Exclusive: Johnny Depp Takes a Scary Fall Off His Horse While Shooting ‘The Lone Ranger’

Whoa, Scout, whoa!

Witnessing actors brave great heights, explosions and other death-defying stunts is usually rather awe-inspiring. Seeing one fall off his really, really fast horse, on the other hand, is truly terrifying.

The actor who took a very dangerous tumble off his mighty steed was none other than Johnny Depp, who now has quite a story to tell from his time shooting "The Lone Ranger," Disney's latest summer movie extravaganza.

You can see the accident occur in our exclusive featurette (below), which also shows just how prepared big movie productions are for such possible incidents as members of the stunt and medic teams immediately rush to Depp's aid even before he hits the ground.

Depp was lucky, walking away with only a bruise on his stomach. And, as is to be expected with a cat as cool as Johnny Depp, he ultimately laughed off the incident.

"I would say that the positive thing is ... my coccyx didn't take it," says Depp to director Gore Verbinski, a statement made all the funnier as it was said while the actor was in his full Tonto costume and makeup.

Depp had mentioned the incident earlier this spring at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where he, Verbinski, co-star Armie Hammer, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer first let it be known just how, well, hazardous an endeavor it was in making "The Lone Ranger."

See Johnny Depp's Scary Spill at 1:06-in:

"This is definitely the most dangerous movie I've ever done, and I've worked with Michael Mann," said Depp, referring to his portrayal of gangster John Dillinger in Mann's "Public Enemies" (2009). "Staying alive on a horse that's moving at high speed ... that was the greatest challenge."

The new behind-the-scenes featurette emphasizes the hands-on approach that Verbinski and company took in bringing "The Lone Ranger" to life, which involved actually dragging a derailed locomotive towards our heroes at high speed and, as we had seen in an earlier featurette, putting Hammer at the top of a very tall (and rather fragile-looking) platform overlooking a 200-foot cliff.

"Audiences are so sophisticated now -- they can tell when it's CG, they can tell when you're faking it," says Bruckheimer in explaining why the production took such an old-fashioned, practical approach to the big action set pieces.

Hopefully, all the long hours, bad weather and, yes, near-death experiences will be worth it as modern audiences once again feel what you're supposed to when you go to a movie like "The Lone Ranger": a sense of wonder.

"The Lone Ranger" rides into theaters on July 3.

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