virginia. Any place you look here is spectacular. It’s a photographer’s dream.”

With few exceptions, audiences have not been treated to a Western movie in quite some time. Jerry Bruckheimer says that he enjoys bringing back things that haven’t been seen for a while. “We brought back pirates when everybody thought that a pirate movie would fail,” he says. “This is a big Western, but it’s a character-driven Western. It’s the origin of the Lone Ranger and it’s an odd couple relationship between him and Tonto. The movie is really a dramedy. It’s got some very serious parts to it, and there’s some romance too. This is a whole new approach to a Western, just as Gore Verbinski created ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and made a different kind of pirate movie. You can’t compare our Western to anything that’s been done in the past, just like you can’t compare ‘Pirates’ to any pirate movies you’ve seen before. This is a unique interpretation of the West. So, if you want to see something that’s as entertaining and as fun as ‘Pirates,’ you now have ‘The Lone Ranger.’”