The Real Reason Johnny Depp Made The Rum Diary
Fans of three-time best actor Oscar nominee Johnny Depp know, of course, of his tour de force performance as Hunter S. Thompson alter ego Raoul Duke in the trippy, black comedy "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," the 1998 film adaptation of Thompson's novel of the same name. Playing Raoul — which is among Depp's best movie roles — wasn't all the actor had in store for his gonzo journalist friend, however.
In an interview for Depp's 2011 film "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie "On Stranger Tides," Depp told the Radio Times that "The Rum Diary" — also released in 2011— was the result of a pledge he made to Thompson before his death in 2005. "It was the one promise I made to Hunter, apart from shooting him out of a cannon," Depp told the Radio Times, laughing, in reference to the explosive way he spread the counterculture icon's ashes following his passing and memorial.
Thompson had composed a screenplay for "The Run Diary," based on a long-lost book that the journalist started writing at age 22 in 1959. Thompson eventually completed the novel, which was released in 1999.
"I remember when I unearthed the manuscript out of a box in his basement," Depp recalled for the Radio Times. "He didn't know where it was and I pulled it out and he was like, 'Jesus Christ.' We read it together at three in the morning and it was, 'We should do this together,' but Hunter didn't exactly fill his end of the deal. I guess he had other things to do."
Opening the book on The Rum Diary
Johnny Depp eventually got "The Rum Diary" made with the help of "Romeo & Juliet" and "Still Crazy" actor-turned-director Bruce Robinson, who worked on Hunter S. Thompson's script to receive co-screenwriting credit on the film's final script. Like he did in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" with his role as Raoul Duke, Depp played a freewheeling journalist — this time named Paul Kemp — in "The Rum Diary." Instead of Las Vegas, this Thompson adventure was set in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
On the set of "The Rum Diary," Depp told the Radio Times, he and Robinson kept up with a daily ritual. "Hunter would have his own chair right next to Bruce's and he had a script with his name on it, the whole thing, and we would put a pack of Dunhills [cigarettes] on a little table by the side, a bottle of Chivas, his favorite drink, and a tumbler full of ice," Depp told the publication.
Apart from the big Thompson connection, "The Rum Diary" eerily foreshadowed the drama between Depp and his co-star and eventual wife (and ex) Amber Heard.