Producer talks The Lone Ranger and Pirates of the Caribbean 4

PRODUCER Jerry Bruckheimer has said Disney is moving forward with its planned movie based on The Lone Ranger, with Johnny Depp cast as native American sidekick Tonto.

He said they were now aiming for a 2012 release. Mike Newell, whose credits include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and upcoming Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, is attached to direct.

Bruckheimer told Sci-Fi Wire that Pirates of the Caribbean writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio had worked with other writers and Johnny Depp on The Lone Ranger to create "something that has a kind of true-to-the-western [feel], but adding other additional elements like we did with Pirates so it won't be just a straight-ahead western."

As for the casting of the Ranger, he said: "We're still creating a pretty wide net and figuring it out. It comes down to who is available when we want to make it. We have a wish list."

For more on The Lone Ranger project, see my earlier report here.

Meanwhile, Bruckheimer separately told Collider that they had received the script for Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and believes they will be filming next year.

He added that the departure of former Disney chairman Dick Cook would not affect the production, despite Depp admitting it had dampened his enthusiasm to return to the franchise.