On October 28, 2011, Johnny Depp and Hunter S. Thompson are back together in Withnail & I director Bruce Robinson’s adaptation of The Rum Diary. Fantastic choice of director (particularly if Terry Gilliam weren’t an option), and this trailer looks like a lot of fun.
Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart, Giovani Ribisi and Richard Jenkins round out the cast.
Watch the trailer below (courtesy the film’s YouTube channel) or read the synopsis after the cut:
Based on the debut novel by Hunter S. Thompson, “The Rum Diary” tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson, a businessman involved in shady property development deals, is one of a growing number of American entrepreneurs who are determined to convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist paradise in service of the wealthy. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessmen’s financial benefit, or use them to take the bastards down.
1) I was skeptical until I watched this, now I’m in.
2) I’ve been on a search for a pair of sunglasses to go with my paper straw stingy-brim fedora and I’ve found them at 0:23. Now, where to get them…
does not seem like they are keeping very faithful to the book. Â Which is fine, I’m just excited to see Bruce Robinson making a movie and Depp having fun being Hunter (plus the supporting cast is full of good character actors).