“You go in not really understanding what you are getting into, but you need to be there because there are conditions in the special-use authorization that they have to live by,” he said. Prior to joining the Forest Service in 2010, he gained experience working on the set of a few shows, including Grizzly Adams, a 1970s television series. Jeff Harris, a natural resource specialist on the Santa Fe, had a front row seat on the 10-day shoot in the tunnels. The explosion near the entrance of a tunnel was not shot at the Gilman Tunnels. Part of the action (enhanced in the editing room) can be seen in the movie’s trailers. While moving, the actors shot a gunfight scene that also shows them ducking to avoid the roof of the tunnel. That meant the filmmakers had to put a railroad engine and rails cars onto separate flatbed trucks, which were driven at moderate speeds through the tunnels during filming. The tunnels, originally blasted out of rock in the 1920s for a railroad, are now used for cars. Last year during 10 days of filming on the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico, the Gilman Tunnels served as the backdrop for a scene in The Lone Ranger where a train passes through the tunnels.
Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, stars of Disney’s The Lone Ranger debuting July 3, join a long list of formidable Hollywood greats, including Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt, Elizabeth Taylor and John Wayne, who have acted on the nation’s outdoor soundstage – a national forest. (Copyrighted photo courtesy Walt Disney Pictures)
#WHO WAS THE LONE RANGER MOVIE#
The movie shot for 10 days on the Santa Fe National Forest for a fight scene on a train speeding through a tunnel. The Lone Ranger starring Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer and Helen Bonham Carter opens nationwide in theaters on July 3.