While Disney's attempt at The Lone Ranger (2013) was considered underwhelming by many, one of its scrapped ideas could have taken things a step too far, as the movie almost involved werewolves.
Director Gore Verbinski spoke with Collider about the film's production, addressing the long-standing rumor that the movie originally intended to incorporate werewolves. Verbinski first discussed the possibility of a film with the producer of Pirates of the Caribbean, Jerry Bruckheimer, before the screenplay was eventually worked on by Terry Rossio and Ted Elliott. However, he was quick to insist he had briefly departed the project during the period in which the werewolf idea was being proposed.
"So Jerry got the rights, and then what happened? I disengaged," Verbinski said. "Rossio and Elliot pitched me a version that I didn't really respond to. But I was like, 'I wish you well.' I love those guys. So they went and worked on it. I did Rango. It came back around like four years later, where Jerry had said, 'Do you want to come back on?' I said, 'Well, I'd like to do the version I was originally thinking about.' Somewhere in the interim, without me involved there was a werewolf, that's where the werewolf thing came from."
While the film did feature some supernatural elements, they were presented by Tonto, shown to be an unreliable narrator. Verbinski described the casting process for Johnny Depp and why he ultimately decided on using Tonto's perspective. "So we were making Pirates 2, and Jerry said Terry Rossio and Ted wanted Jerry to buy the rights to The Lone Ranger. I said, immediately, 'Johnny should play Tonto.' I just blurted it out. I was like, 'Lone Ranger, Johnny, Tonto.' My mind immediately went, tell the Tonto story, because the Lone Ranger story has been told so many times."
Despite Verbinski's ideas, Depp's casting was a major criticism of the film. The movie ultimately failed at the box office, killing any hopes of a sequel.
Source: Collider