Justin Haythe, who adapted Revolutionary Road, is negotiating to write the script for Walt Disney Pictures’ The Lone Ranger.
Jerry Bruckheimer is producing the project, which will star Johnny Depp as Tonto. “Pirates of the Caribbean” scribes Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio were previously attached to write the script.
The Hollywood Reporter says Haythe’s last gig at the studio, writing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo, ended when the project was cancelled during the recent executive turnover.
The Lone Ranger’s origin story begins with a group of Texas Rangers chasing down a gang of outlaws led by Butch Cavendish. The gang ambushes the Rangers, seemingly killing them all. One survivor is found, however, by an American Indian named Tonto, who nurses him back to health. The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang and others of that ilk to justice.
