A minute with Depp and his Rum Diary

The Pirates of the Caribbean actor speaks about his latest project.

LOS ANGELES: Taking a break from his blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Johnny Depp turns to a low-key role for his new project; starring in and producing The Rum Diary.

Due in the US theatres today, the film is based on his friend late Hunter S Thompson’s book of the same name. After portraying a version of Thompson in the 1998 film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Depp again becomes the gonzo journalist’s alter ego in Rum Diary, playing the fictional journalist Paul Kemp.

The film, set in 1960s, tells the story of Kemp, an American journalist who travels to the Caribbean island to write for a local newspaper. While enjoying a rum-filled lifestyle, he falls for the attractive fiancee (Amber Heard) of a shady businessman (Aaron Eckhart).

Depp speaks about Thompson, who committed suicide in 2005, his own connection to the Caribbean and his next role as Tonto in The Lone Ranger.

You and Hunter were such good friends. Whose idea was it to turn The Rum Diary into a movie?

It was his idea to produce it as a film. I found the manuscript (in his home). We were reading it, sitting cross-legged on the floor and he said, ‘We have to make this into a film and produce it together’. I said ‘Sure’, never knowing that we would go full-on with it.

What was the next step?

Hunter and I had all these horrendous meetings. We weren’t accustomed to doing a song-and-dance to try and drum up money. We’d be sitting with bottles of Chivas (Scotch whisky) and these (potential financiers) would arrive completely shocked and confused.

How did you keep Hunter’s spirit alive on the set?

I wanted Hunter’s spirit to permeate (the set) and I wanted everybody to know that Hunter was there. We had his chair with his name on it. We had his script with his name on it. We had his cigarettes, his cigarette filters, his ashtray .

Does playing Hunter come naturally to you?

Yeah, almost too naturally.

How did you and Hunter first meet and bond?

I first met him when he walked into the Woody Creek Tavern waving a giant cattle prod and a Taser gun. He invited me back to his place, and I was admiring a nickel plated shotgun on his wall, 12 gauge. He says, ‘Wanna shoot it?’

You shot Rum Diary and the Pirates films in various Caribbean locations, and now you have your own island there too. Do you feel a special connection to the Caribbean?

I do. It’s one of the most welcoming places in the world I’ve been to.

Now you’re about to play Tonto in The Lone Ranger

I know the character pretty well so far. The main thing with Tonto is the fact that 60-plus years in Hollywood, the Indians have been treated like second and third class citizens. And I can’t abide. So Tonto has to take the bull by the horns, in a way.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 28^th, 2011.