Producer Jerry Bruckheimer talks about PIRATES 4 and THE LONE RANGER

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, busily promoting his next film Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, was kind enough to also answer a few questions about his upcoming Disney projects with Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Lone Ranger, for Heather Newgen of ComingSoon.net.

Q: There’s a worry about Johnny Depp’s commitment to Pirates 4. Are you going to be able to make him comfortable with the new people at Disney?

Jerry Bruckheimer: I think that he was very close with Dick [Cook]. We loved him and part of our success is attributed to Dick which is fantastic, but things change. We’ve been through a ton of management here at Disney and have had many bosses through the years that I’ve been here. Somehow you adjust and the gentleman they brought in [Rich Ross] is very smart. As an executive he’s had an enormous amount of success. He’s been a very good partner to us, but that doesn’t mean we won’t work with Dick somewhere else down the line. Who knows. We’ll just have to see what happens.

Q: What’s your take on making The Lone Ranger current for today’s audience?

Jerry Bruckheimer: Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio worked on that with a couple of other writers and Johnny [Depp], so they’ll create something that has a kind of true to the western [feeling], but also other elements like we did with Pirates so it won’t be just a straight ahead western.

Q: We know Johnny Depp wants to play Tonto. Do you have any thoughts as to who the Ranger would be?

Jerry Bruckheimer: Not yet. 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.

Mr. Bruckheimer also exchanged a few words about Pirates 4 in a separate interview with Steve “Frosty” Weintraub of Collider.com. “He told me they’ve gotten the script, the management change will not affect the production, and he believes they’ll be filming next year,” Weintraub reports.

The Zone thanks Emma for sharing both interviews; you can read more on the Zone’s Porch forum. –Part-Time Poet