Yesterday Variety reported that, after weeks of rumors, Armie Hammer (The Social Network) has signed up to play The Lone Ranger next to Johnny Depp's Tonto (Good luck, Armie!) in The Lone Ranger which will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Gore Verbinski from a script by Justin Haythe.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Johnny Depp, who says he was told growing up that his great grandmother was either Cherokee or Creek Indian, explained his reasons why he chose to team up again with his Pirates of the Caribbean cohorts Bruckheimer and Verbinskito play Tonto, "I remember watching [The Lone Ranger] as a kid, with Jay Silverheels and Clayton Moore, and going: ‘Why is the fucking Lone Ranger telling Tonto what to do?’ I liked Tonto, even at that tender age, and knew Tonto was getting the unpleasant end of the stick here. That’s stuck with me. And when the idea came up [for the movie], I started thinking about Tonto and what could be done in my own small way try to — ‘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 history of cinema, and turn it on its head.
Barring delays, you can look for The Lone Ranger sometime in 2012.
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I like it!
Sweet!
They can easily Rogen this up and have Tonto be the guy that shows the Lone Ranger the ropes but history turned the relationship on its head. Tonto was in charge, all the writers of history just made it the other way around…
Well, this sounds great.
@RPG I like that “Rogen this up” has become a phrase that we use!
so much pretty.
i love the comic and have allways had a soft spot for westerns. cant wait.(hope they do it justice)
Sold!
Depp is going to play a native american??
What year is this?
@ericmci Agreed. Don’t like this at all.
I feel like Depp has been attached to this flick forever.
@PraxJarvin He has. In fact I remember reading about Depp being Tonto for two years now.
I’ve never really got into Lone Ranger, or Zorro for that matter. But when the trailers come out and if it peaks my interest maybe I’ll give it a shot.
I have a great grand parent that’s Native American, too. I shouldn’t play Tonto.
@ericmci Really? That’s a concern? It’s called acting. I suppose it was wrong for Antonio Banderas to play Mexicans and South Americans (who are a mix of Indian and Spanish) or for Zhang Ziyi to play a Japanese geisha. Lind Hunt also won an Oscar for playing an Asian man, two things she is not. (And she wasn’t playing a transvestite or a lesbian, but the actual role of a man.) Of course, if you really need authenticity we can always call up Wes Studi, even though he’s in his 60s.
@Kodaiji I think what @ericmci is referring to is Depps 1997 film The Brave. So good it was released in the states.
Personnally, I’m very curious
I grew up with the Clayton Moore/Jay Silverheels show and never found the way that Tonto was treated as insulting. The mutual respect the pair had was apparent in every show. Every attempt to redo the series since has failed, but I’ll keep my fingers crossed on this one. I just don’t want to see Tonto portrayed as Captain Jack with feathers.
I love the current Lone Ranger comic from Boom! and I hope Tonto is portrayed along those lines in this film. I’m sure Depp will be amazing in this role.
*wasn’t released not was.
I will pretty much watch anything with Depp in it. I was more than okay with the fact that he was going to play Tonto when it was announced. I hope they make him badass like the recent comics.
@AlanRob Oh, OK. Thanks for the correction.
@ericmci Sorry for missing your allusion.
YES! I love the Lone Ranger and this sounds awesome!
Acting is one thing- taking a part from a minority actor- is another.
Look we talked about this recently with the idea of certain supporting roles that were created as caucasian characters being retconned into say- a black king pin – or an asian warrior three
B/c it’s acting – and all that matters is a good character.
On one hand I agree with that- and if we’re really serious about it- the door should swing both ways.
But there are times where identity of the character it’s essence and yeah somtimes that is racial and is compromised by a choice like this.
It’s like how all the old westerns the native americans or the chinese were all white actors.
This just smacks of – hey it’s Johnny Depp everyone!
You want to tell me that when you think of Johnny Depp doing the Tonto accent you don’t feel a little weird about it? Like when someone tells a racist joke with an affected voice?
“The actor has also surmised that he is part Native American, saying in 2011, “I guess I have some Native American [in me] somewhere down the line.”
Yeah not sure that qualifies here Mr. Depp.
@ericmci – i agree that a Depp playing Tonto is odd, and that a native amercia actor would be the obvious choice here.
But…with Depp, you’ll have a stronger chance of getting butts in the theater and money in executives pockets.
Not personal, just business.
I love Johnny Depp, but this is weird for me. The intentions sound true, but is the best way to bring dignity back to a racially stereotyped character through a form of “black face”? This could easily be seen as a white guy with a tan trying to go all “Tropic Thunder”…i mean yes he has a heritage connection, but he doesn’t even know what it really is.
As someone who has Native Americans in his family (living on the Res with full tribal benefits) i wonder how this quasi “black face” will be taken. There are quite a few very talented Native American actors in hollywood who should have been given this chance to bring the dignity back to their own culture.
I’m sure Depp will put in an amazing job…but yeah just a touchy casting choice.
Hey, they cast a white kid as the Airbender and that turned out great, why worry?
yea, that was sarcasm. Willy Wonka.
I’m sorry but like tontos a native american hi johny deeps white