Armie Hammer to Make Acting Return with Indie Western ‘Frontier Crucible’

Armie Hammer‘s outlaw days in Hollywood are coming to an end, thanks to indie Western film “Frontier Crucible.”

Hammer will return to acting for the first time since being accused of sexual assault in 2021. After the allegations, which also suggested Hammer had cannibalistic tendencies, the “Call Me by Your Name” star was dropped from roles in Amazon’s “Shotgun Wedding,” Paramount’s “The Offer,” Starz’s “Gaslit,” and Broadway’s “The Minutes.” The accusations were investigated by the LAPD; no charges were filed.

Now, after Hammer has said he was “not welcome” in Hollywood anymore, the “Lone Ranger” actor is playing one of three outlaw criminals for “Frontier Crucible.”

The feature is produced by “Bone Tomahawk” and “Dragged Across Concrete” producer Dallas Sonnier, and is being billed as “Reservoir Dogs” meets “Bone Tomahawk.” The film is set in the Arizona Territory of the 1870s, and follows a former soldier (Myles Clohessy) with a tragic past who is thrown into an uneasy alliance with three outlaws (Hammer, Thomas Jane, and Jonah Kagen), a beautiful woman (Mary Stickley), and her wounded husband (Eli Brown), in an attempt to survive the elements and hostiles of the western frontier.

Zane Holtz and Eddie Spears also star. Travis Mills will direct; Maxime Alexandre will be the cinematographer. Production will begin in November 2024 with filming taking place in Monument Valley and Prescott, Arizona.

Sonnier’s banner Bonfire Legend adapted “Frontier Crucible” from Harry Whittington’s 1961 Western novel “Desert Stake-Out.” Sonnier and Amanda Presmyk are executive producing for Bonfire Legend; Preston Poulter is also executive producing and financing the picture with Bonfire Legend.

Jane and his producing partner Courtney Lauren Penn are executive producing for Renegade Entertainment. David Guglielmo (“The Last Stop In Yuma County”) and Lillian Campbell are producing with Mills.

Hammer recently announced the launch of his podcast, “The Armie HammerTime Podcast,” and previously said on the “Painful Lessons” podcast that he has a semi-autobiographical script in the works.

“I’ve written a script with my buddy Jerry. We’re in the middle of trying to put that project together. I don’t want to go into the details of it right now but we have a script and it’s something that we’re passionate about and it’s something that I’m going to go do,” Hammer said. “I don’t know what the future of that is going to look like, I don’t know what the response of that is going to be, but those are things out of my control. I’m powerless over what peoples’ response to it is going to be, essentially. But I can go do something that I’m passionate about. Just because they tell me I can’t do it doesn’t mean that I have to listen.”

Deadline first reported Hammer’s casting in “Frontier Crucible.”