Armie Hammer’s post-“Social Network” career has the potential to be very, very interesting.
I’ll be honest… when I sat down to watch David Fincher’s acclaimed film, it was one of the very first screenings of the movie anywhere, and I was totally unfamiliar with Hammer’s work. As a result, I ended up buying into the idea that the Winklevoss twins were played by two separate people. Completely. I never even considered that it was a special effect. I wondered why I didn’t know about these guys yet, but still… I just accepted it. That’s a real testament to not only the technical trickery involved but also the nuanced work that Hammer did as both of the twins.
Since then, I managed to catch up with the second season of “Reaper,” which is the other largest role I’ve seen Hammer play, and I’m impressed by the guy in general. He won the genetic lottery, but beyond that, he’s got a really interesting subversive quality that plays against his preposterous good looks.
As far as I’m concerned, that makes him a great choice for Gore Verbinski’s “The Lone Ranger.”
It sounds like they’re not quite at that point yet where they’re making an actual deal for him to be in the film, but that talks have begun. I’d love to see what sort of chemistry he’s got with Johnny Depp, who has been signed as Tonto since Verbinski first came aboard. The way Verbinski’s been describing the film for a while now, it sounds like Tonto is the real star of the film, and The Lone Ranger is going to be the sort of unknowable character off to the side of things. The idea of seeing the whole thing from Tonto’s point of view is interesting, and certainly Depp is a bigger star than Hammer, so it makes sense in terms of casting. You want someone who can stand toe to toe with him, but whose name won’t be bigger on the poster.
Will this be the film that makes Hammer a movie star? No idea. But I think it’s a great move, and out of all the names we’ve heard in connection with the role so far, this is the most appealing.
Hammer is supposed to star in Tarsem Singh’s “Snow White,” so I’m guessing this means “The Lone Ranger” won’t happen until sometime this fall, giving him a chance to finish that film while Depp is busy on “Dark Shadows.”