After years in development, The Lone Ranger is finally moving forward and it appears it’s actually going to get made at long last. A couple of months ago, Armie Hammer joined the long-attached Johnny Depp – they’ll play the Lone Ranger and Tonto, respectively – and now the movie is eyeing its female lead in the form of Ruth Wilson.
Not a vast amount is known about the character she’ll play, although Variety offers a bit of a family tree, saying she’ll be Rebecca Reid, wife of head ranger Dan Reid, who in turn is the brother of Armie Hammer’s masked crime-fighter, Dan Reid. Tom Wilkinson also signed up recently to be the bad guy.
Wilson is best known for playing the title role in the BBC’s 2006 mini-series of Jane Eyre (which was remarkably her screen acting debut), along with other TV projects such as The Prisoner remake, Small Island and Luther. The Lone Ranger would be her movie debut.
Gore Verbinski will direct, and while it isn’t clear when the movie will shoot, it can’t be too long now, as the film already has a release date set of December 21st, 2012.