October 28 will see the release of The Rum Diary, an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s first novel starring Johnny Depp as Paul Kemp, a roaming journalist who travels to Puerto Rico to work for the San Juan Star, and soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), a wildly attractive fiancee of shady local businessman Hal Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). The film also stars Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Rispoli and Richard Jenkins. Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I) directs.
As I mentioned a little over a week ago, the film has been in motion for about eight years after first being announced back in 2003 and filming finally beginning in March of 2009, and now we finally have the first trailer. Give it a watch below and leave your thoughts in the comments.
Was the delay in getting it to audiences a result of the film’s quality or do you see something special here?
The Rum Diary tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Depp). Tired of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local San Juan newspaper run by the downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked lifestyle of the late ’50s version of Hemingway’s “The Lost Generation,” Paul soon becomes entangled with a very attractive American woman, Chenault (Heard) and her fiancée Sanderson (Eckhart), a businessman involved in shady property development deals. It is within this world that Kemp ultimately discovers his true voice as a writer and integrity as a man.
