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Despite the fact that both Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and Bruce Robinson's new movie, The Rum Diary, are based on books by Hunter S. Thompson and they both star Johnny Depp as aspects of the "Doctor of Gonzo Journalism" — the actual Thompson on a drug-fueled search for the American dream in Fear and Loathing and a thinly-veiled version of Thompson as a reporter for an English-language Puerto Rican newspaper in The Rum Diary — the two movies haven't appeared to have too much in common. That is, until the latest preview clips from The Rum Diary were released over the weekend. In fact, one of the two clips so deftly combines bizarre imagery, Depp facial contortions and hilarious dialogue — "Your tongue is like an accusatory giblet." — that it could easily be a deleted scene from Fear and Loathing (if Depp had less hair, that is).
watch the new preview clips >> Posted 10.24.11 by BrentJS -
When Johnny Depp isn't playing Captain Jack Sparrow or working with director Tim Burton, the actor sometimes appears in something associated with late author and friend Hunter S. Thompson. So far, he's acted in 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, narrated the posthumous documentary Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, and now he's starring in and producing The Rum Diary, based on Thompson's 1961 novel that wasn't published until 1998.
The movie stars Depp as American journalist Paul Kemp, who travels to Puerto Rico to write for the San Juan Star in the 1960s and soon becomes obsessed with the fiancée (Amber Heard) of a wealthy businessman (Aaron Eckhart) who is interested in turning the island into a capitalist paradise.
New photos from the movie have just been released, and, while they don't reveal much besides some picturesque beaches and scenery, two new preview clips show Depp meeting both Eckhart and Heard for the first time.
watch the clips >> Posted 10.13.11 by Ryan -
A pair of new movie posters featuring two of Hollywood's hottest actors have been released online.
The first poster is for The Rum Diary, which sees Johnny Depp returning to the "Gonzo" world of the late author Hunter S. Thompson that Depp first explored in the 1998 movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Written and directed by Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I), The Rum Diary is based on Thompson's 1998 novel of the same name, which fictionalized his experiences working as a journalist for an English-language newspaper in Puerto Rico in the 1960s. As the trailer recommends, "Come for the madness. Stay for a drink."
more about The Rum Diary and The Flowers of War >> Posted 09.27.11 by BrentJS -
Johnny Depp is one of the most in-demand actors working today, and has already appeared in two movies this year — March's CGI animated Rango and May's blockbuster sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. A third is being released this October, but before you think Depp travels from movie set to movie set, this one was shot back in 2009.
The Rum Diary is based on a novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson, which fictionalized the late writer's early days as a journalist living in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and drinking copious amounts of rum while working for an English-language newspaper. Thompson wrote the novel in the early 1960s but it was not published until 1998. The movie took a similar path, bouncing from production company to production company since 2000, until Depp's company, Infinitum Nihil, took over the project and scheduled the movie for production in March of that year.
watch the trailer >> Posted 08.26.11 by Ryan -
Johnny Depp will again appear as Captain Jack Sparrow this summer in the fourth installment in the Pirates franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, but plenty of work is being done on the other Depp movies that will follow.
Depp is set to reunite with director Tim Burton next month for Dark Shadows, an adaptation of the gothic soap opera from the 1960s. The cast already includes Helena Bonham Carter, Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Hayley, and Bella Heathcoate. In addition, Deadline reports that actor Thomas McDonell (Prom) will play the younger version of Depp's character, Barnabas Collins. The report also says that Michael Sheen is in early discussions to play Roger, the conniving brother of Pfeiffer's character.
updates on The Rum Diary and The Thin Man >> Posted 03.30.11 by Ryan -
X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner admitted to Empire that Wolverine 2 is the "furthest along of all the X-Men projects on the boil." The sequel will be an adaptation of a Wolverine solo comic book series from the 1980s that follows Wolverine as he travels to meet an old flame in Japan.
It's actually the story we wanted to use for the first Wolverine film, but [Fox head honcho] Tom Rothman preferred to set the character up with an origin story first. This movie will really focus on the relationship between Wolverine and Mariko, the daughter of a Japanese crime lord, and what happens to him in Japan. We're very fortunate to have a story mostly outlined for us [from the comic book arc co-written by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller].
Shuler Donner believes the movie will also be shot in Japan and is hoping "to have the Japanese Fox executives involved in helping and counseling us" in order to maintain authenticity. She says even screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie is "in Japan in his head." But what will really impress fans is the fighting, with Wolverine taking on both the Yakuza and a ninja clan called the Hand.
What's cool about this part of the saga is that Wolverine will be fighting in a different style to what we've seen before. Mariko's father has this stick-like weapon, so Wolverine will have to fight against that. There'll be samurai, ninja, katana blades, different forms of martial arts — mano-a-mano, extreme fighting. We're going to come up with a new style of fighting. It's going to be awesome.
Posted 10.17.09 by Ryan -
The Rum Diary, the adaptation of a Hunter S. Thompson novel about a journalist living in 1950's Puerto Rico is adding some big names to its cast list. Johnny Depp, who is also producing and has been trying to get the movie adaptation produced since 2003, has long been announced as the lead, with Amber Heard (Pineapple Express) being cast as Depp's love interest just this week. Now both Aaron Eckhart and Richard Jenkins are joining the production.
Jenkins, a current Oscar nominee for The Visitor, will play the man who runs the newspaper Depp works for, and Eckhart will play a wealthy landowner who becomes involved in a love triangle with Depp and Heard.
The Rum Diary starts production in Puerto Rico March 30.
Posted 02.12.09 by Ryan -
Variety is veritably teeming with casting announcements this post-Comic-con Monday.
Cameron Diaz will be starring in My Sister's Keeper, which was adapted from Jodi Picoult's 2005 novel by Jeremy Leven (The Notebook). The drama, about a lawyer who must defend herself and her husband from the emancipation petition by their 13-year-old daughter who was conceived as a genetic match to save her sister from cancer, will be directed by Nick Cassavetes (Alpha Dog, John Q).
Keira Knightley will be putting on the corset and hoop skirts again for The Duchess, an 18th century costume drama adapted from Amanda Foreman's best-selling 2001 biography, Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. Described as the "Princess Diana of her time," Georgiana lived a rather wild life. Sounds a little like the formula used to make Marie Antoinette to us.
And finally, Johnny Depp is going back to the Hunter S. Thompson well for The Rum Diary, an adaptation of the "gonzo" journalist's autobiograhical novel that he wrote in 1959, but wasn't published until 1998. In it, Depp will play Thompson's alter ego, Paul Kemp, a freelancer for a rundown Puerto Rican newspaper who finds himself surrounded by self-destructive ex-pats.
The Rum Diary will be written and directed by Bruce Robinson (Jennifer Eight, The Killing Fields).
Posted 07.30.07 by reelz