Lone Ranger update

[Bob Boze Bell]

August 9, 2012

   Over the weekend in Prescott I talked with a crew member on the new Lone Ranger movie and he brought me up to speed on the Monument Valley shoot. According to the grip they had very bad dust storms and couldn't film in John Ford-ville (this after bad forest fires near Creede, Colorado, in June, which dogged their train climax sequence with heavy smoke). So, in a pinch, the production moved to Canyon de Chelly where Johnny Depp had a trailer in the canyon and held court with the Navajos who trekked from across the reservation to see him).

The shoot is supposed to last until the end of this month. They have spent a ton of money on this and I'm rooting for them. I hope it all ends up on the screen as they say in the biz.

"In this business there's a fine line between trying hard and letting go."

—David Duchovny, in Time

[Buck Grizzly]

I sure hope this isn't a dismal flop, or it will be used as another example that westerns are not popular. This thing was over budget 6 weeks ago, how it will ever make it's money back is a wonder. It could be a very popular movie and still not make money and that is the only gauge they are going to be looking at.

[Bob Boze Bell]

Yes, the good news is, these are the exact same guys who made pirates cool again. Believe me, that was even more of a challenge than a Western. But they have been plagued with problems from day one. Their train expert quit, they've had natural disasters and personal disasters and budget blow out issues, but I'm still rooting for them to hit it out of the park.

[Joseph Geders]

With that crew AND Johnny Depp, I would say their chances are well above average for an "out of the park" hit!

[Sue Cauhape]

You never know who's going to be interested in such films and TV shows. Yesterday at our quilting sew-in, about three or four of us (dumpy old broads who aren't interested in history but LOVE handsome men and spend their time cutting up fabric only to sew it all back together again!) raved about what a good TV show Longmire is. Of course, Jeff and I also get off on the complexities of the plots, and cast chemistry, etc. etc. Westerns are coming back and are reaching unexpected audiences. Johnny Depp and whathisname are bound to draw in a sizeable audience for the Lone Ranger.

[Buck Grizzly]

I'm really liking Longmire too. It kinda grows on ya after a while.