The Rum Diary - Johnny Depp

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From the Bad and Ugly

Next Up For Johnny Depp…
Writing by Dave on Monday, 12 January, 2009 at 1:17 pm
rumdiary.jpg
It seems like last year, Johnny Depp was bounced around to a few unexpected projects. He spent some time filming Public Enemies (which we saw HERE), then jetted off to replace Heath Ledger, along with Jude Law and Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell in Terry Gillaim’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It seems like we heard that Tim Burton was going to be filming Alice In Wonderland for Disney mere weeks before he was actually filming it and Depp was on hand as The Mad Hatter (maybe first seen HERE).
That’s a lot of work, back and forth, from a guy who was exclusively Captain Jack Sparrow for a few years there.
Now, we’ve got a casting announcement that suggests Depp’s next project will be The Rum Diary, which would see him reprise his role from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and bring Hunter S. Thompson to screen once more…
The casting call is for Chenault, the love interest in The Rum Diary, who - from the casting info - seems to just be walking sex:
    THE RUM DIARY (One Role) Feature Film
    PRODUCTION COMPANIES: GK FILMS & INFINITUM NIHIL
    UNION: SAG
    Writer/Director: Bruce Robinson Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson
    Casting Director: Denise Chamian
    Casting Associate: Angela Demo
    NY Casting Associate: Julie Schubert
    Sounds steamy….
    Casting Assistant: Krysti Charron
    Start Date: March 2009
    SUBMIT JULIE SCHUBERT TEL: XXX-XXX-XXXX
    [PAUL KEMP] -Johnny Depp
    SEEKING: [CHENAULT] A beautiful, 25 year old, translucent vision from Connecticut, with a killer smile and a wry, enigmatic personality, she wears barely-there sarongs, sunbathes nude, and oozes sexuality in everything she does. She enchants and mesmerizes Kemp from the moment they meet: while both escaping a tedious, high-end party. Chenault is dating and possibly engaged to Sanderson, but clearly feels an attraction to Kemp. She’s a daredevil who loves to dance and drive fast. She gets into big trouble with a lust-crazed, violent crowd during Carnival in St. Thomas. .. LEAD. This role contains nudity.
    STORY LINE: 1960: Divorced alcoholic and struggling novelist PAUL KEMP decides to kick around San Juan until his ship comes in, working as a journalist for a daily newspaper that’s on its last legs, drinking gallons of rum and experimenting with LSD. With his new friend BOB SALA by his side, he becomes entangled in a corrupt hotel development scheme with a slick PR consultant named SANDERSON, and falls in love with Sanderson’s unattainable girlfriend, CHENAULT. . .
Paul Kemp is one of the alter egos of 22-year-old Hunter S. Thompson, and the one that Johnny Depp will be inhabiting for the film (Johnny Depp as 22? We’ll worry about that later).
Word on the production street is that Krysti Charron, the casting assistant is partial to Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johannson, but readings for this role will probably include a swath of relatively unknowns.
No one has yet been cast, but when they are, expect The Rum Diary to start spinning it’s wheels.

From the Daily News
Johnny Depp film in Puerto Rico
Associated Press
Friday, January 30th 2009, 4:00 AM
SAN JUAN: Information that Johnny Depp is to be in Puerto Rico during the first half of 2009 to shoot "The Rum Diary", was confirm on Thursday by the government of Peurto Rico.
The film is based on the book by Hunter S. Thompson, focusing on the experiences of the author while he lived on the island in the late 50s, where he had a a job for an English speaking Rotary.
"We are pleased to bring 'The Rum Diary' to Puerto Rico, which will result in jobs for audiovisual technicians and our actors," said the secretary-designate of economic development for Economy and Trade, Rez Riera.
"This kind of production helps us to spread our message that Puerto Rico is a destination for film productions. We welcome and confirm our support for this production, because it has recognized figures in Hollywood such as Johnny Depp, and producer Graham King " added the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Corporate Films in Puerto Rico.
Producing the film are Christi Dembrowski and Johnny Depp himself, while the screen adaptation is by Bruce Robinson, who won the Oscar for best screenplay in "The Killing Fields" (1984).
"The Rum Diary" is one of several major productions shooting in Puerto Rico, including "Che" (2007) by Steven Soderbergh, starring Benicio del Toro and "Men Who Stare at Goats" (2008) with George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges.

From Paste Magazine
The Rum Diary, starring Johnny Depp, may film soon
By
Matt Goodlett
on January 15, 2009 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Somewhat substantiated news that Johnny Depp's next project is The Rum Diary means that the oft-delayed production might actually begin filming this year.
The film was originally supposed to be directed by Puerto Rican native Benicio Del Toro with Josh Hartnett attached, but Del Toro passed the directorial baton on to Bruce Robinson (Jennifer 8, How to get Ahead in Advertising) after the production stalled for 18 months.
Thompson told MSNBC in 2003 that in the novel, "I was writing about what it was like to be among vagrant journalists," and that, "Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist." The parallels to Thompson's life are numerous. Like protagonist Paul Kemp, Thompson found himself a journalist in his early '20s, working a dead-end job as a reporter for a bowling tabloid in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Thompson's musings on a veteran journalist in Puerto Rico—observed through the eyes of Kemp—are somewhat prophetic and tragic when held up to Thompson's decline and eventual demise: "On rare occasions he showed flashes of intelligence. But his brain was so rotted with drink and dissolute living that whenever he put it to work it behaved like an old engine."
The book was finished in 1959 and didn't see publication until 1998. Like the book, the movie has had a long birth. We mentioned that Depp would star in The Rum Diary as early as 2007, and Del Toro's delays getting the movie made took place in 2005. Both Del Toro and Depp starred in the film adaptation of Thompson's most famous work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
In footage from Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, the journalist laments: "I used to be able to stand in the back and observe stories and absorb them. Now the moment I appear in a story I become a part of it. The first time I appeared at a press conference for Jimmy Carter I had to sign more autographs than Carter."
Here's looking forward to seeing a more subdued and anonymous portion of the wild journalist's life on screen soon.

Found by emma at ProdWeek
Johnny Depp will begin filming March 31st in Puerto Rico, on Bruce Robinson's adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel "The Rum Diary."
(Note from Kazren: their source is "the web" Richard Zanuck said they would start filming "Dark Shadows" in April, so there appears to be some conflict with this date)

Found by emma at Backstage Blogs
Yo, Ho, Ho…
The feature film The Rum Diary, based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson and starring Johnny Depp, has begun casting. Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I) will adapt and direct. Denise Chamian is the casting director. Production begins in March.
-- Heather Langone

From emma
Casting notice for Chenault
THE RUM DIARY (One Role) Feature Film
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: GK FILMS & INFINITUM NIHIL
UNION: SAG
Writer/Director: Bruce Robinson Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson
Casting Director: Denise Chamian
Casting Associate: Angela Demo
NY Casting Associate: Julie Schubert
Casting Assistant: Krysti Charron
Start Date: March 2009
SUBMIT JULIE SCHUBERT TEL: XXX-XXX-XXXX
[PAUL KEMP] -Johnny Depp
SEEKING: [CHENAULT] A beautiful, 25 year old, translucent vision from Connecticut, with a killer smile and a wry, enigmatic personality, she wears barely-there sarongs, sunbathes nude, and oozes sexuality in everything she does. She enchants and mesmerizes Kemp from the moment they meet: while both escaping a tedious, high-end party. Chenault is dating and possibly engaged to Sanderson, but clearly feels an attraction to Kemp. She's a daredevil who loves to dance and drive fast. She gets into big trouble with a lust-crazed, violent crowd during Carnival in St. Thomas. .. LEAD. This role contains nudity.
STORY LINE: 1960: Divorced alcoholic and struggling novelist PAUL KEMP decides to kick around San Juan until his ship comes in, working as a journalist for a daily newspaper that's on its last legs, drinking gallons of rum and experimenting with LSD. With his new friend BOB SALA by his side, he becomes entangled in a corrupt hotel development scheme with a slick PR consultant named SANDERSON, and falls in love with Sanderson's unattainable girlfriend, CHENAULT. . .

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