Gore Verbinski on 'Rango' and Its 'Lizard-Like' Star, Johnny Depp

Rango marks Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski's first foray into animated features and his fourth collaboration with Johnny Depp, who lends his voice to the film's title character, a chameleon in the midst of an identity crisis. It's an idea Verbinski's been developing since he finished the first Pirates film, in 2003, and it's inspired at least in part by the chameleon-like actor whose second, megastar career phase he helped launch. In a recent interview, I spoke with Verbinski about his ambitious and thoroughly unconventional animated western:How exactly did Rango originate?In 2003 I had a meeting with David Shannon and John Carls and we talked about doing an animated western with creatures of the desert. I wrote up

Read more ...