History Trivia / FearAndLoathingInLasVegas

** In January 1976, Texas Monthly announced that Larry McMurtry had signed a contract to write a screenplay for a film adaptation. Creator/MartinScorsese and Creator/OliverStone each tried to get the film off the ground, but were unsuccessful and moved on.

* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/HunterSThompson met with Creator/JohnnyDepp and declared that nobody else could play Raoul Duke.

** Creator/RalphBakshi wanted to make an AnimatedAdaptation based on Ralph Steadman's illustrations. Hunter had given the film rights to one of his girlfriends, and couldn't dissuade her from making the live-action film instead.

* ReferencedBy:
** The Music/AvengedSevenfold song "Bat Country" is basically a continuous series of references to the book/film. The song title is from the line "We can't stop here. This is bat country.".
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'' has a scene where Rango (also played by Johnny Depp) hits the windshield of the famous car driven by Hunter Thompson (''[[RoleReprise also]]'' [[RoleReprise played by Johnny Depp]]). Depp also claimed that some of Rango's more outlandish behavior was based on Thompson. The character's crooked neck is even based on the famous poster for this movie.
** ''VideoGame/{{Jazzpunk}}'' has a couple of tourists at the Kai Tak Resort level that are basically walking visual [[{{Expy}} Expies]] of Raoul Duke.
** Music/PanicAtTheDisco's fourth album is named ''Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!''.
** An area mission in ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeonII'' is "Bat Country," which entails an encounter with freaky, bad-trip looking Cultists.
** A secret map in ''VideoGame/VampireSurvivors'' is dubbed Bat Country, with the FlavorText "We can't stop here".

** An area mission in ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon2'' is "Bat Country," which entails an encounter with freaky, bad-trip looking Cultists.

** Creator/BenicioDelTor burned his arm with cigarettes to match the burns on Oscar Acosta's arm and ended up getting blood poisoning. He also gained 40 pounds for the role. He tried to put on even more weight, but there wasn't time.

* DoingItForTheArt: Nearly everyone in the film, but special credit goes to Creator/BenicioDelToro, who burned his arm with cigarettes to match the burns on Oscar Acosta's arm, and ended up getting blood poisoning. He also gained 40 pounds for the role. He tried to put on even more weight, but there wasn't time.

* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/JohnnyDepp had his head shaved to match Thompson's male-pattern baldness. By Thompson. With a ''straight razor''. ''While Thompson wore a miner's helmet''.

* ApprovalOfGod: Creator/HunterSThompson loved Johnny Depp's performance, claiming that if he ever met anyone as despicable as Depp's Duke, he'd immediately want to hit them with a chair. The only thing in the film Thompson directly objected to was the scene where Duke throws coins at the ground for the dwarf waiter to pick up; he was very insistent that the moment was [[ThrowItIn an improvisation]] from Depp, and that he would never have done something so demeaning in real life.

* TroubledProduction: The film had loads of different directors replaced before deciding to hire Gilliam, executives wanting to update the book's setting to TheNineties, and no firm budget when starting.
** The writing process also took forever. Alex Cox and Tod Davies wrote a screenplay for the movie, only for it to be disapproved by Hunter S. Thompson himself. Because of that, Gilliam had to write another one in just ten days (though he solved that problem by taking large chunks of the book and writing it in script format. Plus, he had the help of Tony Grisoni). Afterwards, there were problems with the Writers Guild of America after requesting to take Cox and Davies' names off due to their script being heavily rewritten. When Gilliam thought that he might lose the argument, he shot a scene explaining that "no matter what is said in the credits, no writers were involved in the making of the film" as a failsafe. When the decision came to credit him and Grisoni first and Cox and Davies second, Gilliam was mad about sharing credit, later burning his WGA card during a book signing.

** [[Film/WithnailAndI Bruce Robinson]] was Johnny Depp's first choice to make the film, but Robinson had quit filmmaking by that point. He would later direct ''Film/TheRumDiary'', based on Creator/HunterSThompson's novel and also starring Depp.
** Famed animator Creator/RalphBakshi wanted to animate a version of ''Fear and Loathing'' based on Ralph Steadman's illustrations. Hunter had given the film rights to one of his girlfriends, and couldn't dissuade her from making the live-action film instead.

** Creator/MartinScorsese and Creator/OliverStone each tried to get the film off the ground, but were unsuccessful and moved on.
** During the early stages during the initial development hell to get the film made, Creator/JackNicholson and Creator/MarlonBrando were originally considered for Duke and Gonzo, and Nicholson was attached, but they both grew too old. Afterward, Creator/DanAykroyd and Creator/JohnBelushi were considered for the duo, but that fell apart when Belushi died. Creator/JohnMalkovich was later considered for Duke, but he too grew too old. At one point Creator/JohnCusack was almost cast, but then Thompson met Creator/JohnnyDepp, 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.

* ApprovalOfGod: Creator/HunterSThompson loved Johnny Depp's performance, claiming that if he ever met anyone as despicable as Depp's Duke, he'd immediately want to hit them with a chair. The only thing in the film Thompson directly objected to was the scene where Duke throws coins at the ground for the dwarf waiter to pick up. Thompson was very insistent that the moment was [[ThrowItIn an improvisation]] from Depp, and that in real life he would never have done something so demeaning.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'' has a scene where Rango (also played by Johnny Depp) hits the windshield of the famous car driven by Hunter Thompson (''[[RoleReprise also]]'' [[RoleReprise played by Johnny Depp]]). Depp also claimed that some of Rango's more outlandish behavior was based on Thomspson. The character's crooked neck is even based on the famous poster for this movie.

** Creator/BenicioDelToro improvised the part in the beginning in the car when he licked the spilt cocaine off the suitcase.

* ApprovalOfGod: Creator/HunterSThompson loved Johnny Depp's performance, claiming that if he ever met anyone as despicable as Depp's Duke, he'd immediately want to hit them with a chair. The only thing in the film Thompson has been known to directly object to, was the scene where Duke throws coins at the ground for the dwarf waiter to pick up. Thompson was very insistent that the moment was [[ThrowItIn an improvisation]] from Depp, and that in real life he would never have done something so demeaning.

* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/JohnnyDepp had his head shaved to match Thompson's male-pattern baldness. By Thompson. With a ''straight razor''. ''While Thompson wore a [[CrazyAwesome miner's helmet]]''.

** Creator/GaryBusey improvised the "Give me a kiss" line. The producers and Creator/HunterSThompson were initially horrified by it, but Creator/TerryGilliam thought it was funny, and left it in the final cut. Thompson said that after a few more viewings, he found the line quite funny.

* CreatorBacklash: In his memoirs, Rhino Entertainment cofounder Harold Bronson says he wasn't happy with the way the film turned out, feeling that Creator/TerryGilliam's direction didn't convey very much of the book's humor, and that Creator/JohnnyDepp, while turning in a good performance, should've tried to play the more exaggerated Raoul Duke persona instead of just doing a Thompson impression.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Creator/HunterSThompson based Dr. Gonzo on his friend 'Oscar Zeta Acosta', who is said to have drowned sometime in 1974.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'' has a scene where Rango (also played by Johnny Depp) hits the windshield of the famous car driven by Hunter Thompson (''[[RoleReprisal also]]'' [[RoleReprisal played by Johnny Depp]]). Depp also claimed that some of Rango's more outlandish behavior was based on Thomspson. The character's crooked neck is even based on the famous poster for this movie.

* ApprovalOfGod: Creator/HunterSThompson loved Johnny Depp's performance, claiming that if he ever met anyone as despicable as Depp's Duke, he'd immediately want to hit them with a chair.

* CastingGag: The real Creator/HunterSThompson shows up in a hallucination/flashback sequence to his youth.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Subverted by the first editions of the book, despite the best efforts of the publishers. When publication of the book was still being negotiated, the lawyers of the publishers tried to get Thompson to delete the references to his attorney engaging in criminal acts, since; even as depicted through an {{Expy}}, could have badly damaged his reputation and been considered libelous. Thompson reached out to Oscar Zeta Acosta; the real life model for the fictional Dr. Gonzo, and asked him to sign a release. Acosta however initially refused, ''not'' because he was concerned over libelous content, but because he took offense at the changes made to his character -- he was a proud Chicano, and considered it an insult that the book described him as "a 300-pound Samoan". He would only sign the release on the condition that he be explicitly named as the basis for Gonzo on the book's cover. In other words, he insisted on taking ''full credit'' for the very criminal behavior the lawyers feared would harm and or offend him.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Rango}}'' has a scene where Rango hits the windshield of the famous car driven by Hunter Thompson. Funnily enough, Creator/JohnnyDepp voiced Rango as well as played Hunter Thompson in the respective movies.