Johnny Depp performs in Paul McCartney’s new video, “My Valentine”

The photo at left shows Johnny Depp in a completely unexpected film role — the video for Paul McCartney’s song “My Valentine,” which was directed by Sir Paul himself. McCartney, working with Academy Award winning cinematographer Wally Pfister (Inception, The Dark Knight), filmed three different videos of “My Valentine:” one featuring Johnny alone, one featuring Oscar winner Natalie Portman, and one featuring both actors. “My Valentine” is one of two new compositions on McCartney’s recently released album of love songs, “Kisses on the Bottom.” In the video, Johnny and Ms. Portman perform the lyrics in sign language; Johnny also plays the guitar.

How did Johnny’s performance come about? “I wasn’t sure that I wanted to do the big, million dollar music video thing,” Sir Paul told Vanity Fair‘s Julie Miller at the video premiere, which took place at Stella McCartney’s West Hollywood store — fittingly enough, as the video was daughter Stella’s idea. “Stella suggested that I do something really simple. ‘You know Natalie,’ she said. ‘Ring Natalie up and just ask her if she will sign to your song.’ She agreed and then I realized that I needed [another person] so I asked Johnny and he was kind enough to agree to do it. A week after Stella had mentioned the idea, I was back here in L.A. filming it with the great cinematographer Wally Pfister.” Perfect!

While rock god Eric Clapton plays the guitar solo on McCartney’s album, Sir Paul confirmed that is our own JD playing on the video: he’s not faking it. “I must just point out also that Johnny is really playing the guitar solo,” McCartney declared to Vanity Fair. “That’s him playing. The boy is good.” To see photos of Johnny taken from the video, CLICK HERE, HERE, and HERE, and to see a photo of Johnny with Paul McCartney during the filming, CLICK HERE.

The Zone thanks Emma and FANtasticJD for sharing the news, and Theresa for the photos. You can read more about “My Valentine” on the Zone’s News & Views forum.