AceShowbiz -

After being rumored to be the front-runner to star in "The Lone Ranger", Armie Hammer is now attached to take the lead role. Variety reports that the star of "The Social Network" has been confirmed to play the masked Texas ranger in the Walt Disney Pictures film.

Hammer will join Johnny Depp, who will portray the ranger's sidekick Tonto. Speaking of his character, Depp previously said, "I always felt Native Americans were badly portrayed in Hollywood films over the decades. It's a real opportunity for me to give a salute to them. Tonto was a sidekick in all the Lone Ranger series. [This film] is a very different approach to that partnership. And a funny one I think."

Adapted from George W. Trendle's classic old-time radio and early television show of the same name, "The Lone Ranger" revolves around a masked Texas Ranger who survived the deathly ambush by a gang of outlaws. Accompanied by his native American assistant Tonto and white horse named Silver, he sets his sight to bring every outlaw in the Old West to justice. "Pirates of the Caribbean" writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio will pen the script.