WTF: Johhny Depp to play Tonto in the Lone Ranger

[Gary Blanchard]

Depp drew a lot of attention when the first photos of his costumed look as Tonto were released. In a radical departure from how the character looked on the '50s TV series, Depp sports white-and-black facepaint and wears a stuffed crow on his head. But his voice in the role is not that far removed from how Jay Silverheels spoke as Tonto on the show. Depp's tone is much deeper than we're used to hearing, and he does use the character's famously broken English.

While the movie is still called "The Lone Ranger," Tonto is more than just a sidekick. Depp told Entertainment Weekly that when he watched the show as a child, he "knew Tonto was getting the unpleasant end of the stick." In developing the movie version, Depp said he wanted to "reinvent" the dynamic between the Ranger and Tonto "to attempt to take some of the ugliness thrown on the Native Americans... and turn it on its head." Depp himself has traces of Native American heritage in his ancestry, and he was recently adopted as an honorary member of the Comanche tribe.

After 50 years, the same stereotype with a white guy playing the Indian? At least Jay Silverheels was fully Indian.

 

[Punchy]

My only problem with Depp's new stuff is I can't help but see him as Jack Sparrow, silly makeup and all. Too many Pirates of the Caribbean movies. .

 

[reverend1]

That production has been stopped and restarted several times. It just got stopped again because a stuntman drowned last week.

I like JD's acting, if we could just get him to stop playing guitar.

 

[Gary Blanchard]

I really want to like Johnny Depp's acting, but I think he tries too hard to be outrageous. He hung around Tim Burton too much in my (unwanted) opinion.

 

[Guitar Heel]

Yeah, I thought this was off again...

 

[Kerouac]

What's a Tonto?

 

[Gary Blanchard]

What's a Tonto?

Tonto was the Lone Ranger's Indian sidekick who talked in that typical broken English style that all Indian characters used in westerns. He always called the Lone Ranger "Kemosabe", which probably meant "white asshole."

 

[reverend1]

He always called the Lone Ranger "Kemosabe", which probably meant "white asshole."

 

[Gary Blanchard]

Here's the original Lone Ranger and Tonto

 

[Tralfaz]

I saw the trailer. It was full of the standard techno music with loud explosive percussion to emphasize the edits, slow motion gun fights, broken glass flying around, and even a reference to "time and space under the mastery of man."

Pass.

 

[12Pack]

There is a scene in the movie where the the Lone Ranger and Tonto go to a saloon for a drink- except it's a really really hot day and they are worried the Silver, their horse is going to overheat. So Tonto decides to run around the horse as fast as he can in hopes that his wind speed would cool Silver down.

A few minutes later a cowboy comes into the saloon and asks, " who is the owner of the white horse out in front of the saloon?"

The Lone Ranger raises his hand and the cowboy says, "You left your ingeon running"


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[OGG]

I really want to like Johnny Depp's acting, but I think he tries too hard to be outrageous. He hung around Tim Burton too much in my (unwanted) opinion.

Yup,

Tim Burton ruined Johnny Depp.





And Batman.



And Willy Wonka.


And Alice in wonderland.

And Oingo Boingo.

 

[reverend1]

Yup,

Tim Burton ruined Johnny Depp.





And Batman.



And Willy Wonka.


And Alice in wonderland.

And Oingo Boingo.

Alice in Wonderland and Willy Wonka were atrocious.

 

[Gary Blanchard]

I didn't bother with Willie Wonka, but Carol really wanted to see Alice in Wonderland in 3-D. I was underwhelmed.

 

[BlackCat]

 

[Tig]

From the photo, they at least created a realistic image. I hope they do justice in the characterization, too.
My favorite American Indian actor/bass player is Wes Studi.

 

[reverend1]

Always a classic.