Shocking news today on the still-shooting Disney film The Lone Ranger. A crew worker died today while setting up an underwater scene and that is all we know at this time. There remains no reaction from leading man Johnny Depp, but the studio has responded with the following message:
“We regretfully confirm that a Lone Ranger crew member has passed away after being taken to a local hospital. Our hearts and thoughts are with his family, friends, and colleagues at this time, and our full support is behind the investigation into the circumstances of this terrible event.”
This is not good PR for a big-budget western billed as the second coming of Pirates of the Caribbean. The feature was already receiving a bout of negativity from the press because of in-fighting over the production budget last year and then the inevitable Gore Verbinski cost overruns. From what we are hearing though the movie is good, so this definitely is a downpour on our parade that featured genuine excitement for this movie.
The Lone Ranger hits theaters nationwide on July 3, 2013.