"I'd actually seen a painting by an artist named Kirby Sattler, and looked at the face of this warrior and thought: That's it," Depp said in a recent interview, reports Entertainment Weekly. "The stripes down the face and across the eyes ... it seemed to me like you could almost see the separate sections of the individual, if you know what I mean."
Tonto, the Native American companion of the Lone Ranger, was created by George W. Trindle and Fran Striker and is best known by his Jay Silverheels iteration from the 1950s television series of the same name.
Depp, however — with headdress, white makeup and all — takes Tonto to a whole new level. "It just so happened Sattler had painted a bird flying directly behind the warrior's head, Depp said of the painting, entitled "I Am Crow," that inspired him. "It looked to me like it was sitting on top. "I thought: Tonto's got a bird on his head. It's his spirit guide in a way. It's dead to others, but it's not dead to him. It's very much alive."
The Lone Ranger, also starring Helena Bonham Carter and Tom Wilkinson, is expected to hit theaters in May of 2013.
