The Johnny Depp-starring adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Rum Diary finished principal photography almost two years ago, and a film with huge star in it sitting on the shelf so long is usually a bad sign. but I posted a reader’s review of in April of 2010, and it sounded pretty positive. So when the hell do we actually get to see it? The answer is soon, provided your idea of “soon” is in October. Here’s the official press release via distributor FilmDistrict, who’s releasing their first two films, Insidious and Soul Surfer, this weekend and the following.
FilmDistrict will release “The Rum Diary,” based on the early Hunter S. Thompson novel that was ultimately published in 1998. It stars Johnny Depp and will be released on October 28, 2011. The film is directed by Bruce Robinson (“Withnail and I”) from his own screenplay and also stars Aaron Eckhart, Amber Heard, Michael Rispoli, Richard Jenkins and Giovanni Ribisi. “The Rum Diary” is produced by Infinitum Nihil, the production company headed by Depp and Christi Dembrowski, along with Graham King and Tim Headington. Anthony Rhulen and Robert Kravis also produce.
“The Rum Diary” tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Depp). Tired of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local San Juan newspaper run by the downtrodden editor Lotterman (Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked lifestyle of the late ‘50s version of Hemingway’s “The Lost Generation,” Paul soon becomes entangled with a very attractive American woman, Chenault (Heard) and her fiancée Sanderson (Eckhart), a businessman involved in shady property development deals. It is within this world that Kemp ultimately discovers his true voice as a writer and integrity as a man. [CinemaBlend]
I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this damned movie, and I can’t believe I have to wait… SEVEN MORE MONTHS??!?! My God, it’s an eternity. But what if I’ve PUT AWAY childish things by then?