For more than an hour on Wednesday, The Lone Ranger‘s top-tier talent — a six-member panel consisting of Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, William Fichtner and Ruth Wilson — answered questions from a room full of reporters assembled at the Bishop’s Lodge Resort in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Johnny didn’t flinch when asked whether his interpretation of Tonto is essentially “a red version of black face.” Johnny replied, “I expected it. I still expect it.” But he stands by his portrayal. “There’s a lot of history with Native Americans that I learned before taking on this role [. . .]. It was a role that I wanted to bring justice to.”

Regarding his work as Tonto, Johnny said, “I have done no harm and represented at the very least the Comanche nation in a proper light. There’s always going to be naysayers. Everybody’s got an opinion.”

Pictures from the Santa Fe press junket are available HERE.

The Zone thanks emma for sharing the news and emma, Evochka, Aida and summer70 for sharing photos. You can read more about The Lone Ranger press junket on the Zone’s News & Views forum and the Pit General Discussion forum.