Johnny Depp: “The Lone Ranger” at Cinecom. Photos of Director Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
In “The Lone Ranger” Native American warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid, a man of the law, into a legend of justice.
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By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: First it was George Clooney. Recently, it was Ryan Gosling. This morning, it appears Armie Hammer is close to securing the lead role in Gore Verbinski’s “The Lone Ranger.”
Hammer, of course, is best known for playing the Winklevoss twins in David Fincher’s Oscar-winning Facebook drama “The Social Network.” He also has a role opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar Hoover biopic.
But if Hammer were to land the “Lone Ranger” role, he’d share the screen with Johnny Depp, who worked with Verbinski on three “Pirates of the Caribbean” pictures and is set to play the Ranger’s partner, Tonto.
THR reports that “no dealmaking has begun, but Hammer has met with [Verbinski] for the role.”
We’ll see who lands in that legendary saddle.
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Photo courtesy of PRPhotos.com.
By Bryan Curtis
hollywoodnews.com: Gwyneth Paltrow, the star of Country Strong, isn’t the only outsider invading the opry. Bryan Curtis on how Darius Rucker, Kid Rock, and Jewel conquered country.
What happened to country music? Well, first, you have to understand what happened to rock. Rock has been largely crowded out of Top 40 stations, replaced by hip-hop and rap. This leaves a gaggle of highly paid rockers with no place to hawk their music. They’re never going to take airtime away from Kanye West. But they might take it away from Keith Urban—especially if they are, say, Jon Bon Jovi, who recorded a No. 1 country hit with Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles and occupies Urban’s anthemic part of the music spectrum. Country is now seen as the genre that honors such a sound. Indeed, most country arrivistes insist they never left rock; it was rock that left them. As Jewel put it to The Los Angeles Times, “I don’t feel like I’ve changed, the formats have changed.”
If rockers were moving toward country, then country was also moving toward rock. The seminal event cited is usually the noisy late-1980s arrival of Garth Brooks, who mimicked rock’s grandiosity as he winged over the crowd at his stadium shows. “But go back and listen to Garth Brooks’ No Fences album,” says Kyle Coroneos, the excellent critic at the website Saving Country Music. “I don’t think that would be played on country radio these days. It’s too plain. It’s too country.” Indeed, genre-straddling acts like Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and Lady Antebellum have pulled country’s center of gravity further toward rock. “Once, Taylor Swift was the most non-country thing you could hear on country radio,” adds Coroneos. “Nowadays, she is the median.” It’s hardly a surprise that when Kid Rock enters the arena, nobody raises much of an objection.
To read more go to thedailybeast.com
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By Scott Mendelson
hollywoodnews.com: Confirming something that has been rumored for literally years, Disney announced that Gore Verbinksi will be helming a feature-film retelling of The Lone Ranger. And yes, Johnny Depp will be playing Tonto. For what it’s worth, Johnny Depp does have is 1/4 Native American, with a Cherokee maternal grandmother and a partial-Cherokee father. As to who will be playing the actual Lone Ranger, that is still up in the air, although I’m pretty sure that perennial favorite George Clooney has outgrown the part. Jerry Bruckheimer will be producing for a planned 2012 release.
The story is pretty simple: a young Texas ranger who is the lone survivor of an ambush; nursed back to health by the mysterious Tonto. How you tell that story and what embellishments you add, well that’s what will make the movie. We haven’t had a feature film version of this story since The Legend of the Lone Ranger in 1981. That would-be epic actually had a pretty strong first two acts, which detail the backstory of ‘that masked man’. Christopher Lloyd brought a cold, clinical menace to the lead villain (longtime nemesis Maj. Bartholomew ‘Butch’ Cavendish). But the film peters in out in the finale, with most of the Lone Ranger’s heroic initial exploits being devoted to just sneaking around the villain’s compound and occasionally punching someone. Still, the structure of the film reminded me not a little of Batman Begins, and I’m willing to bet that the Nolan Batman reboot is the template that Disney will be playing off of for this new version.
To read more about this story go to Mendelson’s Memos
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By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Few films in this year’s still-developing Oscar race could go from “dark horse” to “frontrunner” in the blink of an eye. Unless that eye has a patch over it.
I’m referring to the dark patch worn by Jeff Bridges’ character in Joel and Ethan Coen’s “True Grit,” a remake of the 1969 John Wayne western that will gallop into theaters on Dec. 25. Bridges plays Marshal Cogburn (The Duke’s role in the original), a surly, drunken cowboy who helps a young girl track down her father’s murderer. Paramount released the first official image from the film in its Holiday Press Kit, and we’re sharing it with you.
We’re not completely in the dark on “Grit,” because the original exists and can be studied. It’s unlikely, though, that the Coens are conducting a shot-by-shot remake. And while they will not be taking “True Grit” to Toronto – a practice they did with their last few films – I fully expect the picture to jump cowboy-boots-first into the awards race once it finally screens. After all, Wayne won his first and only Oscar for portraying Cogburn in Henry Hathaway’s original (though most would argue it was a lifetime achievement Oscar at that point in the actor’s career).
We also know that Joel and Ethan filled out their cast with amazing talents. Matt Damon will play La Boeuf, Cogburn’s employer who insists on accompanying the vigilante party. (Glen Campbell played the character in the original.) Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper will fill in supporting parts. But I’m most interested in seeing how relative newcomer Hailee Steinfeld handles the tough role of young Mattie Ross. I also hope the Coens keep Elmer Bernstein’s original, Oscar-nominated score, as that might be the best part of to ’69 “Grit.”
More on the Coen Brothers’ “True Grit” as it develops.
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