The first photo of Johnny Depp as Tonto in the forthcoming film The Lone Ranger, has been unveiled.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer tweeted the above picture from the Gore Verbinski film, which also features Armie Hammer, who plays the titular Lone Ranger.

Johnny Depp recently opened up about his character Tonto and the production of The Lone Ranger, which is set for release in May 2013.

He told Larry King in a CNN special: "There is a script, it's a very funny, good script. There's a boatload of humour."

He also likened the role to his Disney character, Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates Of The Caribbean series.

He said: "What I like about Tonto, what I feel good about Tonto is that I feel like he's - you know when I came up with Captain Jack, I thought, 'Okay, I've really arrived at something different here', and Tonto feels right on par with Captain Jack, it feels like another Captain Jack to me."