Johnny Depp and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have formed a strange-but-seemingly genuine friendship over the past few years, Vanity Fair reported Wednesday. He was introduced to the increasingly powerful Middle Eastern leader in 2022 during a visit to Saudi Arabia for that year’s Red Sea Film Festival, a meeting during which the pair “hit it off instantly,” according to the magazine. Depp has since come to believe “that this is actually a country in the midst of a cultural revolution,” one friend of his told the magazine, adding, “they made a genuine connection.” The embattled Hollywood star returned a year later to attend the 2023 Red Sea Film Festival, which showed his most recent film, Jeanne du Barry—an effort financed partially via Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund. Depp has also been to MBS’ royal mountain camp and taken several trips to the crown prince’s yacht, one of the largest private vessels in the world, Vanity Fair reported.