Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Vanity Fair reports the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star also asked Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
By Etan Vlessing
Canada Bureau Chief
Johnny Depp has struck up a “bromance like no other” with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS, says a Vanity Fair profile.
And after getting a royal tour of the Saudi Kingdom, the Pirates of the Caribbean star is eyeing a possible seven-figure deal to become a global cultural ambassador as he shoots movies in the country.
“Though I admit I was somewhat naïve at first to what was transpiring in the region, I’ve since experienced firsthand the cultural revolution that is happening there,” Depp told Vanity Fair.
The magazine profile reveals Depp over the past year has spent around seven weeks in Saudi Arabia, touring the country and getting a firsthand look at its cultural renaissance led by MBS.
“I’ve had the opportunity to meet people from various parts of the region who have been most welcoming in sharing with me their culture, their traditions, and their stories,” Depp told the magazine after The Hollywood Reporter earlier reported he and MBS had become best friends.
The Red Sea Film Foundation, via its financing arm, has already given backing to Depp’s next directorial effort, Modi, a biopic about the life of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani and starring Al Pacino. And Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival earlier provided postproduction financing for Depp’s period drama Jeanne du Barry before that movie opened the Cannes Film Festival as part of a possible career comeback for the Hollywood star after his messy divorce from Amber Heard.
Vanity Fair also reported Depp got up the courage to ask MBS about what happened to the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in 2018.
The magazine profile added that with an “earnest expression, MBS began laying out his argument that Khashoggi had become a rogue operative working with the country’s enemies to undermine the crown prince’s reform agenda.”
The magazine profile insists MBS did not see Khashoggi as a journalist, but “a corrupt enemy of the state, putting its future at risk for hidden motives.” But an order by MBS to arrest Khashoggi had been apparently misunderstood by Saudi operatives.
“Consistent with his public statements, MBS told Depp he didn’t order the murder but nonetheless took responsibility,” the profile stated. The result is Depp has been recruited post-Khashoggi for a push by MBS and Saudi Arabia for legitimacy in the global film community.
At the same time, it’s understood there’s no meeting of minds between Depp and MBS in the political realm. “There is a friendship there based on an appreciation of film, culture and regional progress. They do not discuss or align on global politics,” a source close to the Hollywood actor told THR.
Depp has his own need to polish his brand after a British court first ruled against the Hollywood actor in a defamation case over The Sun referring to him as a “wife-beater.” But that was followed by Depp prevailing in a defamation suit he filed against Heard in the U.S. and where he was awarded over $10 million.
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day
Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter
Send us a tip using our anonymous form.