After nearly two years on a dusty shelf in a Hollywood basement, writer/director Bruce Robinson‘s adaptation of the Hunter S. Thomspon novel The Rum Diary is finally making its way toward daylight. CinemaBlend reports that it glimpsed a promotional image at Cinema Con advertising an October 28th, 2011 release date and Deadline has confirmed the report.
The Rum Diary stars Johnny Depp in a Thompson adaptation for the first time since the outstanding Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in 1998 (coincidentally, the same year the novel The Rum Diary was released). This time Depp plays Paul Kemp, a journalist in New York who gets fed up with the city and moves to Puerto Rico to write for the failing San Juan Star newspaper. Like Raoul Duke, Depp’s character in Fear and Loathing, Kemp is based on Thompson himself and quickly becomes infatuated with rum and beautiful woman (Zombieland‘s Amber Heard).
The allure of seeing Johnny Depp as Hunter S. Thompson again should have been enough to keep this film off the shelf. The two were good friends; Depp narrated the Thompson documentary Gonzo, and his performance in Fear and Loathing is one of his best. Add Aaron Eckhart and Giovanni Ribisi in supporting roles and The Rum Diary should have gone from theaters to DVD by now.
Does the delay mean the movie must be horrible? It could. Or it could be great. The two-year distribution delay is nothing compared to novel’s 40-year publishing delay. Newcomer FilmDistrict (Insidious) is holding onto the film for now. An October release could mean the company’s using it to get its name in the Oscar pool for the first time.
Will The Rum Diary be fantastic or a flop? What do you think?