Steam & Excursion > Lone Ranger Movie Cancelled

Disney pulled the plug on a Lone Ranger movie starring Johnny Depp due to a overblown budget. I had heard a rumor that some RR equipment including a steam locomotive had been, or was going to be used in parts of the film. I believe the filming of the railroad scenes most likely would have been on the Filmore and Western.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Over budget? What about all that loot they found in the pirate movie?

Disney over budget? Yah right. God Bless their pointed little heads!

One thought about the cancellation--maybe the Burbank movie makers found that there weren't that many people who remembered the TV series, let alone the radio version. Back in the 50's, there was a "definition of a 'highbrow': Someone who can hear Rossini's 'William Tell Overture' and NOT think of 'The Loooooone Ranger rides again!'"

http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=664166&GT1=28101

I had a grade school teacher that was a real snob and classical music fan. He always cringed with the misidentity of that piece. He made sure we knew about its origin over and over again. (Classical music is beautiful but this guy should have never been a grade school teacher.)

DNRY122 Wrote:
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> O Back in the 50's, there
> was a "definition of a 'highbrow': Someone who can
> hear Rossini's 'William Tell Overture' and NOT
> think of 'The Loooooone Ranger rides again!'"

funnelfan Wrote:
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> I believe the filming
> of the railroad scenes most likely would have been
> on the Filmore and Western.

Most likely would have been in Arizona or Nevada. Difficult to duplicate the old west with row crops and orange orchards surrounding the tracks.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Disney has a reputation in the production world for running tight film budgets.

~ BZ

What I read on the LA Times site, is that the budget was at 250 million, and Disney wanted them to get it down to 200 million, and they were unable to get it that low. The article also indicated this might be a ploy by Disney to get the producer to sharpen his pencil on the budget.

Todd:

From agfd53's link above:

The movie was set to begin production this October in New Mexico.

Probably on the Cumbres and Toltec. Also, NM's tax credit to the film industry has been cut back due to state budget issues.

webmaster Wrote:
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> funnelfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I believe the filming
> > of the railroad scenes most likely would have
> been
> > on the Filmore and Western.
>
> Most likely would have been in Arizona or Nevada.
> Difficult to duplicate the old west with row crops
> and orange orchards surrounding the tracks.


Green screen?

Early talks were for the Sierra Railway # 3 to be transported to New Mexico for this movie.

1oldmotorman,

Further word here in NM was that filming was to be in the Silver City area which has standard gauge track for the various mining operations in the area.

http://www.scsun-news.com/ci_18679248

Since this cancellation seems to be a budget issue, maybe it should be renamed, "The Loan Arranger" ......

Bada bing..... Mike L

Back in June, they also took a long look at Carriso Gorge on the SD&AE for locations.

Or should we sing...
"To-da-dump, To-da-dump, To-dah-dum dump dump..."?? ; )

Wow... does it really cost that much to make a Western these days? A Sci-Fi or Fantasy film, sure (CGI, elaborate make up, etc.), but a good ol' Western?

Mike Lewis
Cheyenne, WY
Wasatch Railroad Contractors

I bet any movie with Jerry Bruckheimer, Rango, Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer and others is gonna cost a LOT!

Who would want to even attempt to match the performance and panache of Klinton Spilsbury as the Ranger?