Johnny Depp as Hunter Thompson's alter ego Raoul Duke in 1998 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by director Terry Gilliam, with Benicio del Toro as dr. Gonzo, tagline Buy The Ticket Take The Ride http://inadepptrance.wordpress.com/feed











 

FEAR AND LOATHING
 IN LAS VEGAS 

1998

Raoul Duke

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Script





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Director: Terry Gilliam

Writers:
  • Hunter S. Thompson (book)
  • Terry Gilliam, Toni Grisoni  (screenplay)
  • NOT THE SCRIPT: Alex Cox and Tod Davies (not used, but demanded to be credited --- here you are guys!)
  • And now were talking about it: NOT THE DIRECTOR of this film was: Alex Cox, who left because of creative differences.










With : Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Toby Maguire, Ellen Barkin, Gary Busey, Christina Ricci, Mark Harmon, Cameron Diaz, Katherine Helmond, Michael Jeter, Penn Jillette, Craig Bierko, Lyle Lovett, Laraine Newman


 Tagline: "Buy the ticket, take the ride"

Rating: R

Awards and nominations:
 - 1998 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL:
Golden Palm Award: Terry Gilliam (Nominated)








 





 

 

 


  

 






SYNOPSIS

An adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel of the same name. The film details a whacky search for the "American Dream", by Thompson and his crazed, Samoan lawyer. Fueled by the massive amount of drugs they purchased with an advance from a magazine to cover a sporting event in Vegas; they set out in the Red Shark. Encountering police, reporters, gamblers, racers, and hitchhikers; they search for some undefinable thing know only as the "American Dream" and find fear, loathing and hilarious adventures into the dementia of the modern American West.
 J.D.Keith
 



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QUOTES FROM JOHNNY DEPP

 

 

"Hunter had the most beautiful line... It was - he said: "It's an eerie trumpet-call over a lost battlefield." Which I thought was so beautiful."
Johnny Depp, Charlie Rose Show, may 1998

 

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Cameo of Hunter S. Thompson: at the Jefferson Airplane show. When Johnny Depp, as Thompson, sees the real Thompson, Depp's narration says "There I was . . . mother of God, there I am!"

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"He [Hunter] used to call me 'the termite in the basement', you know. "God, if I'd realised what the termite in the basement was up to - that he was stealing bits of my personality! - I would have thought twice!"
Johnny Depp, Charlie Rose Show, may 1998

"He [Hunter] was generous with his time and his private life. He even let me move into his basement. Become a termite."

Johnny Depp, Cannes press conference, 1998

 

"I was there every day, every night you know, with him (Hunter Thompson). You know, sometimes with a video camera … You just try and take as much as you possibly can from their life — their movement, their tics, their sort of beliefs."
Johnny Depp, ABCNews.com

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Hunter S. Thompson himself shaved Johnny's head. They were in Thompson's kitchen, Johnny refused to look in a mirror, and Thompson wore a miner's head lamp.

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"I just hope he doesn't see the film and hate me. That's my biggest fear, that I'll do something that's close to him, that's proper, that's right, and he'll hate it. It's completely out of my hands, but fuck, he deserves a good film, and I've tried to do that."
Johnny Depp, Rolling Stone 6/11/98

"I felt a tremendous responsibility doing the film. Because on one hand, I'm a huge fan of the book. And on the other hand, I had sort of developed this semi-relationship with Hunter at the time. We were friendly; we talked and hung out a little bit. But I guess the reason why I felt such an intense responsibility was; number one, I cared for him; but number two, the book is such a great gift to the world. I just felt it really deserved a serious focus. I really wanted to do a great job for him. I wanted him to be proud. Because he's got to live with it the rest of his life."
Johnny Depp, Australian GQ Magazine, June 1998


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QUOTES FROM OTHERS

 

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Prior to filming, Johnny Depp swapped his car for Hunter S. Thompson's red Chevrolet convertible and spent weekends driving it around California in preparation for the role. Meanwhile, Thompson spent that period in Depp's car with a woman named Heidi, writing an essay called "Fear And Loathing In Hollywood: My Doomed Love At The Taco Stand" that was partially published in Time Magazine, along with a new Ralph Steadman drawing of a gargoyle-like Dr. Gonzo.

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"Number one, FEAR AND LOATHING is not a prodrug film. Anybody who sees this film isn't going to rush out and start to do drugs."
Terry Gilliam, Cannes press confrence, 1998


"With Gilliam directing, we'll see the bats."

Alex Cox, director who left because of "creative differences".

"Hunter Thompson's language is so important. The voice-over seemed to be the obvious way to do it. So you end up with Duke on-screen, and then you hear this other Duke — Duke the journalist. Johnny's voice is slightly different in the voice-over than it is in his 'speaking' voice, so you can have this situation where you're looking at a frazzled guy in real trouble, but the voice-over is very calm and journalistic. That works nicely."

Terry Gilliam, AOL interview

"The Rolling Stones don't own their stuff. Allen Klein (the Stones' former manager) owns it, and Allen Klein is a greedy, fat bastard who is trying to charge huge sums of money for this stuff, outrageous sums of money, so we were only able to afford one Rolling Stones song, which we saved for the end."
Terry Gilliam, AOL interview

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According to Johnny Depp, the gorilla statue outside the Bazooko Circus, now "lives" in his front yard.

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"Johnny had spent so much time with Hunter, he absorbed Hunter — his mannerisms, the way he spoke, he was totally there. And because he knew Hunter so well he was inventing things on the set that are great. It just became a very simple way of working: He'd say, 'Hunter does this,' and I'd said, 'Oh, we've got to do that,' and very quickly incorporate or embellish that idea. He's technically one of the most astonishing actors I've ever worked with. There's nothing he can't do, technically or physically, and at the same time the character's totally believable. Some of the most enjoyable days were just the days where it's him and me on a scene rather than a lot of other people, where ideas would flow very quickly."

Terry Gilliam, AOL interview

 

"The other thing about Johnny Depp was, you know, every day on the set when he would arrive early in the morning, he looked as beautiful as he ever did. There wasn't one day! It was somewhat annoying. You could shave his head, he could be exhausted, 40th day of shooting, and he's still the most beautiful thing on the planet!"
Laila Nabulsi, producer, DVD special features commentary

"As far as I'm concerned, Johnny Depp is the best actor of his generation. I think he's capable of ANYTHING - there's no limit to his capabilities."Terry Gilliam, What's Eating Johnny Depp? Interview, December 1998

"One of the great things about Johnny is that I don't think he has any ego or vanity when it comes to becoming a character. A lot of actors refuse going all the way in giving up their good looks. Whatever... Not so with Johnny. It took a while to get him to shave his head, but he knew that this was inevitable, and he was going to do it. And it wasn't just that he shaved his head, but he had a little toupee with 17 sad little hairs on it. So it's even SADDER baldness! And he did other things; he had plastic foams behind his ears that stuck them out. He loses himself totally."
Terry Gilliam, director, What's Eating Johnny Depp?  Interview, December 1998

 

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