By Disney has officially stated that they are planning to release their Lone Ranger project in December of 2012. The project has been in pre-production hell for years now, but it looks like Disney really wants this thing to happen, so winter 2012 it is!
What I can’t figure out is why they have cast Johnny Depp to play the role of The Lone Ranger’s Native American sidekick Tonto. Sure, Depp is a well-known guy and people like him, but I just feel like there are so many great, actually Native American actors out there, surely Disney could’ve found one that would work!
Though actually, scratch that, I bet what happened is that every Native American actor turned the job down. I mean, it’s not like The Lone Ranger series has been known for portraying Native Americans positively (or accurately). Hopefully Johnny Depp will live up to his words and make the whole situation a little bit less “ugly” for Tonto.
[via The Hollywood Reporter, via The Huffington Post]