Depp and DelToro to resurrect the Duke and Gonzo!!!!

[The Nature Boy]

Huge news, where I stand, appears on IMDB tonight:

Movie hunk Johnny Depp has signed to star in a follow-up to hit film Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. Depp will join Fear and Loathing co-star Benicio Del Toro, Josh Hartnett and Nick Nolte in The Rum Diary - based on another of cult writer Hunter S. Thompson's hit novels. The film, which will reunite Johnny and Benicio on screen for the first time since the 1997 comedy, will also be directed by Puerto Rican-born Del Toro. Depp currently has two box office hits in release, Pirates of the Caribbean and Once Upon a Time in Mexico

The only bummer on this front is that Gilliam is not returning to direct, hopefully some strings can be pulled to make this happen and get Hartnett OUT of the pic!

But that said, Del Toro seems to have a great feel for films, given his ability to blend so effortlessly between the already great number of characters he's played. He has directed a film called "Submission" in 1995, but it looks like it was never released.

Hopefully working with Gilliam, Soderbergh, Ferrara, Singer, and Friedkin since then will have a positive impact on him. Hell, Clooney pulled a good movie out of his arse, hopefully he's got good counsel on his side.

Also of note is that it looks like some of the rumored bad blood between Depp and DelToro looks to have obviously subsided. I thought it was a sure end of their relationship when the recorded their Fear and Loathing commentary separately, but they obviously look to have smoothed things out.

I'm there opening day for this one, regardless of reviews. It can't come fast enough!

[Jackskeleton]

Del Toro is great and all but the reason Fear and Loathing worked so well was because of Gilliam. :(

[F For Fake]

Well, it's not exactly resurrecting Duke and Gonzo. The Rum Diary doesn't feature either character. It's a great book though, and I've been super excited about these rumors for a couple of months now. Depp owns HST on screen!

It makes me curious about which character Benecio will play. It's been a year or so since I read it so I don't remember all of the character names, but I'd imagine he'll play HST's insane friend that lives in the beach house with his girlfriend, riding around on a moped assaulting people. Doesn't seem like much of a stretch. ;)

Very very excited.

[Dr. DVD]

Excited here as well! While Gilliam was a major factor, Depp made Fear and Loathing what it was IMO.
You have to admire both actors for picking this as a sequel project given their new found prestige.

[LiquidSky]

Sounds cool.......except for Hartnett. If they are looking for a young actor.....go with someone like James Franco or Jake Gyllenhaal.

[Brain Stew]

Awesome man.

Awe-some!

While it is true that Rum Diaries does not contain Raoul Duke, it does contain Thompson who Duke basically is.

I don't think Gilliam is necessarily needed for this picture. Unlike FALILV, there are no crazy hallucinations or plot points that need extreme special effects.

Also, I think it's amusing that the article called Fear & Loathing a hit movie. I'm sure it didn't even break even.

[LivingINClip]

I'd call 'Fear and Loathing' a cult-hit. Either way, I love the film and I love almost every Depp performance. Count me in (and I hate sequels!).

[Dr. DVD]

Originally posted by Brain Stew
Also, I think it's amusing that the article called Fear & Loathing a hit movie. I'm sure it didn't even break even.

Initially, no. FALILV has achieved the status of a cult hit and if you listen to the very well done Criterion commentary by Gilliam, everyone kind of knew going into the project that it wasn't very commercial. Since it didn't cost much money to make, and wasn't anywhere near as big a disappointment as the movie it opened against (Godzilla'98, for those keeping track), it's lackluster performance didn't raise any eyebrows.

[F For Fake]

Originally posted by Brain Stew
While it is true that Rum Diaries does not contain Raoul Duke, it does contain Thompson who Duke basically is.

I agree, but I think it's worth pointing out that RD is a much more somber and introspective work when compared with the gonzo wackiness of F&LiLV. While it does contain a great deal of interesting ideas and serious issues, F&LiLV is generally a comedic text. RD definitely isn't.

So, it'll be interesting to me to see how Depp shades the character in this flick. His performance in F&L borders on caricature, as does the film (it's basically a Steadman cartoon brought to life). RD will be much more grounded in reality, if it's anything like the novel.

For the record I loved the film and novel of F&L, loved Depp and Del Toro in the flick, and love the RD book as well. I'm not trying to say it's a bad idea or anything at all, and in fact I'm VERRRRRY excited about it. I'm just saying it's a DIFFERENT idea, and I'm very curious about how they'll approach the story.

[Dr. DVD]

I'm thinking that they story might involve cuts between Thompson writing the book and the storyline of the book itself. RD is, in essence, a prequel to all of the gonzo material Thompson wrote in his later years. Hartnett might be playing HST as a young, more down to earth, person.

[Brain Stew]

Originally posted by Dr. DVD
Hartnett might be playing HST as a young, more down to earth, person.

Hogwash!

Depp is great. Del Toro is great. FALILV was good. RD is good.

This will be a must see.

While I agree that Rum Diaries will be much more serious than Fear & Loathing, Rum Diaries has its share of black comedy.

[The Nature Boy]

bumping for the other post on this.

[Jackskeleton]

there's the old thread. :)

[The Nature Boy]

Any news on this a year later?

[Dr. DVD]

Wow. It has been a year.

[Deftones]

I was going to say this was old news.....

[Suprmallet]

It's been a year? Are you telling me that Pirates of the Caribbean and Once Upon A Time In Mexico aren't still hits in the theaters? :eek:

[tacos]

Anything new on this?

[NatrlBornThrllr]

I was going to say this was old news.....

Me too.

[Joe Molotov]

Anything new on this?

Well, it depends on what you mean by "new". Newer than the last time this thread was bumped, anyway.

http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=9658

Robinson Directing Depp in Rum Diary
Source: Variety
May 18, 2005

Bruce Robinson will adapt and direct The Rum Diary, the first novel by the late Hunter S. Thompson, reports Variety. Johnny Depp, who played Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, will again play the gonzo journalist.

Executive producer Depp picked Robinson, who wrote and directed cult film Withnail & I, the thriller Jennifer 8 and The Killing Fields.

The Rum Diary is Thompson's chronicle of journalism, drinking and carousing in Puerto Rico in the late 1950s.

Production is expected to start sometime after Depp wraps back-to-back sequels of "Pirates of the Caribbean."

[tacos]

Well I was worried that Del Toro had pulled out. But according to this he's in. Can't wait!
http://www.hecklerspray.com/hecklerspray/2005/05/depp_to_be_hunt.html

[Sierra Disc]

Without Gilliam, I can't see it working as well as F&L did personally...

[Janus09]

I don't really like the idea of this and I'm a huge Fear and Loathing / Hunter S fan.

[NatrlBornThrllr]

Without Gilliam, I can't see it working as well as F&L did personally...

Have you seen Withnail & I, or How to Get Ahead in Advertising?

The style isn't the same as what Gilliam did in Fear and Loathing, but he definitely has a lot of talent. Personally, I'm thrilled to see Bruce Robinson back behind the camera, and I have the utmost faith in him.

-JP

[Janus3]

lolz

[Dr. DVD]

Two and a half years later, and still not a camera rolling! At least it's not forgotten, and I intend to be there opening night whenever this might open.

[NoirFan]

Two and a half years later, and still not a camera rolling! At least it's not forgotten, and I intend to be there opening night whenever this might open.

Three years later, and casting has just begun (http://www.thebadandugly.com/2009/01/12/next-up-for-johnny-depp/).

[Torchur317]

I never thought Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas was anything special....
It was good but nothing amazing or anything but I'll check this out....

[SomethingMore]

^ agreed. Also, without Gilliam... this follow-up shouldn't be made.

[Drop]

^ agreed. Also, without Gilliam... this follow-up shouldn't be made.

The Rum Diary stylistically bares little resemblance to Vegas. If I remember there is little to no drug use, alcohol seems to be the poison here, and it is not a sequel to Vegas. If anything it's a prequel (if just that it's based on Thompson's experiences), but it's squarely in the ficitional category rather than the gonzo journalism mode of the majority of Thompson's work.

It's a bit like saying without Stanley Kubrick Rendezvous with Rama shouldn't be made.

[Zen Peckinpah]

Having recently seen Withnail and I and loving the shit out of Depp's Hunter S. Thompson, I'm quite excited for this one.

[NoirFan]

From The Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i423339706237af103fe24040f33bd4a1): Aaron Eckhart and Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins will be hitting the sauce in "Rum Diary," the adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel that stars Johnny Depp.

Eckhart is in negotiations while Jenkins is signed on for the movie, which Bruce Robinson adapted and is directing. Amber Heard also is on board.

Eckhart is part of a love triangle that sees him vying with Depp for Heard's affection. "Diary" is the tale of a washed-up, hard-drinking journalist named Paul Kemp (Depp) in 1950s Puerto Rico. Eckhart would play Sanderson, a wealthy landowner who believes everything has a price and introduces Kemp to a different standard of living.

Jenkins is playing Lotterman, the man who oversees the rundown newspaper where Kemp works.

MODS: Could someone change the thread title? It it's current state, it is both misleading and several years out of date. Perhaps: Rum Diary (Robinson, 2010): Depp in Hunter Thompson adaptation

Here (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376136/) is the film's IMDB page.

[james2025a]

Anyone know of any of the locations in Puerto Rico that are in the book?

[Zen Peckinpah]

Love both of them.