It's Official...Armie Hammer to Suit up as 'The Lone Ranger'

A couple of weeks ago, we reported that actor Armie Hammer, who played both of the Winklevoss twins in David Fincher's The Social Network was circling his wagons around the role of The Lone Ranger for Disney.  Now Variety claims Hammer has finally decided to accept the role of the iconic masked cowboy, who will serve as the sidekick to Johnny Depp's Tonto. 

The relatively new young actor may have beat out previously rumored A-list actors in George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Ryan Gosling, as well as my preference for the role, TV star Timothy Olyphant to become the Ranger.  Who knows if any of the unforementioned stars were really even interested or considered for the part?  Gotta love the Hollywood rumor mill. 

As much as I may dislike Hammer for the role, it's no secret that director Gore Verbinski and Depp expect Tonto to be the lead character in the film, and likely wouldn't want another headlining star for a much smaller, sidekick role.

Depp even made recent comments that suggest Tonto will be the main man, which is the polar opposite of how the character was portrayed on the old Lone Ranger TV show.

"I remember watching [the show] as a kid, with Jay Silverheels and Clayton Moore, and going: 'Why is the f--king Lone Ranger telling Tonto what to do?  I liked Tonto even at a tender age, and knew Tonto was getting the unpleasant end of the stick here.  That's stuck with me.  And when the idea [for the movie] came up, I started thinking about Tonto and what could be done in my own small way to try--'eliminate' isn't possible--but reinvent the relationship, to attempt to take some of the ugliness thrown on the Native Americans, not only in The Lone Ranger, but the way Indians were treated throughout the history of cinema, and turn on its head."

While, Depp's stance on playing Tonto "the right way" and trying to make up for all of the years of unnecessary oppression against Native Americans in the film industry is an admirable and noble pursuit, I'm still not very interested in seeing this movie on the big screen.  I haven't liked any of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, and can imagine the finished The Longer Ranger movie being painfully similar to that series. 

For others out there still interested in The Lone Ranger starring Depp and Hammer, the movie is expected to be released in theaters during the holiday season in 2012.