The Rum Diary Archives - The Playlist

Johnny Depp’s ‘The Rum Diary’ Will Hit Theaters On October 28th Via Film District

The Playlist Staff — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:02:18 +0000

Johnny Depp's 'The Rum Diary' Will Hit Theaters On October 28th Via Film District

Continue reading Johnny Depp’s ‘The Rum Diary’ Will Hit Theaters On October 28th Via Film District at The Playlist.

Bruce Robinson Started Drinking Again To Write ‘The Rum Diary’

The Playlist Staff — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 08:26:52 +0000

Bruce Robinson Started Drinking Again To Write 'The Rum Diary'

Continue reading Bruce Robinson Started Drinking Again To Write ‘The Rum Diary’ at The Playlist.

FilmDistrict, The New Distributor From GK Films, May Release ‘The Rum Diary’ Next Fall; ‘London Boulevard’ As Well

Edward Davis — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:59:00 +0000

By now you’ve hopefully heard that Graham King, the Academy Award-winning producer behind “The Departed” has formed a new acquisition, distribution, production, and financing company called FilmDistrict with Sony vet Peter Schlessel and former Apparition chief Bob Berney.

For those lamenting the loss of a mid-sized film distributor like Apparition, hopefully FilmDistrict will fill that gap.

More importantly, Film District will likely be distributing films that they have produced, such as Bruce Robinson’s long-awaited Hunter S.

Continue reading FilmDistrict, The New Distributor From GK Films, May Release ‘The Rum Diary’ Next Fall; ‘London Boulevard’ As Well at The Playlist.

Bruce Robinson’s ‘The Rum Diary’ Starring Johnny Depp Headed For 2011?

Simon Dang — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:55:00 +0000

In a disappointing but not altogether surprising move considering the lack of news, the release of Bruce Robinson’s Hunter S. Thompson adaptation “The Rum Diary” starring Johnny Depp is reportedly set to be held back until the new year.

“I heard next year, that’s [when] it’s going to come out,” co-star Aaron Eckhart told FilmSchoolRejects. “Johnny is making ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and I think that he’s too busy to promote something right now.

Continue reading Bruce Robinson’s ‘The Rum Diary’ Starring Johnny Depp Headed For 2011? at The Playlist.

Tim Burton & Johnny Depp’s ‘Dark Shadows’ To Shoot In January, Seth Grahame-Smith Writing New Draft Of Script

Kevin Jagernauth — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:48:00 +0000

The gestating film adaptation of 1960’s gothic television soap opera “Dark Shadows” finally has a start date” and will go in front of cameras in January with Tim Burton directing with his longtime collaborator Johnny Depp in front of camera as vampire Barnabas Collins.

In another interesting twist, the script by John August (“Big Fish,” “Charlie & The Chocolate Factory”) will get a fresh draft by Seth Grahame-Smith, the novelist best known for penning “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and “Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” both of which are also headed to the big screen (the former with David O.

Continue reading Tim Burton & Johnny Depp’s ‘Dark Shadows’ To Shoot In January, Seth Grahame-Smith Writing New Draft Of Script at The Playlist.

First Look: Photos Of ‘The Rum Diary’ Starring Johnny Depp

Edward Davis — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:41:00 +0000

At one point rumored for a premiere at Cannes, we haven’t seen or heard a lot from the “The Rum Diary” starring Johnny Depp this year other than some set photos and what not.

Anyone who’s a fan of Johnny Depp in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” (is anyone not?) should be looking forward to his long-awaited second role as a Hunter S. Thompson surrogate.

Cult director Bruce Robinson (“How To Get Ahead In Advertising”) — who hasn’t helmed a feature-length film since “Jennifer Eight” in 1992 — is directing, and he’s also a name you may recognize as the mind behind the wonderfully acidic English black comedy, “Withnail and I” – one of Depp’s all-time favorite films.

Continue reading First Look: Photos Of ‘The Rum Diary’ Starring Johnny Depp at The Playlist.

Is ‘The Rum Diary’ Getting Closer To A Cannes Premiere?

Kevin Jagernauth — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 20:45:00 +0000

The road of “The Rum Diary” getting to the big screen has been a long one. The novel, by Hunter S. Thompson, was written in 1960 but wasn’t published until 1998. Back in 2003, it was reported that Benicio Del Toro was set to direct and co-star in the film along side Johnny Depp (they also paired in Terry Gilliam’s “Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas,”which was also based on a novel by Thompson), but Del Toro dropped out because it took over 18 months to get the cameras rolling.

Continue reading Is ‘The Rum Diary’ Getting Closer To A Cannes Premiere? at The Playlist.

‘The Rum Diary’ Headed For Cannes?; ‘Arizona Dream’ Finally Hits DVD & Alain Resnais’ ‘Wild Grass’ Gets Trailer

Kevin Jagernauth — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:50:00 +0000

Is “The Rum Diary” headed for Cannes? Maybe. Vulture asked Aaron Eckhart about the status of the film to which he replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know where they’re at. I think they’re trying to get into Cannes, maybe.” That’s about as definitive as anything we’ve heard on the project in a while. The film is an adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel that stars Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Giovanni Ribisi and Richard Jenkins.

Continue reading ‘The Rum Diary’ Headed For Cannes?; ‘Arizona Dream’ Finally Hits DVD & Alain Resnais’ ‘Wild Grass’ Gets Trailer at The Playlist.

Kevin Macdonald To Direct James Vanderbilt’s ‘Murder Mystery’

Oliver Lyttelton — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:43:00 +0000

British director Kevin Macdonald has made some truly extraordinary documentary films, (“One Day In September,” “Touching The Void”) but his two fictional films to date, “The Last King of Scotland” and “State of Play,” haven’t quite hit those heights, despite being well-crafted and featuring some excellent performances: Forrest Whitaker obviously picked up the Oscar for the former, while the latter featured Russell Crowe’s best performance in nearly a decade.

The helmer’s currently putting the finishing touches on Roman centurion adventure “The Eagle of the Ninth,” set for release in September, and he’s just lined up his next project; he’ll direct the Hitchcockian thriller “Murder Mystery,” from a script by “Zodiac” scribe James Vanderbilt.

Continue reading Kevin Macdonald To Direct James Vanderbilt’s ‘Murder Mystery’ at The Playlist.

Cannes 2010 Predictions: Could ‘The Fighter,’ Black Swan’ & ‘Somewhere’ Premiere In France?

Rodrigo Perez — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:32:00 +0000

It’s not even March, but some sites are already dropping their Cannes 2010 predictions/educated guesses.

ScreenDaily has been the first to drop theirs which means the trades should be behind shortly. Last year when Screen Daily dropped their Cannes 2009 predictions they went about 12 for 19 making their guess work about 63% correct. When the Hollywood Reporter dropped their Cannes predix last year they went about 13 out of 21 which is about 62% accurate.

Continue reading Cannes 2010 Predictions: Could ‘The Fighter,’ Black Swan’ & ‘Somewhere’ Premiere In France? at The Playlist.

Gilliam To Depp’s Career Choices: ‘Why Are You Doing This Shit?’

Beau — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:55:00 +0000

About a month ago, we covered some relatively unkind, or at least typically unfiltered words Terry Gilliam had in regards to dealing with Johnny Depp and his handlers for the shooting of “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.” In the Vanity Fair article, the notoriously candid filmmaker said, “Our friend is an empire now…that’s the sad thing about success.”

Well, here we go again. Gilliam sat down to an interview with HitFix at Comic-Con and once again expressed his distaste for Depp’s new found status and his recent work.

Continue reading Gilliam To Depp’s Career Choices: ‘Why Are You Doing This Shit?’ at The Playlist.

What’s Next For Johnny Depp: Familiar Burton-Helmed Territory?, Disney-Backed Pirate/Sidekick Movie Or Nothing?

Simon Dang — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:46:00 +0000

For nearly a decade, Johnny Depp has had no more two features released within any given 18 month period. With the world in the grips of the recession, bankable stars like Depp are invaluable and, more than ever, studios are looking to be utilize the actor for all his worth.

But as THR points out, if Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus” does see a release by year’s end in 2010 in the U.S., Depp would have four films coming out within the current 18 months: Michael Mann’s Depp-led “Public Enemies” which is still due to delayed releases in countries like Australia; Tim Burton’s “Alice In Wonderland”; the Hunter S.

Continue reading What’s Next For Johnny Depp: Familiar Burton-Helmed Territory?, Disney-Backed Pirate/Sidekick Movie Or Nothing? at The Playlist.

Shortcuts: More ‘Rum Diary’ Photos; Footage From ‘In The Loop,’ ‘Crank 2’ & ‘Bananaz’, Rainn Wilson Collaborates With Rivers Cuomo

Simon Dang — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:31:00 +0000

More shots of Johnny Depp, this time with Aaron Eckhart on the Puerto Rican set of “The Rum Diary” have found their way online. Based on a Hunter S. Thompson novel, this is the second time (after “Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas”) that Depp will be playing a surrogate character based on the author who became one of his famous friends. [PopSugar]

Catch a bunch of webisodes from Armando Iannucci’s “In The Loop.” The clips focus on the character of Jamie McDonald, a senior press officer, and has the tagline: ‘Jamie McDonald: The crossest man in Scotland.” [Empire]

A few behind-the-scenes clips from Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s “Crank 2: High Voltage” have showed up online.

Continue reading Shortcuts: More ‘Rum Diary’ Photos; Footage From ‘In The Loop,’ ‘Crank 2’ & ‘Bananaz’, Rainn Wilson Collaborates With Rivers Cuomo at The Playlist.

Shortcuts: Cronenberg Talks ‘The Matarese Circle’, ‘Gigantic’ Wins Top Prize In Dallas

Simon Dang — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:06:00 +0000

David Cronenberg recently talked about his project “The Matarese Circle.” He revealed that he has ” spoken to both Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington, and they both want to do it.” The delays of the project has been due to the fact that he is rewriting the script, originally by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (“Wanted”), from scratch and is “under a lot of pressure and [doesn’t] want to screw it up.” Also, he talked about how one of things that drew him to the project in the first was his belief that “when you get too comfortable, you need to scare yourself by trying something you’ve never done before.” [Toronto Star]

Rosemarie DeWitt (“Rachel Getting Married”, TV’s “United States Of Tara”) and Chris Cooper (“The Kingdom”,”Syrianna”) have joined the cast of John Well’s indie drama film, “Company Men.” The film details the lives of three men over the course of a year as the company they work for implements corporate downsizing.

Continue reading Shortcuts: Cronenberg Talks ‘The Matarese Circle’, ‘Gigantic’ Wins Top Prize In Dallas at The Playlist.

Shortcuts: Nicole Kidman & Aaron Eckhart Team For ‘Rabbit Hole’, Megan Fox To Get ‘Passionate’ With Mickey Rourke

Simon Dang — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:09:00 +0000

Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart will team up for John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole,” a film based on a stage play by David Lindsay Abaire. The film tells the story of a couple who are struggling to cope with the death of their four year old son. [Production Weekly]

Chris Lowell (TV’s “Private Practice”,”Veronica Mars”) has joined the cast of Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air.” Already cast in the film is George Clooney, Jason Bateman, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick.

Continue reading Shortcuts: Nicole Kidman & Aaron Eckhart Team For ‘Rabbit Hole’, Megan Fox To Get ‘Passionate’ With Mickey Rourke at The Playlist.

ShortCuts: ‘Shutter Island’ Is Weakly Teased; Another ‘Hurt Locker’ Poster; Johnny Depp’s First ‘Rum Diary’ Look; More…

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:25:00 +0000

A fairly underwhelming teaser poster of Martin Scorese’s “Shutter Island,” has been making the rounds. It sort of looks like a cheap, knock-off of the ideas already presented in “why so serious” Joker/’Dark Knight’ posters, only nowhere near as effective. This poster’s tag is “whatever happened to patient 67?” which is Emily Mortimer’s character in the psychological thriller due October 2. [Rope Of Silicon]

Simon Pegg will voice a “slightly unhinged, swashbuckling weasel,” in “Ice Age 3” which is due later this summer on July 1st.

Continue reading ShortCuts: ‘Shutter Island’ Is Weakly Teased; Another ‘Hurt Locker’ Poster; Johnny Depp’s First ‘Rum Diary’ Look; More… at The Playlist.

Giovanni Ribisi Joins Johnny Depp In ‘The Rum Diary’

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:15:00 +0000

According to Variety, Giovanni Ribisi has joined the cast of “The Rum Diary,” the adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel belatedly published in 1998 that will once again see Johnny Depp in the lead role as yet another surrogate for the good Doctor.

Since we don’t follow it super-closely, (but more and more these days) we also didn’t realize that Ribisi has a role in James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

The cast already includes Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart and recent Academy-Award nominee Richard Jenkins.

Continue reading Giovanni Ribisi Joins Johnny Depp In ‘The Rum Diary’ at The Playlist.

Aaron Eckhart And Richard Jenkins Join Depp In The ‘Rum Diary’

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:49:00 +0000

Bruce Robinson’s “The Rum Diary” project is quickly taking shape. Amber Heard was in negotiations to join Johnny Depp in the pre-‘Fear & Loathing’ Hunter S. Thompson adaptation as the female lead and has evidently now signed on. Plus Aaron Eckhart and Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins (“The Visitor”) are in the mix as well according to THR.

Jenkins has already signed on and Eckhart is apparently in negotiations. Bruce Robinson directed the incredible mad satire, “How to Get Ahead in Advertising” and “Withnail & I” and is also writing the adaptation.

Continue reading Aaron Eckhart And Richard Jenkins Join Depp In The ‘Rum Diary’ at The Playlist.

Short Cuts: The ‘Rum Diary’ Move Closer To Its First Pour; Plus Batman Franchises Beyond, Polanski Trial & More

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:13:00 +0000

Amber Heard will join Johnny Depp in “The Rum Diary,” another (pre-‘Fear & Loathing’) Hunter S. Thompson adaptation that’s been speculated on in recent weeks? She’s in negotiations to play the female lead. Bruce Robinson (“How to Get Ahead in Advertising” — an amazing film if you’ve never seen — “Withnail & I”) is writing and directing, which is exciting, but the last film he did was the 1992 flub, “Jennifer 8.” [THR]

Warner Bros.

Continue reading Short Cuts: The ‘Rum Diary’ Move Closer To Its First Pour; Plus Batman Franchises Beyond, Polanski Trial & More at The Playlist.