Line #10 Trivia/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas


1	----
2	* ApprovalOfGod: Creator/HunterSThompson loved Creator/JohnnyDepp'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.
3	* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget: $18.5 million. Box office: $13.7 million.
4	* CreatorBacklash: In his memoirs, [[Creator/RhinoRecords 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.
5	* DVDCommentary: The Criterion Edition has several commentary tracks, including one by ''Creator/HunterSThompson'' himself that makes the CE a must-have for Thompson fans. Throughout the film Hunter insults Creator/TerryGilliam, screams randomly, audibly smokes weed, and tries to call cast members when he's bored. Yet for all his randomness, he remembers that Creator/JohnnyDepp is using audio from the anti-drug law enforcement movie-in-a-movie on his answering machine and calls Depp's answering machine to prove it — and Hunter times it almost perfectly to sync up the film and the machine.
6	* DyeingForYourArt:
7	** 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''.
8	** Creator/BenicioDelToro 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.
9	* FriendshipOnTheSet: Creator/JohnnyDepp and Creator/HunterSThompson became lifelong friends. It was Depp who shot Thompson's ashes out of a cannon at his funeral.
10	* MidDevelopmentGenreShift: It was originally just going to be a straight series of articles covering a motorcycle race in Las Vegas, before becoming the weird, wacky, genre-defining whatever-it-is that it became.
11	* RealitySubtext: As Creator/RogerEbert noted in his review, Creator/JohnnyDepp was once arrested for trashing a hotel room in New York, as Raoul and Dr. Gonzo do. He questioned how Depp could have found any humour in the story, especially considering that Creator/RiverPhoenix died of an overdose outside the club Depp formerly owned.
12	* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: There had been plans to adapt the book into a film since the late 1970s.
13	** 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.
14	** 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.
15	** Rhino Films began work on a film version as early as 1992. Stephen Nemeth, producer and Head of Production, originally wanted Lee Tamahori to direct, but he wasn't available until after the January 1997 start date. Creator/JohnnyDepp wanted Bruce Robinson to direct, as he was a fan of ''Film/WithnailAndI'', but he was "unavailable... by choice".
16	* ThrowItIn:
17	** Creator/BenicioDelToro improvised the part in the beginning in the car when he licked the spilled cocaine off the suitcase.
18	** Creator/GaryBusey improvised the bit where the Highway Patrolman asks Duke to "give [him] a little kiss before you go...I'm very lonely out here". 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.
19	* TroubledProduction: The film had loads of different directors replaced before deciding to hire Creator/TerryGilliam, executives wanting to update the book's setting to TheNineties, and no firm budget when starting.
20	** The writing process also took forever. Alex Cox and Tod Davies wrote a screenplay for the movie, only for it to be disapproved by Creator/HunterSThompson 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.
21	** Filming in a casino was hard thanks to having to film between two and six in the morning, not having many extras, and having said extras actually gamble.
22	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
23	** 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. Hunter himself was vehemently opposed to the idea of the film being animated, due to his distaste for cartoons, and going on an angry tirade to the executives when he learned that it was being considered.
24	** Alex Cox was originally planned to be the director and writer of this film, but he was let go due to constantly slowing things down and interfering with production to try to get the film to adhere to his creative vision, even if it didn't line up with what happened in the book. He also wanted to include animated sequences in the movie, which displeased Hunter and resulted in his contract being terminated.
25	** According to Robert Rosen's biography of him, in early 1980, just before his recorded comeback, Music/JohnLennon read ''Fear and Loathing'' and became taken with the idea of playing Raoul Duke in a film version. Though it never eventuated, he referenced the novel in a draft of biographical matter (agreeing with its assessment of his song "Power to the People") and parodied the title twice in his posthumously published ''Skywriting by Word of Mouth''.
26	** At one point Creator/JohnCusack was almost cast as Raoul Duke. Cusack had previously directed a stage adaptation with his brother playing Duke. Creator/JohnMalkovich was also considered, but was deemed too old for the part.
27	** Creator/MartinScorsese and Creator/OliverStone wanted to do an adaptation of the novel before Creator/TerryGilliam managed to make it happen.
28	* WriteWhoYouKnow: Creator/HunterSThompson based Dr. Gonzo on his friend Oscar Zeta Acosta, who is said to have drowned sometime in 1974.

Context Trivia / FearAndLoathingInLasVegas