Johnny Depp's friendship with Prince Mohamed Bin Salmán (and his future in Saudi Arabia)

Among the production companies behind

(2023),

historical drama set in Versailles, where actor Johnny Depp plays King Louis XV, is home to the Red Sea Film Foundation.

The film, which at the critical level passed with more pain than glory at the last Cannes festival, served, however, as the mark of the actor's return to cinema, who had just starred in a defamation trial that pitted him against his ex-partner. , Amber Heard, and which ended up becoming a dirty media spectacle.

with the famous French house Dior was also made public

, thus allowing Depp to be crowned twice, at least in France.

magazine

has published a report showing that the support of the production company Red Sea Film Foundation, a non-profit cultural organization in Saudi Arabia, which since 2019 has organized the Red Sea Film Festival, does not It is coincidental, but part of the country's plan to project itself as a reference in the film industry.

But this is not exactly what the report talks about, but rather the curious friendship between Johnny Depp, 60, with Prince Mohamed Bin Salmán, known as MBS.

“Over the past year, Depp spent more than seven weeks in Saudi Arabia, staying in palaces, crisscrossing the country by yacht and helicopter, and even flying to London and returning on MBS's personal 747 for a quick trip to a concert. at the Royal Albert Hall,” writes journalist Bradley Hope, who is also the author of the essay

(Ediciones Península, 2023).

In that period of time, the journalist indicates, Depp and MBS have become true friends and people around the actor affirm that "Depp is weighing a seven-figure annual contract to promote the cultural renaissance of Saudi Arabia."

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Depp neither denies nor hides this relationship. On the contrary, when questioned about the issue for the

article , he confirms and clarifies his relationship with the country: “Although I admit that at first I was somewhat naive about what was happening. in the region, I have since experienced first-hand the cultural revolution taking place there: emerging young storytellers radiating new ideas and works of art to a burgeoning film infrastructure and a new curiosity for innovation.

I have had the opportunity to meet people from various parts of the region who have been very welcoming in sharing their culture, traditions and stories with me.”

The Red Sea Film Foundation has already backed Depp's next directorial project,

, a biopic about the life of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani and starring Al Pacino.

French President François Hollande welcomes Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman at the Presidential Palace on June 27, 2016 in Paris, France. Chesnot (Getty Images)

“Both men know what it's like to go from cool kid to outcast,” Hope writes in the piece.

About Depp, it refers to the legal battle between him and his ex, Amber Heard, who, despite ending up agreeing with the actor and sentencing the actress for defamation and establishing that Depp did not mistreat Heard, the case did It generated bad press and ended some of his film contracts.

Regarding MBS, Hope alludes to the murder of critical journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018 at the hands of Saudi agents.

The case shocked the world and, furthermore, “irrevocably stained the carefully cultivated image of the crown prince as a brilliant young reformer,” explains the journalist.

According to the report, Depp asked MBS about what happened and, with a “serious expression, MBS began to make his argument that Khashoggi had become a rogue agent working with the country's enemies to undermine the reform agenda. of the crown prince.”

The prince insists that he did not see Khashoggi as a journalist, but as "a corrupt enemy of the state, who put its future at risk for ulterior motives."

But Saudi agents had apparently misinterpreted an order from MBS to arrest Khashoggi.

“According to his public statements, MBS told Depp that he did not order the murder, but that he still took responsibility,” the piece explains.

However, MBS's interest in the figure of Johnny Depp has less to do with common points than with what is known as Vision 2030, a program that seeks to boost the country's economy through an industry that reduces its dependence on oil.

And this industry is varied and includes fields such as mining, real estate companies, sports – last January, Rafa Nadal was named Saudi Arabia's new tennis ambassador –, tourism and also a series of cultural policies.

This is where the famous film festival comes in, the most visible face of the Red Sea Film Foundation, and the work with personalities from the world, like Depp.