After years in development, The Lone Ranger now has its title character in the form of Armie Hammer, who’s joining the long-attached Johnny Depp as Tonto. And with director Gore Verbinski planning to shoot the movie later this year, they’re looking at filling out the rest of the cast. First up is Tom Wilkinson, who Variety says in now in talks to join the movie.
He’s said to be up for playing a railroad tycoon who has a prominent role in the plot. That’s not a lot of info to go on, but I don’t think anyone would be shocked if he turned out to be the villain. After all, he is a British middle-aged man hired to be in a big Hollywood flick, so that almost automatically means he’ll be the bad guy. That said, lips are locked on the plot of the movie, so at the moment it is slightly speculation.
Currently Disney is working towards a December 2012 release for Lone Ranger. It’s going to be a very packed schedule around then as November & December 2012 dates have already been set for Ouija, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Rise Of The Guardian, 47 Ronin, the first of The Hobbit movies, Life Of Pi and Dajngo Unchained. It’s going to be tough for all those movies to find an audience (and undoubtedly more will be added). I wouldn’t be surprised if Lone Ranger movied to summer 2013, just to give it a little more breathing room, and because it does seem more like a summer movies than a winter one.