The saloon doors of casting for The Lone Ranger over at Disney have spun once more, ditching Dwight Yoakum out into the dusty desert streets. All right, so his departured from the revitalised Western is due to scheduling issues, which is a shame. But there is a happy ending to this particular tale: William Fichtner has been brought into replace him!
Fichtner will be playing bad guy Butch Cavendish, bringing his usual serving of what the Kids Today are wont to call “teh awesome” to the role.
Lone Ranger already boasts Armie Hammer as the titular masked hero, with Johnny Depp as his partner-in-law-keeping, Tonto. James Badge Dale is on as Dan Reid, the Ranger’s older brother, with Ruth Wilson as Dan’s wife and Tom Wilkinson and Helena Bonham Carter in other roles. Gore Verbinski is directing the film right now, ready for a May 31 release next year.
Fichtner has recently finished up work on both Neil Blomkamp’s Elysium and Phantom, which finds him working alongside Ed Harris. He’s also part of Quentin Dupieux’s madcap follow-up to Rubber, the likely aptly titled Wrong. Since his last villain role was absolutely the best thing about _[Drive Angry** {href='http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1180' target='blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'}), we're rather excited about this casting.