At Long Last, "The Rum Diary"

Blogger buddy Keith at Reel Fanatic has provided some updates on "The Rum Diary" every now and again, and he may have even posted this very exciting piece of information I just found on empireonline.com. Either way, here is the happy news:

Last week we announced that Amber Heard would be joining Johnny Depp's long developed adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel The Rum Diary, and that the third space in the love triangle which it explores was yet to be filled. Well good old Two-Faced Aaron Eckhart is in negotiations to play the third man, and also set to join the cast is Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins.

Eckhart is in talks for the role of Sanderson, the materialistic landowner boyfriend of Heard's character who gives Depp's hard-drinking journalist Kemp a taste of the high-life. But the pair eventually engage in a tug of war over the girl, who becomes infatuated with their new friend...

Jenkins, up this month for an Academy Award for his role in The Visitor, will play Lotterman, Kemp's editor at the ramshackle newspaper where he works...

The Rum Diary, directed by Bruce Robinson begins shooting on March 30 in sunny Puerto Rico.
Emily Phillips

Since this was published back on February 10, Eckhart has officially signed on. "Why is this so exciting?" you may be asking. Well, the first reason is that Johnny Depp is returning to one of his best roles, that of Hunter S. Thompson. After "Ed Wood," "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" features my second favorite Depp performance.
The other reason, which is actually much nearer and dearer to my heart is that this adaptation of Thompson's book was written and is being directed by Bruce Robinson, creator of the brilliant "How To Get Ahead in Advertising" and even more importantly my all-time favorite film, "Withnail and I."
After the making of "Jennifer 8" (which I have still not seen) left a sour taste in his mouth, Robinson abandoned the director's chair in the early nineties, popping up a few years later with the wonderful novel, "The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman." "The Rum Diary" will be his fourth film. This has been rumored for several years now so the fact that cameras are finally set to role a week from tomorrow makes me very happy indeed. Fingers crossed that Robinson will find a place for Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann in this one.

Now because I just can't resist posting videos, here's some "Fear and Loathing"...



...and some "Withnail." For some reason I can't find this scene without the subtitles: