Tony Earnshaw: Depp will saddle up with his Lone Ranger – it will just take some time

Hi Ho Silver, awaaaay! Yep, the Lone Ranger has ridden off into the sunset leaving a phalanx of big-time Hollywood players coughing in the dust. Chief among them is the World’s Most Bankable Superstar Johnny Depp who, after four Pirates of the Caribbean flicks, is generally considered bullet-proof at the box office.

And then again, apparently not. Depp was to partner with Pirates director Gore Verbinski on The Lone Ranger for über producer Jerry Bruckheimer. And the gimmick was that he would play Tonto while Armie (The Social Network) Hammer was to be his cowboy Kemo Sabe.

Now the project, to which Depp has been attached for three years and which was due to go before the cameras in October, has been pulled by studio chiefs at Walt Disney.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The word on the street is that the House of the Mouse baulked at the escalating cost with Verbinksi allegedly refusing to compromise on his vision. But the real reason for cold feet is that it’s a western and horse operas are bad for business. Well, that’s a shocker. These days Depp is a sure-fire audience magnet who, at 48, is basking in the glow of success that most of his contemporaries can only dream of.

Yet it’s not really about Depp. Bruckheimer, once a golden goose as far as being a hit-making machine was concerned, has lost some of his lustre in recent years. And if deserts, cacti and gun-slinging are a turn-off, then who in this era of recession will risk their coffers on a chancer? Not Disney, that’s for sure. So where does this leave Mr Depp? He has allegedly signed up for a fifth outing as buccaneering Captain Jack Sparrow – for Disney. And if he has half the clout one assumes he has – and he has – then he could scuttle the franchise by refusing to appear. It doesn’t matter that the films are being sunk by the law of diminishing returns; everybody loves Jack. They can’t make the films without him.

So this one will rumble on and on. For more than 20 years Johnny Depp has ploughed his own furrow. Yes, in recent years his output has been of the comic-book variety, and too repetitive.

But he’s always been smart enough to play the game. He knows how it works: one for the heart, one for the wallet. The Pirates movies have given him the latter; films like The Lone Ranger salve his artistic soul. He wants to do Tonto – he has to play Captain Jack if he has indeed signed X on a contract.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And if he hasn’t...? Well, that could see one of the most spectacular film sagas in modern movie history consigned to the Davy dark.

Somehow, I foresee this messy spat being the subject of some serious arbitration. It means compromise all round. A lower budget, perhaps. A different director. But Johnny Depp will ride again. Trust me.

Related topics: