Johnny Depp has struck up a bizarre friendship with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after the kingdom’s ruling family invested millions into the actor’s latest film.
MBS has spent billions under his Vision 2030 plan to make Saudi Arabia, plagued by accusations of human rights abuses, a cultural and economic powerhouse by investing in the arts, sports and forging personal connections with stars.
Depp, 60, first met MBS, 38, in the summer of 2022 after filming Jeanne du Barry, in which Saudi Arabia had invested millions. ‘They made a genuine connection. It’s a shock to many of the people who know [Depp], but it’s what happened,’ a friend of Depp’s told Vanity Fair.
Both men have faced a reckoning in the public perceptions of their carefully crafted images in recent years. Depp was found to have domestically abused his ex-wife Amber Heard when he lost a libel case in the UK in 2020.
Two years later, a series of further disturbing details, including accusations of sexual abuse, were made public after he successfully sued Heard for libel. MBS, once a favorite among Western leaders who considered him a great reformer, irrevocably harmed his image by sanctioning the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Depp insists that Saudi Arabi is experiencing a ‘cultural revolution.’ ‘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 country has ’emerging young storytellers radiating fresh ideas and works of art to a blossoming film infrastructure and a newfound curiosity for innovation’ he explained. Adding: ‘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.’
As part of a ‘Vision 2030’ plan, MBS has spent hundreds of billions on sports, tourism, the arts and other ventures such as real estate to move the country away from its dependence on oil money.
He has made the entertainment industry, including film production, a key focus – hoping it will buoy tourism numbers and improve cultural perceptions of the controversial kingdom while also encouraging the country’s 30 million residents to increase their domestic leisure spending.