An ornately clad royal, draped in velvet and frills, sits at his dressing table within the hallowed halls of Versailles awaiting a final dusting of powder. Just then, a courtier bursts in with an urgent message concerning the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
But this is not the 1700s, and the man in the chair is not King Louis XV. It’s July 2022, and Johnny Depp, of Owensboro, Kentucky, is having his hair and makeup done for his role in a French period piece titled Jeanne du Barry. The messenger is a senior producer with a surprising request: Prince Badr bin Farhan Al Saud wants to meet with Depp.
The prince, an amiable fellow with a toothy grin, is Saudi Arabia’s culture minister—and a cousin of the omnipotent Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS. In 2017, Prince Badr made headlines when he served as the front man for MBS’s purchase of the world’s most expensive painting, Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. Price tag: $450 million.
Not that Depp cares. “No way,” he tells the producer. “I didn’t sign up for this.”
The catch, however, is that Prince Badr has suddenly become very important to the production of Jeanne du Barry. By investing millions in the project via Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund, he has earned the right to an audience with the star.
After a few days of back-and-forth, Depp reluctantly agrees to the meeting. It goes so well that, within months, the 60-year-old actor, known for palling around with the likes of Keith Richards and the late Hunter S. Thompson, will stand face-to-face with MBS, the 38-year-old de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia.
Theirs will be a bromance like no other.
With his willingness to spend billions of dollars in a relentless drive to transform his country into a cultural and economic superpower, MBS is shaking up the world order. To decipher his increasingly consequential moods, methods, and moves, global leaders rely on thousands of diplomats, linguists, and spies.
They should probably just call Depp.
Over the past year, Depp has spent more than seven weeks in Saudi Arabia, staying in royal palaces and camps, traversing the country by yacht and helicopter, and even flying to London and back on MBS’s personal 747 for a quick trip to attend the Jeff Beck Memorial Concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
In that time, Depp and MBS have become real friends. “They made a genuine connection,” says a friend of Depp’s. “It’s a shock to many of the people who know [Depp], but it’s what happened.” Insiders say Depp is now weighing a seven-figure annual contract to promote Saudi Arabia’s cultural renaissance.
Both men knew how it felt to suddenly go from golden boy to outcast. Depp’s stock had taken a hit after his ex-wife Amber Heard accused him of abuse. In two high-profile court cases, Depp contested those claims, which he has always denied. As Depp and Heard wrangled in court in the second case, a cascade of unflattering personal details hit the press and social media. The ugly spectacle, and the troll war it sparked, damaged Depp’s reputation in some circles.
For MBS, it was the horrific murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Saudi state operatives in 2018 that sent shudders around the world, irrevocably tainting the crown prince’s carefully cultivated image as a brilliant young reformer.
Reached for comment, Johnny Depp said, “Though I admit I was somewhat naive at first to what was transpiring in the region, I’ve since experienced firsthand the cultural revolution that is happening there—from emerging young storytellers radiating fresh ideas and works of art to a blossoming film infrastructure and a newfound curiosity for innovation. 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’s introduction to Prince Badr was set in motion by Sina Taleb, a French wheeler-dealer whose famous friends include Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. During a chance meeting in Cannes, Taleb and Badr got to talking about how to bring more A-list talent to the kingdom to support its burgeoning film industry.
Rather than paying actors to visit, an inherently cynical transaction, Taleb said Saudi Arabia should invest in films to demonstrate its commitment to the arts.
Under MBS’s ambitious Vision 2030 plan, Saudi Arabia is plowing hundreds of billions of dollars into a kaleidoscope of ventures—everything from mining and real estate to sports and tourism. The goal is to develop new revenue streams and kick the kingdom’s addiction to oil money.
Entertainment is a key focus because it not only increases tourism but also persuades more of the country’s 30 million residents to do their leisure spending domestically. Under the draconian rules that MBS started to wipe away in 2015, entertainment was highly constrained: Playing music in public was banned, men and women couldn’t easily mix, and even simple pleasures like going to the movies were unheard of.
Eight years later, the country is booming with cultural activity, some of which reflects the personal interests of its all-powerful crown prince. He’s said to be a big video gamer, and Saudi Arabia has plans to invest $38 billion in esports and gaming. He’s also believed to be an amateur DJ who loves electronic dance music, and the country now hosts the Middle East’s biggest music festival, Soundstorm, every December.
“We’re making up for lost time and making sure that our country realizes its potential,” a Saudi government adviser says of the country’s huge entertainment push.
Back in the early ’60s, Lawrence of Arabia was shot in Jordan, Morocco, and Spain. At the time, filming in the kingdom was all but prohibited. Today, productions are flocking to Saudi Arabia for the scenery, yes, but also for the rebates, which can rise as high as 40 percent of the budget.