This morning, Hollywood Superproducer™ Jerry Bruckheimer tweeted the first official photo from the Lone Ranger movie he's producing for next year. The professional quality of the photograph indicates that they're already pretty far into production. Armie Hammer as the Lone Ranger looks pretty decent—your standard, square-jawed cowboy hero. But what I want to talk about is Johnny Depp as Tonto:

Johnny Depp has said that with his performance as Tonto, he wants to single-handedly fix the way Native Americans have been represented in American film. To which I politely reply: Shouldn't a Native American actor be the one who fixes the way Native Americans have been represented in film? It's okay, Depp says, because "I guess I have some Native American (in me) somewhere down the line. My great grandmother was quite a bit of Native American, she grew up Cherokee or maybe Creek Indian." I'm just not sure about this. Isn't it basically red-face? Would Al Jolson's "Mammy" routine have been okay if he was one-sixteenth African-American? What do you think?