Revision as of 01:25, 18 June 2007 by Z80x86(talk | contribs)(→Basis for characters: Unsourced statements. Worded unfairly critically. Notorious implies famous.)
Journalist Raoul Duke (Depp) and attorney Dr. Gonzo (Del Toro) travel to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1971 to cover a motorcycle race for a sports magazine and enjoy a haphazardly planned vacation. The vacation turns highly irresponsible and reckless as the two consume copious amounts of illegal drugs, commit various acts of fraud, and generally wreak havoc upon the citizens of Las Vegas. It is a largely fictionalized account of Thompson and attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta's actual trip to Las Vegas around the same time period.
Thompson also has a brief cameo in the film while Duke has a flashback to a San Francisco music club, The Matrix, where Thompson can be seen sitting at a table as Depp walks by narrating his inner monologue, "There I was ... Mother of God! There I am! Holy fuck!".
Production and history
Basis for characters
Dr. Gonzo is based on Thompson's friend Oscar Zeta Acosta, who disappeared sometime in 1974.[2] Thompson changed Zeta Acosta's ethnic identity to "Samoan" to deflect suspicion from Zeta Acosta, who was in trouble with the L.A. Legal Bar. He was the "Chicano lawyer" notorious for his party binges.
During the initial development to get the film made, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando were originally considered for the roles of Duke and Gonzo, and Nicholson was attached, but he and Brando both grew too old.[3] Afterward, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi were considered for the duo, but that fell apart when Belushi died. John Malkovich was later considered for the role of Duke, but he too grew too old. At one point John Cusack was almost cast, but then Hunter S. Thompson met Johnny Depp, and was convinced no one else could play him. Cusack had previously directed the play version of "Fear and Loathing", with his brother playing Duke.[4]
Animator/filmmaker Ralph Bakshi tried to convince a girlfriend of Hunter S. Thompson to let him do "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" as an animated movie, done in the style of Ralph Steadman's illustrations for the book. Bakshi is quoted as saying: "Hunter had given the rights to a girlfriend of his. I spent three days with her trying to talk her into me animating it - she wanted to make a live action of it - I kept telling her that a live action would look like a bad cartoon but an animated version would be a great one. She had a tremendous disdain for animators because it wasn't considered the top of Hollywood. Hunter also could not make her change her mind. So she made the pic with Johnny Depp, and got the film I told her she would get - it would have been more real in a cartoon using Steadman's drawings."[5]
Rhino Films began work on a film version as early as 1992.[7] Head of Production and the film's producer Stephen Nemeth originally wanted Lee Tamahori to direct, but he wasn't available until after the January 1997 start date.[7] Rhino appealed to Thompson for an extension on the movie rights but the author and his lawyers denied the extension. Under pressure, Rhino countered by green-lighting the film and hiring Alex Cox to direct within a few days.[7] According to Nemeth, Cox could "do it for a price, could do it quickly, and could get this movie going in four months."[7]
Cox started writing the screenplay with Tod Davies, a UCLA Thompson scholar. Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro then committed to starring in the film.[7] During pre-production, Cox and producer Laila Nabulsi had "creative differences" and she forced Rhino to choose between her and Cox.[7] She had an arrangement with Thompson to producer the movie and the studio fired Cox and paid him $60,000 in script fees.
Thompson's disapproval of the Cox/Davies script treatment is documented in the film Breakfast with Hunter, in which he rails against the writers for planning an animated portrayal of the "wave speech," which he considered "probably the finest thing [he'd] ever written."
Pre-production
Rhino hired Terry Gilliam and were granted an extension from Thompson but only with the stipulation that the director made the movie. Rhino did not want to commit to Gilliam in case he didn't work out.[7] Thompson remembers, "they just kept asking for more [time]. I got kind of agitated about it, because I thought they were trying to put off doing it. So I began to charge them more...I wanted to see the movie done, once it got started."[7] The studio threatened to make the film with Cox and without Depp and Del Toro. The two actors were upset when Nabulsi told them of Rhino's plans.[7]Universal Pictures stepped in to distribute the film and Depp and Gilliam were paid $500,000 each but the director still did not have a firm deal in place. In retaliation, Depp and Gilliam locked Rhino out of the set during filming.[7]
The lead actors undertook extraordinary preparations for their respective roles. Del Toro gained more than 45 pounds (18 kg) in nine weeks before filming began, and extensively researched Acosta's life.[2] Depp lived with Thompson for four months, doing research for the role as well as studying Thompson's habits and mannerisms. The actor went through Thompson's original manuscript and notes that he kept during the actual trip. Depp remembers, "He saved it all. Not only is [the book] true, but there's more. And it was worse."[8] Depp even traded his car for Thompson's red Chevrolet Impala convertible, known to fans as The Great Red Shark, and drove it around California during his preparation for the role.
Many of the costumes that Depp wears in the film are actually reproductions of genuine pieces that Depp borrowed from Thompson, and Thompson himself shaved Depp's head to match his own natural male pattern baldness. Other props, such as Duke's cigarette filter (a TarGard Permanent Filter System), shirts, hats and IDs, belonged to Thompson.
Initially, the studio wanted Gilliam to update the book for the 1990s which he considered, "and then I looked at the film and said, 'No, that's apologizing. I don't want to apologize for this thing. It is what it is.' It's an artifact. If it's an accurate representation of that book, which I thought was an accurate representation of a particular time and place and people."[9]
Principal photography
While making the movie, it was Gilliam's intention that it should feel like a drug trip from beginning to end. He said in an interview, "We start out at full speed and it's WOOOO! The drug kicks in and you're on speed! Whoah! You get the buzz - it's crazy, it's outrageous, the carpet's moving and everybody's laughing and having a great time. But then, ever so slowly, the walls start closing in and it's like you're never going to get out of this fucking place. It's an ugly nightmare and there's no escape."[10]
Shooting on location in Las Vegas began on August 3, 1997. Depp was surprised at Gilliam's approach with actors as he said in an interview, "he's a great actor's director. The atmosphere on the set was one of such freedom that you felt like you could do anything."[11]
Gilliam vs. WGA
When the film approached release, Gilliam learned that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) would not allow Cox and Davies to be removed from the credits even though none of their material was used in the production of the film. Gilliam remarked in an interview, "The end result was we didn't exist. As a director, I was automatically deemed a 'production executive' by the guild and, by definition, discriminated against. But for Tony to go without any credit would be really unfair."[12] David Kanter, agent for Cox and Davies, argued, "About 60 percent of the decisions they made on what stays in from the book are in the film - as well as their attitude of wide-eyed anarchy."[12] According to the audio commentary by Gilliam on the Criterion Colleciton DVD, during the period where it appeared that only Cox and Davies would be credited for the screenplay, the movie was to begin with a short scene in which it is explained that no matter what is said in the credits, no writers were involved in the making of the movie. When this changed, the short was not needed. Angered over having to share credit, Gilliam publicly burned his WGA card at a May 22 book signing on Broadway.
Soundtrack
Untitled
The soundtrack contains the songs used in film with clips of the movie before each song. So considering this each song starts about 30 seconds later than it would normally. The soundtrack contains the music of that time with one exception being the Dead Kennedys rendition of "Viva Las Vegas". The Rolling Stones song "Jumping Jack Flash" is heard at the conclusion of the film as Thompson drives out of Las Vegas.
Gilliam could not pay $300,000 (half of the soundtrack budget) for the rights to "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones which plays such a prominent role in the book.[7]
The film underwent preview test screenings - a process that Gilliam does not enjoy. "I always get very tense in those (test screenings), because I'm ready to fight. I know the pressure from the studio is, 'somebody didn't like that, change it!'"[8] The filmmaker said that it was important to him that Thompson like the movie and recalls the writer's reaction at a screening, "Hunter watched it for the first time at the premiere and he was making all this fucking noise! Apparently it all came flooding back to him, he was reliving the whole trip! He was yelling out and jumping on his seat like it was a rollercoaster, ducking and diving, shouting 'SHIT! LOOK OUT! GODDAM BATS!' That was fantastic – if he thought we'd captured it, then we must have done it!"[10]
Gilliam wanted to provoke strong reactions to his film as he said in an interview, "I want it to be seen as one of the great movies of all time, and one of the most hated movies of all time."[8]
Differences from the novel
The coconut-smashing scene toward the end of the film was not originally in the book. Hunter S. Thompson wrote the scene for the novel and then omitted it.
In the movie Johnny Depp states that his blood is too thick for Nevada, in the book Hunter states that his blood is too thick for California.
During the scene where the head of the clerk changes, a man in a white suit can be heard saying: "They chopped her head off right there in the parking lot. Drilling her full of holes, probably looking for the pineal gland." In the book Dr. Gonzo says this as the Adrenochrome takes effect.
DVD
By the time Fear and Loathing was released as a Criterion Collection DVD in 2003, Thompson showed his approval of the Gilliam version by recording a full-length audio commentary for the movie and participating in several DVD special features.
On an audio commentary track in the Criterion edition of the DVD, Gilliam expresses great pride in the film and says it was one of the few times where he did not have to fight extensively with the studio during the filming. Gilliam chalks this up to the fact that many of the studio executives read Thompson's book in their youth and understood it could not be made into a conventional Hollywood film. However, he does express frustration with the advertising campaign used during it's initial release, which he says tried to sell it as wacky comedy.
Cultural References
Deathrock band Tragic Black sampled Johnny Depp saying his famous line "We can't stop here, this is bat country" in their song "Mad Hatter".
The band Avenged Sevenfold wrote a song "Bat Country", which is a reference to the novel, and is dedicated to its late author, Hunter S. Thompson.
Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo are featured in The Simpsons episode "Viva Ned Flanders" where they are animated in the same style as that of Ralph Steadman; they're shown leaving Las Vegas, with Duke complaining about the number of tourists saying that there were "Too many kids."
The band Mastodon's song "I Am Ahab" is based on the part of the movie when Dr. Gonzo is in the bath tub. ( Mastodon's song "I Am Ahab" is about Captain Ahab in the book Moby Dick, "I Am Ahab" is off their CD Leviathan which is about the book - TGHK )
An episode of CSI:Crime Scene Investigation is titled "Fur and Loathing" in reference to the movie. During one of the scenes an investigator says " I feel like I'm having Hunter S. Thompson flashbacks." Also, as the closing dialog of the episode, When another member of the CSI team comments about the nature of the case, Grissom comments that instead the case could be better defined as "Fur and Loathing in Las Vegas."
^ abDoss, Yvette C (June 5, 1998). "The Lost Legend of the Real Dr. Gonzo". Los Angeles Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ abcdefghijkEbner, Mark (January 1998). "Fear and Bleating in Las Vegas: Hunter Thompson Goes Hollywood". Premiere. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ abcMcCracken, Elizabeth (June 1998). "Depp Charge". ELLE. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^Rowe, Douglas J (May 29, 1998). "Terry Gilliam Can Fly Without Acid". Associated Press. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ abHolden, Michael (December 1998). "Fear and Loathing". Loaded. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
^Seiler, Andy (May 21, 1998). "Fearless Gilliam visits Hell on Earth". USA Today. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^ abWillens, Michele (May 17, 1998). "How Many Writers Does it Take…?". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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