NARCOTICS SYNONYMOUS

Take one cool kid, Johnny Depp, give him one deranged old daddio, Hunter S. Thompson, and stand back as one commits the other to film. It’s been a long time coming, but Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas has finally been made. Duck!

Depp interview: Jenny Peters

Anyone still hankering after the original sweet heart-throb, Johnny Depp, can finally forget it as he steps into his most extreme role yet in Terry Gilliam’s Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.
Depp plays Raoul Duke, the thinly veiled alter ego of author Hunter S. Thompson, in this outrageous adaptation of Thompson’s legendary 1971 novel. To play the role of the wildly charismatic Rolling Stone gonzo-journalist, Depp deepens his voice and sports a bald pate, rose-tinted aviator glasses and an ever-present cigarette holder; in short, he completely transforms himself into a dead-on clone of Thornpson. A price worth paying for the right to star as his hero. 'He's a writer that I've admired for years," Depp reveals, looking once again like the heart-throb of old, with a becoming tan and full head of hair back in place. 'I felt a tremendous responsibility doing the film. Because on one hand, I'm a huge fan of the book. And on the other hand, I had sort of developed this semi-relationship with Hunter at the time. We were friendly; we talked and hung out a little bit. But I guess the reason why I felt such an intense responsibility was: number one, I cared for him; but number two, the book is such a great gift to the world. I just felt it really deserved a serious focus. I really wanted to do a great job for him. I wanted him to be proud. Because he's got to live with it for the rest of his life."

With his exemplary work in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Depp continues his crusade to avoid the expectations that Hollywood inflicts on to its handsome leading men. At 35, the actor is proud of the way he has manipulated the world of film to match his personal desires.
I've had alot of aspirations in my life. Certainly, as I got off that TV series I promised myself that I would never go to that formula again, and never do assembly line stuff again, and I would only do the things I wanted to do,' Depp remembers. 'I didn't know if that was gonna work. I didn't know if that was gonna fly at all. But I was determined to try it. And I was scared to death, because they were trying to label me and stamp me and corral me into this one little pen. And I thought, 'God, I can't have that. No way. I need more than that." If that's what Johnny Depp has fundamentally wanted to prove over the past nine years - to make sure people know that he's more than just a pretty face - he can probably quit pushing. Fear And Loathing should bury that myth for good.
GQ. You talk about the late Sixties and early Seventies like you remember it. But you don't, do you?
Depp: Oh, yeah. I'm long in the tooth. [laughs] No, I'll tell you, I remember very well - this book takes place in 1971. I was eight years old. And I can remember watching Vietnam on the TV as we sat down to dinner. I remember very vividly watching the Watergate trials on TV, as a little kid. Those are pretty strong images for a little kid. What else do you remember about that time?
I have beautiful memories; these great, idealistic images in my head. We had a turtle pool in the backyard, and barbecues. I remember '69, the year they landed on the moon. I can remember standing with my next-door neighbour as the men were landing on the moon. It was dark and we were looking up at the moon. And the guy was saying - now, this is a really heavy thing for a little kid - 'When man puts his foot on the moon, the moon will turn to blood." That was our next-door neighbour. [laughs) That's the guy we were barbecuing with, if that's any indication... But that's the kind of stuff I remember. I have these beautiful images of swimming with my sisters, and all that stuff. But it slowly gets banged and chiselled away over the years
When did you first meet Hunter? Was it because you wanted to do a film of this book, or would you do a different one ?
Well, at the time, I would have done almost anything to do Fear And Loathing as a film. But that wasn't the initial meeting. I just happened to be in Aspen, Colorado that Christmas, because my girl and I wanted to see snow. So we went to Aspen. And we were with a friend of ours in the Woody Creek Tavern, and a mutual friend of Hunter's. So he said, 'I just got off the phone with Hunter - he's coming down here." So I was sitting there thinking, 'My God, I'm finally gonna meet Hunter S Thompson, who I've admired for so many years.' Five minutes later, the door bursts open and there he is with the sunglasses, the hat, the jacket and the...
Flailing arms?
Yeah, the arms were just all over the place. He had a stun gun in his right hand and a three-foot cattle prod in his left hand, which was fully electrified. He was whirling them around and people were jumping to get out of the way. That was my first image of Hunter Thompson. Then he came over and sat down and we had a drink.
Did he zap you?
No, he didn't zap me, thankfully. We did explode a green mace on the wall that night, in the Woody Creek Tavem. Then we went to his house and we sat in his kitchen and built a bomb, and I shot it with a 12-gauge shotgun. That was within the first two hours of meeting him.
Do you see any of yourself in him?
Actually, I do. We sort of connect on many levels. But the initial bonding was the idea that Hunter's from Louisville, Kentucky, and I was born in Owensboro, Kentucky. So yeah, the initial thin was that we're both from Kentucky. There's a kind of understanding of fellow Kentuckians. That you're from the dark and bloody ground, as they call it.
In what other ways did you connect?
He's a writer that I've admired for years.
Why ?
Well, it's safe to say he's very original. [laughs] I think he's a genius. I think he's one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. I think he's one of our greatest writers of the century. He's there with Kerouac, Burroughs and Ginsberg and those people, for me.
Would it have been easier if you didn't have a real model in front of you for that character?
No. I think that being given the opportunity to play Hunter Thompson - to play Raoul Duke, his alter ago - and having him as a reference, and as a source of strength and support, is a once in a lifetime thing. Like Edward Scissorhands was once in a lifetime for me.
How was the book tour, in terms Of helping you plan your performance?
When I was his road manager? I was 'Ray", his road manager and head of security, when I went on his book tour with him.
And no one recognised you?
Oh, no... [laughs] I got recognised. And it was very strange. Hunter would say, 'This is Ray,' and the people would be like, 'No, it's..." 'This is RAY.' They'd go, 'Oh, yes, hi... Ray. How are you, Ray?' He was very, very helpful. Every second that I was able to spend with him was all the better for me. Especially on the book tour. Because at one point we landed in San Francisco and Hunter's back went out. We were basically locked in a hotel room - in a bad hotel room - in San Francisco for five days together. We didn't really leave the room.
Did it end up with a bunch of water on the floor with various things floating in it?
It didn't end up with a bunch of water on the floor. But it wasn't far off, really. I learned a lot in those five days - a lot. And it was very good for me. I would say that yeah, he hasn't changed. And that's also a big gift. Because this guy's a true original. If you go back and read some of the letters in Volume I of the Fear And Loathing letters, you read these things that he wrote when he was 17 years old. It's the same guy. It's the same language. It's amazing.
You're going to play Howard Hughes, aren't you?
As far as I know, yeah.
So you've done Ed Wood you've done Hunter Thompson...
I'm the bio guy. I don't know what that is. Boy, I never thought of myself in that way at all. That's weird. I always prefer the idea of creating characters. You have to be such a chameleon because you have to be able to get into these characters' skins. Is it difficult? It's difficult, but it's the part of it that I love. It's finding the character and being stimulated by it.
You don't seem to go for the leading man type of roles. When you first started out on 21Jump Street on TV, you were thought of as a heart-throb. But It seems like you've really shied away from and avoided that label. Have you done that consciously?
You bet. Because I didn't want to be labeled. Robert Downey Jr. said something really brilliant one time. They asked him the definition of 'hot', and he said, 'Destined to be cold.' I thought that was one of the most brilliant things I had ever heard anyone say. Very insightful, very smart. So at the time I was involved in this thing that was all about formula, and all about assembly line. And I was scared to death, because I knew it had nothing to do with me. And I thought, 'God, I can't have that. No way. I need more than that.'
But you've gone the opposite extreme. You don't ever play a role that's anything like that.
No. I try to shy away from it. Nick Of Time was probably a little more mainstream, in terms of the character. The Astronaut's Wife [coming out later this year] might be, too.
So is your life better than you could have imagined?
Yeah. I mean, having been lucky enough to work with people like Marlon Brando and Al Pacino.
There's a leading role you did - in Don Juan DeMarco.
But a fun character to play.
What was the hardest time for you during the past ten years?
I think the hardest time was cracking all the labels initially. People had only known me as some kind of TV actor - as this cop who goes into high schools. That was tough. At that time, for television actors - let's call them that, because that's what we were known as at the time - it wasn't easy to make the jump into film. I think the only guy who had really done it was Michael J. Fox.
How many years did it take for you to get a job in film?
I did work. It was just difficult in terms of trying to erase these labels, and these names, such as 'heart- throb' and 'teen-idol". So you didn't have to work as a waiter or anything like that? No. All I had to do was do a John Waters movie [laughs].
One of my personal favourites.
One of mine, too.
What's happening with The Brave, the film you wrote, directed and acted in ?
What did I do with The Brave, after the severe violation from the rear that I took from the press after the Cannes Film Festival..? Which was, by the way, a total leap from what I'd experienced at the actual premiere of the film. At the premiere of the film it was applauded. They were very nice about it. They seemed to enjoy it.
They gave it a standing ovation at Cannes.
There you go. You say the things that I can't say.
Do you find that they smile at you when you're there, and then stab you in the back later?
The press screening was at 8:30 in the morning, and the regular screening was at 7:30 at night. So I'd experienced this great thing. I was shocked. I was welcomed into the fold, I was accepted as a filmmaker and my film was applauded. And then the next morning, all these heinous quotes came out. And I was bashed around, and brutalised, and savagely penetrated. So basically, what I've been doing with The Brave is, I'm sitting on it until the smoke clears. And then I'll release it. Attack.
What's next for you?
The Ninth Gate with Roman Polanski. Out of the US, I'd guess ?
Oh, yeah. We'll be in Paris.
Is it a thriller?
Yeah. It's very interesting. Well, a little dark.

Return to interview page Return to Depp home page