Tonto and The Lone Ranger – First Picture of Legendary Duo

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer did every Disney fan a favor when he recently tweeted the first image from the set of The Lone Ranger. It gives us our first glance at Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger.

Production began at the end of February and promises to take the legend of the Lone Ranger in a new direction with the Tonto character receiving more focus. Director Gore Verbinski said:

“The only version of ‘The Lone Ranger’ I’m interested in doing is ‘Don Quixote’ told from Sancho Panza’s point of view… And hence I was honest early on with Johnny that Tonto is the part. We’re not going to do it [straight]. Everyone knows that story. I don’t want to tell that story.”

Johnny Depp added:

“I remember watching (the TV series) as a kid . . . and going: ‘Why is the [expletive] is the Lone Ranger telling Tonto what to do? … When the idea came up (Tonto to be the central character for the movie) I started thinking about Tonto and what could be done in my own small way to try — eliminate isn’t possible — but reinvent the relationship, to attempt to take some of the ugliness thrown on the Native Americans, not only in ‘The Lone Ranger,’ but the way Indians were treated throughout history of cinema, and turn it on its head.”

So this is definitely not your father’s Lone Ranger. Despite delays in production, they’re still trying to hit the May 13th 2013 scheduled opening date.