Got swagger? New Peter Mountain photographs from the set of Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger show the Ranger and Tonto as larger-than-life heroic figures in a landscape that could have been painted by Frederic Remington: new photos are available HERE. Significantly, the characters are also presented as equals — no more “sidekick” role for the Native American character Tonto, who is now described as “a Comanche shaman.” Armie Hammer, who plays the masked Ranger, told USA Today’s Bryan Alexander, “This [story] is all about two guys who are on the same path, but who have come from two very different worlds.”

This version of The Lone Ranger, which just wrapped its seven-month shoot, is narrated by Tonto. “The challenge was to turn the story on its head and reinvent it,” explained Verbinski. “Everyone has heard about the Lone Ranger, but not from the only other who was there — Tonto.” But the central elements of the Lone Ranger mythology are still present, including the black mask, the lawman’s signature silver bullets, and the famous cry of “Hi-yo, Silver!”

“Right before the horse threw its legs up in that scene, the thought went through my head, ‘I’m really about to yell this right now,'” Hammer told USA Today. “As the horse landed, the whole crew roared. Johnny told me, ‘That was blankety-blank awesome.'”

The Zone thanks FANtasticJD for sharing the USA Today story; thanks to her, my fave, and humilatedgrape for photographs. The USA Today article is available HERE. You can read much more about The Lone Ranger on the Zone’s News & Views forum.