'Lone Ranger' Photo: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer As Tonto, Lone Ranger

After an ever-ballooning budget, the first taste of Gore Verbinski's "Lone Ranger" (Hi-yo, Silver) has moseyed on into the twittersphere. The film's producer Jerry Bruckheimer tweeted the first photo of the project, as though to say, oh, this is happening, alright.

Tonto and The Lone Ranger Ride Again! twitter.com/BRUCKHEIMERJB/…

— JERRY BRUCKHEIMER (@BRUCKHEIMERJB) March 8, 2012

Here we see the masked crusader, played by the caroonishly handsome Armie Hammer, and a very made up Johnny Depp as his trusty companion, Tonto. (And, I guess, his trusty companion, that rather lethargic looking bird perched on his head.) The most-recent revamp of the Americana classic has encountered some major of hiccups -- the biggest being that it was almost scrapped last summer, before cooler heads -- and smarter accountants -- prevailed, and the film's budget was cut down. The film's 10-year wind up may prove worth the wait, Depp and Hammer are joined by a strong supporting cast of Helena Bonham Carter, William Fichtner and Tom Wilkinson. "The Lone Ranger" hits theaters May 31, 2013.