Verbinski confirmed to reteam with Johnny Depp for The Lone Ranger

The Lone Ranger has spent years marinating in that special place we like to call "development Hell". Something like eight years or so the film has been struggling to be produced, originally planned to follow-up on the success of The Mask of Zorro. In 2008 there was some positive movement as Johnny Depp was confirmed to play the masked hero's sidekick, Tonto. In September, another crack in the clouds as Pirates of the Caribbean director, Gore Verbinski, was reportedly in talks to helm the long gestating project. Well, now the talks are over, with Verbinski and Depp set to reunite.

Expect news of who will actually be playing the Lone Ranger himself to start cropping up...hmmmm, probably by today. The original script was handled by Pirates co-writers, Ted Elliot and Terry Rosio, which was said to be a bit in the supernatural realm. Yikes. That script was eventually re-written by Justin Hayeth. Phew!

Hey, I like the Lone Ranger, so I'm excited. Not really about Johnny Depp being involved because he will dominate any flick he's in. Whoever gets brought in to play the Lone Ranger will need to be a star of equal measure. There's a weird sort of chemistry to this whole thing with The Green Hornet coming out next year. Most people might not remember that the Green Hornet was actually a spinoff of the Lone Ranger radio show, with that character being the son of the Lone Ranger's nephew.