It’d be a lot easier to accumulate star power if you were allowed to actually star in things.
The thing is, star power isn’t a guarantee that a movie will be a success. Will Smith was pretty much the only movie star left who could be the star of the movie and it would be a blockbuster, but that’s not quite the same anymore after After Earth. All the other big stars have multiple films that under-performed or were just plain flops. And there’s also multiple films that star relative unknowns and are big hits.
Very true. The vast majority of films star a straight white guy in the main role. Many of them have straight white guys in the main supporting role. There’s a lot of great actors and actresses out there who could do great work, but are only cast in a role if the role specifically calls for a woman or minority.
I just wish I had 1/10th of 1/100th percent of Depp’s money.
Instead, I just have to be content with being more handsome!
I’m not sure. Has anyone heard of Taylor Lautner? He’s got some Native American ancestry.
Johnny Depp claims some as well. “Claims” being the operative word - he’s rather vague about it all ( Cherokee or Creek, from somewhere in Kentucky ).
Eric Schweig?
Everyone in the South has some.
A native American by the name of John Smith is owned up to by both sides of my family.
Hence we don’t know if I am 1/64 Cherokee or 1/128. 
It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the actor playing Tonto get top billing over the Ranger.
Oh, and in the spirit of the OP:
#1. Yes. I quite enjoyed watching the Clayton Moore version of the Lone Ranger when I was a kid. I can’t remember the last time I saw an episode but it’s been more than 25 years.
#2. No. There’s nothing in the trailers to indicate that this movie is worth going to the movies for.
#3. No.
I am Carnivorousplant, and I approve this message.
Ah, but once you’ve cast Johnny Depp as the Lone Ranger, you can Winklevoss in Johnny Depp as Tonto!
SF Chronicle gave it their lowest possible rating. (I’d link to it, but it’s a pay site).
The seldom-seen Empty Chair and a raking over the coals by Mick LaSalle. Sounds pretty awful.
Yeah, pretty much this. I like Depp as an actor but what was the last film he did that wasn’t either a Pirates or Tim Burton film? He’s typecasting himself in goofy roles unworthy of his talent, albeit for enormous piles of money (and a certain amount of fun) so I suppose I can’t blame him.
Didn’t WWW get greenlit solely because some Hollywood producer wanted to make a film with a giant mechanical spider and they were willing to stick one into the script?
#1: Yes
#2: No
#3: N/A
I am slightly sad that this film is apparently as bad as it looked from the trailers. This is a ‘franchise’ that meant a lot to a lot of people once upon a time, and this seems like doing it a disservice.
Also, it seems to resemble the later (ie. “not good”) Pirates of the Caribbean films moreso than the first one, which I quite enjoyed.
Johnny Depp is “typecasting himself in goofy roles”? When was the last time the man played someone who wasn’t on the far side of “eccentric”? The earliest film I can remember him in was Edward Scissorhands, FFS. The most -normal- character I’ve ever seen him play was J.M. Barrie in Finding Neverland, and that was still pretty weird. When has he ever not played in goofy roles?
I don’t know if that was the reason but the producer who was obsessed with giant mechanical spiders is Jon Peters. According to Kevin Smith, he also tried to get one into the aborted Superman reboot with Nicolas Cage.
As for The Lone Ranger, a story from todays LA Times says Despicable Me 2 already has double the box office receipts and it’s just barely ahead of Kevin Hart’s concert film. If it keeps up this way through the 4th of July weekend, The Lone Ranger will not just be a box office disappointment but megabomb that destroys even established careers, causes massive executive purges in studio management, and becomes ripe material for comedians and late-night talk show hosts making “bad movie” jokes.
Somebody who going to say “who thought it was a good idea to spend $200M on a Western?” which is a reasonable question to ask.
Johnny Depp will survive, of course. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Armie Hammer, as his career is just taking off. Comparison to Klinton Spilsbury will be made.
At least Armie has a couple of respectable roles behind him (especially Social Network) and at least one movie lined up (I hope Man from UNCLE is a good adaptation). Spilsbury had nothing before and nothing afterward.
I still haven’t seen it to judge, but I’m disappointed by the reaction. I was really hoping that this would be good, that it would bring the character to a new audience, that it would be well-liked. From what I’m reading (and granted, my opinion may be different), it seems like whoever adapted it was throwing in too many crazy elements just for their own sake. (Flesh-eating rabbits?!)
However, the Philadelphia Inquirer DID give it a good review.
What I said before about walking the line between the character’s ideals and the expectations of a modern audience…well, Marvel did just that with Captain America and did so beautifully. And look at The Mask of Zorro. Took a property that was far from popular among modern audiences and breathed fresh life into it with a wonderful, well-written script. (Wish I could say the same for Legend of Zorro. I mean, there’s “suspension of disbelief” and there’s “quickie divorce in a Catholic region in the nineteenth century”!)
Maybe they should have gotten whoever adapted Mask of Zorro to do this.
Public Enemies
The Tourist
Rango
The Rum Diary
And coming soon
Transcendence
Into the Woods
and
Pirates of the Caribbean 5
Yea!
Good Lord, don’t let them screw that up!