‘Iron Man 3’ star James Badge Dale talks ‘The Lone Ranger,’ playing his brother and praises Denzel Washington for ‘work experience’
From director Shane Black, Iron Man 3 and co-starring with Robert Downey Jr to The Lone Ranger, Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp, James Badge Dale has a busy 2013 movie resume.
Now the actor talks about his first western and working alongside star Armie Hammer as The Lone Ranger’s brother.
“No one knows that the Lone Ranger had a brother. People are like, “Who are you playing?,” and I’m like, “The Lone Ranger’s brother,” and they go, “Who?!””
Dale heaped tons of praise on Hammer and the experience of working on his first western.
“Armie Hammer is one of my favorite people in the world. It’s just funny playing the older brother of a guy who’s 6’7.” I’m exaggerating. He’s like 6’4,” but he’s a decent head-length taller than me. I’m looking up at him going, “Little brother . . .” He’s just a lovely guy. I loved that film. We had such a good time. I’d never done a Western, and it just had the feeling like we were breaking new ground. We were doing something new and different. Everybody on that film, loved that film. We were out in the elements. All the money in that film was on locations and set pieces, and actually allowing us to be there, in those locations and shooting outside with hundreds of extras, the horses, and the trains. That was all there. You get close over that. You come together over that.”
Working with big names has been influential for the young star, but he picked Denzel Washington as the most impactful.
“You want to work with people who are going to push you and force you to take risks and to bring the level of your game up. I worked with Denzel Washington on Flight. I worked one day with that man and I had to chop up a lot of dialogue, and he was listening. But, his listening is better than any listening I’ve ever done. He is so present, and the man can give while he’s listening. He never let me drop, 12 hours in a stairwell. I learned more from that man in one day, in 12 hours, than I have in years, in drama school and all these other things we do to work on our craft ourselves. Sometimes what you get from work experience, you can’t teach in a classroom. I’ve just been lucky. I’ve worked with some good people, and I hope I get to keep at it. ”
Full interview here
Dale co-stars with Depp, Hammer and Tom Wilkinson (Batman Begins), Helena Bonham Carter (The King’s Speech), Barry Pepper (True Grit), William Fichtner (The Dark Knight), Ruth Wilson (Anna Karenina) and James Badge Dale (Iron Man 3).
The Lone Ranger arrives in theaters on July 3, 2013.
