15 years later, Rango director Gore Verbinski looks back

Beginning as an independent venture from Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy director Gore Verbinski, Rango was rejected by several studios before being made by Industrial Light and Magic as its first fully animated film. The dusty Western features wonky, wacky anthropomorphic animals and follows a pet chameleon who pretends to be an accomplished gunslinger in the town of Dirt, then must confront a Chinatown-style water plot.

Production began small in Verbinski’s home with a loose 12-page outline; he added writers John Logan and James Byrkit and character designers including Mark “Crash” McCreery, David Shannon, and Eugene Yelchin. Asymmetry and a grittier aesthetic were priorities: "Western[s] need to be greasy.

They need to be dirty," Verbinski said, and he set out to avoid the polished look of other animation houses. With editor Wyatt Jones he assembled a full animatic, initially voicing much of it himself, and Johnny Depp was lined up to play Rango when it came time to record.

gore verbinski, rango, johnny depp, industrial light, western, chameleon, john logan, james byrkit, animatic, chinatown