Armie Hammer Officially Joins Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger

You may recall that last month Armie Hammer (The Social Network) was reported to have been in talks to join Walt Disney Pictures’ big screen adaptation ofThe Lone Ranger, playing the titular lead.
More than talk, it’s now been revealed. According to Variety, Hammer has officially signed on to the production, and will star opposite Johnny Depp, who has already been attached to the role of Tonto for the past couple of years.
The film is set to go into production this fall.
While Hammer hasn’t logged a lot of movie screen time, he definitely showed enough presence and chops in David Fincher’s The Social Network as the Winklevoss twins to merit attention. He’s also racked up a lot of television credits over the past six years in series from Arrested Development to Gossip Girl. Moreover, the 6′ 5″ actor has plenty of stature and a baritone voice. Plus, he’s repped by William Morris Endeavor, so clearly movers and shakers in Hollywood are impressed by his talent.
Story: The Lone Ranger’s origin story begins with a group of Texas Rangers chasing down a gang of outlaws led by the notorious Butch Cavendish. After the Rangers are ambushed by the outlaws, a Native American named Tonto stumbles on the scene and recognizes the lone survivor, Reid, as the man who has previously saved his life. After nursing Reid back to health, the two men dig six graves for Reid’s comrades, among them Reid’s brother. Reid fashions a black mask using material from his brother’s vest to conceal his identity, so that Cavendish will think there were no survivors. Even after he and Tonto bring the Cavendish gang to justice, Reid continues to fight evil under the guise of the Lone Ranger.
Directed by Gore Verbinski, The Jerry Bruckheimer production is set to arrive in theaters sometime in 2014.
Does Hammer strike you as a good choice to play The Lone Ranger? Or are you perhaps concerned that he might be upstaged by Johnny Depp’s turn as Tonto? Let us know your thoughts below.

Nazi Mutants on Hold as David O. Russell Departs Uncharted

David O. Russell, who was writing and ostensibly set to direct the adaptation of the ‘Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune’ video game, is no longer involved in the project, reports Heat Vision.
The video game adaptation — which is being produced by Columbia Pictures — centers on a search for El Dorado complicated by Spanish/Nazi mutant creatures.
Insiders tell THR that one reason for the split was that Russell — hoping to reteam on the project with his Fighter star Mark Wahlberg — submitted a 200 page draft to the studio, adding new characters not present in the video game. The writing duo of Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer worked on the project before Russell signed aboard.
Columbia is now searching for new creatives to develop the project, though the Donnelly-Oppenheimer script was well-regarded and may still be used as a foundation for the film.
The premise charts the journey of protagonist Nathan Drake, supposed descendant of the explorer Sir Francis Drake, as he seeks the lost treasure of El Dorado, with the help of friend Victor “Sully” Sullivan and journalist Elena Fisher. Their journey is complicated when a rival hunter joins the fray, and is further amped up when creatures — mutated descendants of Spaniards and Nazis — begin attacking those hoping to learn the treasure’s true secrets.
Hopefully, we’re not the only ones who think this sounds like an awesome guilty pleasure

First Pic of Robert Pattinson in David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis

oday the first photo of Robert Pattinson and Sarah Gadon from director David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis arrived online. You can check out the photo below.
The pic was snapped by Cronenberg’s daughter, Caitlin, on the set. Caitlin Cronenberg is an established photographer.
Based upon the novel of the same name by Don DeLillo, the new movie takes place in Manhattan and revolves around Eric Packer (Pattinson), a multi-millionaire who goes through his fortune in a 24-hour attempt to get a haircut.
Cosmopolis co-stars Juliette Binoche, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Durand and Jay Baruchel.
The film has yet to secure a domestic distributor.

New Clips from JJ Abrams’ Super 8 Reveal More Story Bytes

As anticipation builds for what might just be the breakout hit of the summer, Steven Spielberg and JJ Abrams’ Super 8, two new clips have arrived online; the first teases the events in connection with the now famous train sequence that sets the story in motion; the second provides an overview of the secret from beyond through a variety of scenes from the film.
You can watch both below.
Story Synopsis: In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town, and the local Deputy tries to uncover the truth – something more terrifying than any of them could have imagined.
Super 8 stars Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich, Gabriel Basson, Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee, Zach Mills and Amanda Michalka,

New Photos and Video Reveal that the Future Was Fab in Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men First Class

20th Century Fox is not standing idly by while Marvel and DC grab the superhero limelight. Many consider the 2011 summer movie season to have kicked off with Thor, but competent as that film was, many are also hoping that Captain America: The First Avenger and Green Lantern may be even better. While there’s no way to gauge that presumption at this point, Fox is showing us ever more ‘mod’ images from X-Men: First Class—and it looks to be a stunner, certainly in aesthetics and tone, if not in story (though preliminary sneak peeks have us excited about that, too).
Though director Matthew Vaughn’s film may not offer continuity with the ‘X-Men’ films that came before, or indeed, even the property’s canon, at the end of the day, it might not matter. The film will either stand on its own, or it won’t.
And so far, early speculation is that it will…and then some. Meanwhile, a host of new photos, along with two new TV spots, have debuted online, including January Jones (Mad Men) in the familiar white bra top Hellfire Club member Emma Frost used to wear in the comics.
In our opinion Vaughn is to be commended for including touchstones from the comic, including the traditional blue and yellow outfits that Bryan Singer ditched in the original X-Men.
What Vaughn has wrought reminds us in some respects of a retro-modernistic redux of TV producer Gerry Anderson’s Fab Future, as characterized in his ’60s and ’70s Supermarionation series, and live action skeins like U.F.O. and Space 1999. The Hellfire Club’s submarine and its crew, in particular, feel like an updated take on U.F.O.‘s Skydiver 1 and its crew.
You can check out several of the images below, and also head over to CBM to see the entire collection of all 40 images, including the X-Jet and the Hellfire Club’s submarine.
In addition, two new TV spots have debuted, which you can also check out using the embedded players below.
X-Men: First Class arrives in theaters on June 3.