Written by on Nov 21, 2011. Posted in On Location

New Mexico informally announces it will host Johnny Depp’s Lone Ranger

New Mexico has tentatively announced it will be hosting part of the shoot for The Lone Ranger, set to star Johnny Depp as Tonto. The trials and tribulations of the project’s development were a big story over the summer as the ballooning budget prompted Disney to shut it down.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was among the key players forced to shave somewhere in the region of USD50 million from the production budget before the studio was happy to allow development to continue.

Bruckheimer has since said filming will take place in New Mexico, although the production team is trying to negotiate a one-off filming incentive that comes closer to what’s on offer in Louisiana. Given the scale of the production it’s something the state may well agree to. Solid confirmation is expected in the next few weeks.

New Mexico has tremendous momentum. We don’t want to lose that momentum to any other state. We don’t want to lose film and television production.

Ryan Cangelosi, Office of Governor Susana Martinez

According to New Mexico Business Weekly, Ryan Cangelosi, Deputy Chief-of-Staff to Governor Susana Martinez, addressed an NMEDIA event at Albuquerque Studios last week: “New Mexico has tremendous momentum. We don’t want to lose that momentum to any other state. We don’t want to lose film and television production. New Mexico has everything to offer and the Governor’s administration is intent on making sure the film industry is alive and well in our state.”

On her election last year Governor Martinez campaigned to have 10% shaved from New Mexico’s 25% filming incentive. The eventual compromise was that the scheme remained at 25%, but the annual film fund was capped at USD50 million, less than half of the total sum awarded to productions in the previous year.

(Image copyright: New Mexico Film Office)