Director Gore Verbinski works with his team of animators. ( Greg Grusby / Industrial Light & Magic)

Life is tough for a chameleon with identity issues, especially in the new animated movie “Rango.”

The movie, set to release this Friday, features the voice of Johnny Depp as a confused amphibian who ends up lost in a clichéd Western town where he can finally live out his dreams of becoming a Wild West hero.

Gore Verbinski, a newcomer to the field of animation, directed the film.

Although animation may not be his genre of choice or experience, Verbinski still used his vast knowledge in live-action filmmaking to adapt to “Rango.”

“During production, we’d get up and act out scenes,” Verbinski said. “Eventually, we had 40 animators bonded together talking about each other’s shots and knowing what’s going on underneath the skin of the character at any moment in the film.”

Being the director of the hugely successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies, Verbinski has had numerous times to work with Johnny Depp.

Naturally, when it came time to casting the voice of the movie’s main character, Depp was the first choice.

“With Johnny and I doing so much work together, we’ve developed a shorthand of such in terms of communication,” Verbinski said. “I mean, a lot of times I’ll speak in sound effect and nonsensical words.”

The actor and director’s friendship started in a bar in London where the two bonded over similar music interests and found themselves talking until three in the morning, from there, the two have collaborated on some of Verbinski’s biggest hits.

“With Johnny, there was an incredible amount of trust when making ‘Rango,'” Verbinski said. “He agreed to the project even before reading the script.”

While “Rango” is pinned as an animated film, Verbinski likes to link the movie to the Western genre.

As a kid, Verbinski grew up watching Western classics like “Duck, You Sucker,” and “Once Upon a Time in the West,” so naturally “Rango,” draws heavy inspiration from the genre Verbinski loves.

“We take the two concepts of an identity crisis and a Western and splice them together,” Verbinski said. “There’s something about the desert where you are always trying to cast the silhouette of the protagonist.”

Being set in the West leads “Rango” into some pretty intense scenes, scenes that some say are too intense for children.

However, Verbinski still claims that the film was made with families in mind.

“Why does animation have to be linked with a Happy Meal, ya know?” Verbinski said. “My kids love ‘Rango,’ but you know, my kids like ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail.’ In particular sections, where it becomes more emotional, you see kids stop squirming and being transfixed by the film.”

Even though “Rango,” is Verbinski’s first and only venture into animation, the Hollywood director is itching to get back to the more traditional, live-action, and style of filming.

“In animation you have to fabricate every frame from zero, there’s no motor here, you’re just completely generating everything,” Verbinski said. “I’m actually looking forward to going back to do something that is immediate, intuitive and not frontal lobe.”

While live-action may be Verbinski’s genre of choice, the director claims to have developed new skills and appreciations for certain aspects while working on “Rango.”

New skills, that he claims he will use when he starts back at his latest project.

“I’m going to listen to the sound a lot more,” Verbinski said. “So much of the movie is with just pencil and paper, with nothing moving. Everything is sound. I have developed a huge respect for animation directors.”

“Rango,” opens in theatres nationwide Friday. The film features the voice-overs of Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin and Ned Beatty. While branded towards kids, the film still features enough action and adventure to satisfy any moviegoer and the film’s identity crisis plotline is sure to add intellectual intrigue.

“I never really set out to make a movie for an audience,” Verbinski said. “I’m just trying to make a movie that I like and would like to see. I hope there are enough peole that agree.”