“Watch entertainment and get rewarded,” promises TaTaTu, a new blockchain platform where participants can gain tokens for checking out, you know, content.
That content will now get input from Johnny Depp, TaTaTu’s new partner.
Per a development deal announced yesterday, Depp will work with TaTaTu and its founder, producer Andrea Iervolino, on the creation of both digital and film content, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The two started working together on Waiting for the Barbarians, a movie based on the book by South African author J. M. Coetzee. Iervolino heads AMBI Group and has produced a number of films, one of the most notable being The Merchant of Venice in 2004. Many of his works are currently in production, including Bernie the Dolphin 2, a sequel to Bernie the Dolphin, which debuted earlier this year and is about a brother and sister who befriend a “badly sunburnt dolphin.”
“Johnny has the ability to conceptualize material in a way that few can and is unburdened of conventional industry formulas that dictate the projects that get made, traditionally,” said Iervolino in a statement. Meanwhile, Depp touted “this era of democratized entertainment” and said he looked forward to collaborating with Iervolino through TaTaTu in a “liberating, progressive manner.”
Related: Director Alex Winter on His New Blockchain Documentary, Trust Machine
Depp’s new partnership places him among the ranks of the many celebrities before him who have endorsed bizarre cryptocurrencies. In Depp’s case, however, the cryptocurrency is also sort of a production company, which means maybe he’ll do something with it. That thing might not be blockchain-related, but no matter. It will surely get TaTaTu’s name out there, perhaps prompting entertainment connoisseurs to sign up for the service and exchange their data for TTU tokens, a method that the company calls “sharing advertising revenue in a way that is fair and transparent.”
Signing up alone gets you 50 free TTU. Right now, that’s the equivalent of $6.50. TaTaTu—a name choice that must have left tattoo artists shaking their heads at the missed opportunity—currently has a $12.68 million market cap.
But let’s talk about the stars. Besides Depp, John Travolta, Morgan Freeman, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Matthew McConaughey will all appear in TaTaTu-backed fims, and the list goes on. The first two are set to star in crime thriller The Poison Rose, while the rest will appear in a movie about director William Friedkin, called Friedkin Uncut—”the first blockchain film in competition at Venice 2018,” the film’s poster declares.
Meanwhile, the blockchain entertainment platform/production company/Depp’s new publicity stunt is at work on a biopic about Italian manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini, maker of the eponymous sports car that features prominently in crypto memes. The movie will star Antonio Benderas as Lamborghini and Alec Baldwin as Enzo Ferrari.
The film will debut in Portugal on September 5, 2019, just in case you were wondering, “When lambo?”