Terry Gilliam

View Larger
Image

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Not the Screenplay

Terry Gilliam

Synopsis:
Fear and Loathing takes off like an ICBM without a gyroscope, as Thompson's "fictional" alter ego Raoul Duke accompanied by his 300-pound Samoan attorney drives from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to cover, first a motorcycle race and, second, a District Attorneys' convention on how to stop drug use in America -- all the while completely wacked out on every illegal substance known to man (circa 1971). And preferably all at once. It is not a story, in short, for the Politically Correct faint of heart. It is also a classic of American literature, one of those super-classics, like The Catcher in the Rye, that have been daring Hollywood to take them on for decades. Even Hunter S. Thompson himself had doubts about his story: "To actually get paid for writing this kind of manic gibberish seems genuinely weird; like getting paid for kicking Agnew in the balls" Well, film and Thompson fans, here it is! In your face at long last. Universal Pictures presents Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas at your local multiplex. Raoul Duke and Hunter Thompson have finally met their cinematic match in star Johnny Depp and director Terry Gilliam. Depp, the man who brought you lovable lunatic shlock director Ed Wood; and Gilliam, a director with a track record only slightly less freewheeling than Dr. Thompson's: Jabberwocky, Time Bandits, Brazil, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Fisher King, and 12 Monkeys. Who else, really, but the crazed cartoonist of Monty Python's Flying Circus, the man who nearly broke the bank with the making of Munchausen would dare take on this deranged a project? In some ways, Gilliam is more frightening than Thompson. Gilliam comes up with his incredibly outrageous ideas withoutdrugs. Here they are together, the two Bad Boys of, respectively, American Journalism and Hollywood, butting head trips, outdaring each other, to bring forth the film of the decade -- one truly destined to be a fitting, fabulous fireworks-display end to this craziest of centuries.

More About this Book | View All Listings | View Collectible Listings

Other editions: Hardcover - 2004, Softcover - 2004, Softcover - 2002, 2002, Softcover - 2002, Softcover - 2002, Hardcover - 2000, Hardcover - 1999, Hardcover - 1999, Softcover - 1995