BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Newell 'in talks for Lone Ranger' (original) (raw)

Newell is currently directing Prince of Persia with Jake Gyllenhaal

British director Mike Newell is in talks to direct the remake of The Lone Ranger, according to industry newspaper Production Weekly.

Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp has already signed on to play sidekick Tonto in the big screen reboot about the masked cowboy adventurer.

George Clooney is rumoured to have landed the lead role.

Newell is currently filming big budget movie Prince of Persia, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton.

The new Lone Ranger film will begin with the ambush and massacre of a group of Texas Rangers, with the sole survivor found and nursed back to health by Native American Tonto.

The Ranger, donning a mask and riding a white stallion named Silver, teams up with Tonto to bring the unscrupulous gang to justice.

Pirates of the Caribbean writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are writing the screenplay for the new adaptation.

Newell, who directed 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, has worked with Depp before on the 1997 film Donnie Brasco.

The Lone Ranger began life as a 1930s radio show.

Its popularity led to movie serials, TV shows, comic books, toys and novels.