Light begins to seep through the windows. Waldman goes to sleep. He has an early flight to Switzerland to go cross-country skiing with Oleg Deripaska. I see this as an opening to leave. Depp looks for a security guard to call me a cab, but his knocking goes unanswered. So he walks me out.

“Thanks for coming,” says Depp. “This could be your Pulitzer.”

For the next 15 minutes, Depp tries to figure out how to open the gates to his mansion fortress. He clicks buttons and pushes the fence, but nothing budges. He is a lost boy who won’t find his way home before dark. I finally tell him I can shimmy over the fence. I clamber over and jump down. Through the bars we say good night.

“Take care, man,” he says. He goes silent for a moment. “Thank you for listening.”

He then turns around and walks back into his gilded prison and pushes open the heavy door. After a moment, it slams shut behind him.
—“Inside the Trials of Johnny Depp,” Stephen Rodrick