Panned by criticism, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” has achieved cult status today. 25 years ago, Johnny Depp found himself in “bat country”.
What’s supposed to happen when a movie star meets Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005), the father of gonzo journalism? In the case of Johnny Depp (59), a homemade bomb shook the calm of a ski resort at 2 a.m.
Prodders, punches and an explosion
On Christmas 1995, Depp traveled with his partner at the time, the British model Kate Moss (49), and her mother to Aspen in the US state of Colorado, where they visited a restaurant. Enter Thompson: With two electric prods in his hands, the fabled journalist and writer entered the Woody Creek Tavern like Depp himself in one article published in Rolling Stone in the summer of 1998 remembered by Chris Heath.
Thompson consistently made Depp laugh. “Shit, like me [meine Partnerin] beat enough,” the author asked the Hollywood star. “I probably told him, ‘Yeah, she’s getting a hard beating.'” If Depp had known that he would be accused of domestic violence many years later, he would probably have been joking meant comment probably saved.
Thompson was “not disappointed” at the meeting, as Depp called it. A few hours later, he apparently more than lived up to his reputation. The group headed to the writer’s home in nearby Woody Creek. At around 2:00 a.m., the author then asked the actor to tape nitroglycerin to a propane cylinder. With the homemade bomb we went into the garden. A shot, an explosion more than 20 meters high and a more than just extraordinary first impression of Thompson later, Moss’ mother judged at the time: “She just thought Hunter was a lunatic and terribly dangerous […].” For Depp and Thompson, however, it was the start of a long-lasting friendship.
Between Monty Python and tons of drugs
Terry Gilliam (82) implemented this downright absurd chaos, which probably ran through large parts of Thompson’s life, for the big screen a little later with “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. Alex Cox (68) was initially scheduled for this, but the Brit was replaced by Gilliam after differences with Thompson. The co-founder of the legendary British comedy troupe Monty Python had previously made a name for himself as a director with extraordinary works such as “Brazil” (1985) or “12 Monkeys” (1995). He also directed the Monty Python classic “The Knights of the Coconut” (1975) with his colleague Terry Jones (1942-2020).
“Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” is based on Thompson’s novel of the same name, previously in article form in “Rolling Stone” appeared around two of the author’s trips to the Sin City with attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta in 1971. Instead of Thompson, his quasi-alter ego, journalist Raoul Duke (Depp), hooks up with his attorney Dr. Gonzo (Benicio del Toro, 56) on his way to Las Vegas to report on an off-road race there.
Both are already intoxicated on the way there: “We were somewhere near Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs started to take effect.” What follows, is one described in a trailer as an “ultimate trip”., almost two-hour fever dream of a film. One that leads Depp and del Toro through “bat country” on a cinematic adventure to Sin City that is second to none.
Other movie stars have at least smaller appearances. A young Tobey Maguire (47) is seen as a hitchhiker, Cameron Diaz (50) as a reporter and Gary Busey (78) as a police officer. Ellen Barkin (69) and Christina Ricci (43) also play along, as does Thompson himself.
However, the writer’s cameo was a nightmare for director Gilliam, as revealed in 2019’s Conversation with the British film website “HeyUGuys” explained. “Just this one day – and we never hoped again,” Thompson said. When he was shooting, it was all about him and no longer about the film. He had to be the center of attention and behave like an asshole. One of the producers, Depp and Gilliam are “like three dogs [gewesen]trying to herd this stubborn sheep into the pen.” But that’s the price you pay for working with the nuisance Thompson.
Gonzo gone wrong?
Today treated as a cult film, the black comedy, which opened in US cinemas on May 22, 1998, received mixed to miserable reviews from the critics. At the US industry magazine “Variety” There was talk of a “horror trip” – of a “disgusting and unsatisfying drudgery through the depths of drug culture”. The competition from “The Hollywood Reporter” wrote of one “uninspired series of clumsy scenes”. The film is a visual disaster: “Thompson’s delirium and genius, including bouts of drug-induced dementia and hallucinations, is visualized in the most mundane of ways.” One hopes the legendary journalist will have enough whiskey ready when he sees the film.
The late Roger Ebert (1942-2013), one of the best-known US film critics, spoke at the time of a “horrid jumble of a film”. Ebert asked what Depp, who could not communicate “the genius under madness”, was thinking about playing this role. The actor, in turn, told Rolling Stone shortly after filming: “I just hope that [Thompson] doesn’t see the film and hates me.” It’s not in his hands, “but damn it, he deserves a good movie” – and that’s what the actor wanted to do.
Regardless of reception, the comedy arguably didn’t hurt Depp and Thompson’s friendly relationship. In 2005, after the writer’s death, the actor is said to have borne a large part of the costs for what was, of course, anything but an ordinary funeral service. Thompson’s ashes were said to have been fired from a cannon as part of a large party. As the saying goes in English: Truth is stranger than fiction. The reality is apparently actually stranger than what many other authors think.