12.26.2007

Bruckheimer/Disney to make Lone Ranger movie!

I said I wouldn't believe it untill I heard it from the horse's mouth. Well, this appears to be it. This news comes from MTV News:

"Hi-Ho Silver, away!"
A modern movie hero who doesn't curse, doesn't use slang, who doesn't drink or smoke or visit saloons, who believes in God and country and a strict moral code, who only uses guns when he has to, and even then never shoots to kill? The American West is about to get a dose of reserved cowboy justice, as super producer Jerry Bruckheimer has confirmed to MTV News that he’s developing a "Lone Ranger" series of films.
"It's being written, well it's not being written now, but it's about to be written," he said of the rumored project. "We were just working out the story before the strike and hopefully that will end soon and we can continue on."
We, in this case, means "Pirates of the Caribbean" writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. But don't think that means the titular hero will be anything like Captain Jack, cautions Bruckheimer, who revealed that the story wouldn't be an update, but instead something of an origin story. That means adhering to the strict moral code laid down by "Lone Ranger" creator Fran Striker.
"I wouldn't say it's an updating of the tale, I would say it's kind of getting back to the roots of the tale," Bruckheimer confessed. "Where it originated from — it's about Texas Rangers, so we’re going to take it to how the characters are created."
It would be a somewhat fitting next step for Bruckheimer and crew, considering that
fifteen years ago the two genres that were universally acknowledged to be dead were
pirate movies and westerns. When you've conquered one, why not go for the other?
On the future of that first lucrative franchise, meanwhile, Bruckheimer said the ime
isn't yet right to discuss "Pirates 4."
"Not yet, not yet," he said, smiling. "We're still counting the money from the last one!"