It's been a busy day for Jack White.
In addition to releasing his first solo album Blunderbuss, The Walt Disney Studios announced at CinemaCon that the prolific (and pale) musician will write, produce, and perform the score to director Gore Verbinkski's highly anticipated film THE LONE RANGER.
White is no stranger to the cinematic medium, though THE LONE RANGER will mark his first foray into the world of scoring films. As an actor, White has appeared with sister/ex-wife/former fellow White Stripes bandmate Meg White in COFFEE AND CIGARETTES, as a Civil War outlier in COLD MOUNTAIN, and even channeled Elvis Presley in WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY. He has contributed tracks to numerous films, including COLD MOUNTAIN, NAPOLEON DYNAMITE ("We're Going to be Friends") and been featured in the documentaries IT MIGHT GET LOUD and THE WHITE STRIPES UNDER GREAT WHITE NORTHERN LIGHTS.
Besides being profoundly gifted, Jack White is also incredibly knowledgeable about traditional forms of American roots music including folk, blues, and country (if you haven't yet seen Davis Guggenheim's phenomenal documentary IT MIGHT GET LOUD, consider remedying that situation immediately). He is an inspired choice to score a western like THE LONE RANGER, and one expects he will produce a dynamic score that is both historically appropriate yet pleasingly anachronistic enough to work well within the frames of a modern, big-budget Hollywood release.
What will be most interesting is how (or even, if) White will choose to include or rework the iconic theme music that has been associated with THE LONE RANGER from the time it first appeared as a radio serial in 1933, Rossini's The William Tell Overture.
THE LONE RANGER is being produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and will open in theaters May 31, 2013.
