Jerry Bruckheimer is producing The Lone Ranger, which will be a reunion of he and Verbinski, who last collaborated on the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. It will also be a reunion for Verbinski and Depp, though between the Pirates trilogy and Rango, the actor seems to have found a creative partnership similar to the one he shares with Tim Burton, though with nowhere near the same history.
The film is tentatively set for a 2014 release date, with Justin Haythe currently hard at work on the screenplay. Verbinski has stated that The Lone Ranger will be inspired to a certain extent by Miguel Cervantes' 'Don Quixote', with the Native American sidekick acting as a Sancho Panza-like figure.
If that description proves accurate, then Armie Hammer is a great choice. He certainly as the heroic look about him (Hammer notoriously came within weeks of playing Batman in George Miller's aborted Justice League: Mortal), but he also proved in The Social Network that he can play well-meaning and slightly oblivious without making a joke on his characters. He could make an appropriate counterpoint to the sure-to-be-odd energy Johnny Depp will bring to Tonto. Hammer has a major role alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood. Not only that, but he's also set to play Prince Andrew in director Tarsem Singh's Snow White, with Lily Collins and Julia Roberts.
