Johnny Depp Directs Keith Richards Documentary

Three years after Johnny Depp and Keith Richards starred together in Pirates of the Caribbean III, the pair have teamed up for another movie: a documentary about the Rolling Stones guitarist, directed by Depp. Depp has been shooting Richards in Los Angeles Theatre with a band featuring drummer Steve Jordan and guitarist Waddy Wachtel, who played with Richards in his X-pensive Winos side project. Guests, including Patti Smith, have been spotted entering the theater. “My editor is already working on kilometers of archive footage and footage of his concerts,” Depp said in an interview with a European newspaper. “I’m very touched that Keith agreed to show up in front of my cameras.”

Depp and Richards have been close for the past decade. “At first it was like, ‘Not another one of my fucking son’s friends,'” Richards told Rolling Stone in 2007. “Johnny started kind of like that, and then he worked his way up with me.” And the actor famously modeled his Pirates character on the guitarist. “[His music] was always my first love – even as a small kiddie,” Depp told RS. “I remember when I started fucking around on the guitar for the first time. Keith – he goes to the forefront.”

This story is from the March 4, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone.