“We were somewhere around Barstow when the drugs began to take hold.” It is 1971, and journalist Raoul Duke barrels towards Las Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, accompanied by a trunkful of contraband and his slightly unhinged Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo. But what is ostensibly a cut-and-dried journalistic endeavor quickly descends into a feverish psychedelic odyssey and an excoriating dissection of the American way of life. Director Terry Gilliam and an all-star cast (headlined by Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro) show no mercy in bringing Dr. Hunter S. Thompson’s legendary Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to the screen, creating a film both hilarious and savage.
Cast
| Raoul Duke | Johnny Depp |
| Dr. Gonzo | Benicio Del Toro |
| Lucy | Christina Ricci |
| Hitchhiker | Tobey Maguire |
| Blonde TV reporter | Cameron Diaz |
| Magazine reporter | Mark Harmon |
| Road person | Lyle Lovett |
| The North Star waitress | Ellen Barkin |
| Lacerda | Craig Bierko |
| Reservations clerk | Katherine Helmond |
| Musician | Flea |
| Judge | Harry Dean Stanton |
| L. Ron Bumquist | Michael Jeter |
| Clerk at Flamingo Hotel | Chris Meloni |
Credits
| Director | Terry Gilliam |
| Screenplay | Alex Cox, Tony Grisoni, Tod Davies and Terry Gilliam |
| Producer | Patrick Cassavetti, Laila Nabulsi and Stephen Nemeth |
| Cinematography | Nicola Pecorini |
| Based on the book by | Hunter S. Thompson |
| Executive producers | Harold Bronson and Richard Foos |
| Production Design | Alex McDowell |
| Editing | Lesley Walker |
| Costume design | Julie Weiss |
| Co-producer | Elliot Lewis Rosenblatt |
| Casting | Margery Simkin |
| Lounge Lizards designed by | Rob Bottin |
SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:
- Digital transfer, approved by director Terry Gilliam and enhanced for 16×9 televisions
- New Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 sound mixes
- Three audio commentary tracks: director Terry Gilliam; stars Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro, and producer Laila Nabulsi; and author Hunter S. Thompson
- Deleted scenes, with commentary by Terry Gilliam
- Collection of storyboards and production designs
- Stills gallery
- A selection of Hunter S. Thompson correspondence, read on-camera by Johnny Depp
- Hunter Goes to Hollywood, a short documentary video by filmmaker Wayne Ewing
- A look at the controversy over the screenwriting credit
- Original trailer and TV spots
- Rare materials on Oscar Zeta Acosta, the inspiration for Dr. Gonzo
- Collection of original artwork by illustrator Ralph Steadman
- Excerpt from 1996 Fear and Loathing audio CD with Maury Chaykin, Jim Jarmusch, and Harry Dean Stanton
- Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood: A 1978 BBC feature documentary with Thompson and Steadman
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
by J. Hoberman
Feb 17, 2003
Hunter S. Thompson’s journalistic prose-poem Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas used a lost weekend in Las Vegas as a metaphor for America’s season in hell. Dispatched by a national magazine to cover a cross-country motorcycle race, Thompson filed a postmortem...
by Hunter S. Thompson
Feb 17, 2003
The book began as a 250-word caption for Sports Illustrated. I was down in LA, working on a very tense and depressing investigation of the allegedly accidental killing of a journalist named Ruben Salazar by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept—and after a week or so on the story...
