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I found this great short video of Hunter Thompson doing an interview with members of the Hell’s Angels. This is from after the book was published, when the Angels were more than a little mad at him. They end up looking like savage brutes here, as they argue with Hunter over whether the level to which one of them was beating his woman was acceptable.
It’s been a couple months since Tony Scott (Ridley Scott’s less-talented brother) revealed his plans to produce a movie on Hunter S. Thompson’s first published novel, Hell’s Angels. The script writer is the same guy who did “Traffic”, so this thing has potential. Looks like Hunter S. Thompson nostalgia is making its way to Hollywood.
I came across this video on Google Video (I thought Google had shut that site down and converted everything to YouTube). It’s an early 1980’s documentary made about Hunter S. Thompson as he was doing his college speaking tour. Very interesting stuff, although the quality of the video and audio leaves something to be desired. I just hope the embed code still works:
The Rum Diary is not the only movie connected to the works of Hunter S. Thompson currently in production. Director Gus Van Sant is making Tom Wolfe’s classic book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test into a film. Tom Wolfe borrowed many notes from Hunter S. Thompson to write his book about Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters. The sections about the parties at Kesey’s ranch with the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang was taken directly from Thompson’s notes, as were the stories about the Acid Tests taking place at The Matrix in San Francisco. Although Tom Wolfe was considered to be a part of the New Journalism movement, he was less involved in his subjects than Thompson. As someone once told me, “Wolfe was the fly on the wall, Thompson was the fly drowning in your martini.”
Enough of the rumors and speculation, The Rum Diary is currently being filmed in Puerto Rico. Johnny Depp is there and it will be the first film produced by the production company started by him and his sister. Filming shouldn’t take more than a couple months, so expect this movie to be released sometime at the end of this year or the beginning of 2010. Hooray, no more delays, this thing is actually happening!
It seems like it’s been 6 years since I first heard that The Rum Diary was coming to the big screen. As a matter of fact, it has been 6 years. The movie, based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson, has been planned for many years, with all sorts of rumors regarding its cast. The driving force behind the project has been Hunter Thompson’s friend, Johnny Depp, who played Thompson alter-ego Raoul Duke in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Depp is still rumored to be the star of The Rum Diary, and he might be luring Scarlett Johannson to play the lead female role of Chenault.
This project is still in casting, with filming expected either at the end of this year or sometime in 2010. Hopefully this will get done now that Depp has the Pirates of the Caribbean films out of the way.
http://www.examiner.com/x-488-Movie-Examiner~y2009m1d15-Johnny-Depp-and-Hunter-Thompson-team-up-again-The-role-from-beyond-the-grave
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