'The Lone Ranger' First Photo Reveals Johnny Depp as Tonto, Armie Hammer as Lone Ranger

On Thursday, Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer tweeted out the first photo from the set of his new movie, The Lone Ranger, directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Carribbean, The Ring). The photo reveals Armie Hammer (J. Edgar) and Johnny Depp (The Rum Diary) as the famous Western crime-fighting duo, with Hammer dressed as the masked Lone Ranger and Johnny Depp dressed as his Native American friend Tonto.

Tonto and The Lone Ranger Ride Again! Bruckheimer tweeted.

The new action-adventure title, set to release on May 13, 2013, is actually a re-imagining of the classic radio show The Lone Ranger, which first aired on WXYZ radio in Detroit back in 1933. The show was originally conceived by Fran Striker, the show's writer, and George Trendle, the owner of the WXYZ radio station. Eventually, the radio show grew in popularity until the characters were ported to a television program, which ran from 1949 to 1957.

The basic plot of the Lone Ranger follows the story of Texas Ranger John Francis Reid, who was among five other Texas Rangers when their group was ambushed by a band of outlaws led by Barthalamo Butch Cavendish. Butch butchers the six other Texas Rangers, but leaves Reid barely alive.

Reid is all but finished until a Native American named Tonto arrives and recognizes Reid as the man who saved his life at some point in his past. Tonto nurses Reid back to help and the two fill six graves to trick Butch into thinking that Reid had perished.

To avenge the death of his fallen comrades, Reid dons a black mask and seeks out Butch, eventually bringing him to justice. Even afterwards, however, Reid decides to keep the black mask and fight evil under the guise of The Lone Ranger, alongside his faithful sidekick Tonto, and his trusty steed, Silver.

Since the original show aired in a different era, the costumes of both characters were unusually bright, considering the dark themes of the storyline. The Lone Ranger wore a light grey outfit and a bright red scarf to offset the black mask, while Tonto looked like a well-dressed man wearing Native American threads (with a bit of 70s flair).

In the Gore Verbinski version of The Lone Ranger, the tone is considerably darker, which is reflected in the costumes worn by Depp and Hammer. The Lone Ranger still wears a dark red band around his neck, but it looks far less flamboyant than a scarf. The Ranger's suit is also darker overall, but the real difference here is in Depp's far more authentic costume. Depp's face is covered in war face paint, wears feathers and has an old black crow perched on his head. Depp probably feels comfortable wearing a lot of make-up -- Jack Sparrow, anyone? -- but just from one picture alone, the duo looks very promising.

The film crew has not released any plot details over the new Lone Ranger, although one would assume that after so many years, a full feature-length film would follow the ranger's origin story. The movie is currently filming in New Mexico with stars Helena Bonham Carter, William Fichtner, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson and James Badge Dale.

What do you think of the new-look Lone Ranger and Tonto? Let us know in the comments section below.