When it was confirmed that Johnny Depp would be starring as Tonto in director Gore Verbinski’s big screen iteration of The Lone Ranger, it was pretty much a given that the makeup-happy Depp would come up with a quirky design for the Native American sidekick.  We finally got our first look at Depp in full makeup a few months ago (with some more photos dropping over the past few weeks) and, expectedly, it’s a little out there.  Not only is his face completely covered in paint, but his headdress features a very prominent dead animal at its apex.

Depp recently took the time to explain the inspiration behind his Tonto design, talking about how he settled upon the look we got a glimpse of back in March.  Hit the jump to see what he had to say.  And yes—he talks about the bird.