diff --git a/django/utils/functional.py b/django/utils/functional.py
index 1dcbd55664..839dd4ef85 100644
--- a/django/utils/functional.py
+++ b/django/utils/functional.py
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ import sys
 
 from django.utils import six
 
+try:
+    import copyreg
+except ImportError:
+    import copy_reg as copyreg
+
+
 # You can't trivially replace this `functools.partial` because this binds to
 # classes and returns bound instances, whereas functools.partial (on CPython)
 # is a type and its instances don't bind.
@@ -294,15 +300,23 @@ class SimpleLazyObject(LazyObject):
             self._setup()
         return self._wrapped.__dict__
 
-    # Python 3.3 will call __reduce__ when pickling; these methods are needed
-    # to serialize and deserialize correctly. They are not called in earlier
-    # versions of Python.
+    # Python 3.3 will call __reduce__ when pickling; this method is needed
+    # to serialize and deserialize correctly.
     @classmethod
     def __newobj__(cls, *args):
         return cls.__new__(cls, *args)
 
-    def __reduce__(self):
-        return (self.__newobj__, (self.__class__,), self.__getstate__())
+    def __reduce_ex__(self, proto):
+        if proto >= 2:
+            # On Py3, since the default protocol is 3, pickle uses the
+            # ``__newobj__`` method (& more efficient opcodes) for writing.
+            return (self.__newobj__, (self.__class__,), self.__getstate__())
+        else:
+            # On Py2, the default protocol is 0 (for back-compat) & the above
+            # code fails miserably (see regression test). Instead, we return
+            # exactly what's returned if there's no ``__reduce__`` method at
+            # all.
+            return (copyreg._reconstructor, (self.__class__, object, None), self.__getstate__())
 
     # Need to pretend to be the wrapped class, for the sake of objects that care
     # about this (especially in equality tests)
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/utils/simplelazyobject.py b/tests/regressiontests/utils/simplelazyobject.py
index 3f81e8f608..2dd382cf04 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/utils/simplelazyobject.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/utils/simplelazyobject.py
@@ -121,3 +121,25 @@ class TestUtilsSimpleLazyObject(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(unpickled, x)
         self.assertEqual(six.text_type(unpickled), six.text_type(x))
         self.assertEqual(unpickled.name, x.name)
+
+    def test_pickle_py2_regression(self):
+        from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+
+        # See ticket #20212
+        user = User.objects.create_user('johndoe', 'john@example.com', 'pass')
+        x = SimpleLazyObject(lambda: user)
+
+        # This would fail with "TypeError: can't pickle instancemethod objects",
+        # only on Python 2.X.
+        pickled = pickle.dumps(x)
+
+        # Try the variant protocol levels.
+        pickled = pickle.dumps(x, 0)
+        pickled = pickle.dumps(x, 1)
+        pickled = pickle.dumps(x, 2)
+
+        if not six.PY3:
+            import cPickle
+
+            # This would fail with "TypeError: expected string or Unicode object, NoneType found".
+            pickled = cPickle.dumps(x)