Johnny Depp’s latest film, The Rum Diary, has tanked at the US box-office.
The film, which is due to open in Ireland on November 4, grossed a mere $5 million – a drop in the ocean compared to Depp’s mega-hits, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07 billion), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($1.04 billion) and Alice in Wonderland ($1.02 billion).
In The Rum Diary, which is based on a novel by Hunter S Thompson, Depp plays a fictionalised version of the late, great godfather of gonzo journalism. In many ways the film was a labour of love for Depp who was a close of friend of Thompson and had already played his alter ego, Raoul Duke, in the film version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
The Rum Diary was written in 1959, when Thompson was just 22, but wasn’t published until 1998. The plot follows a shambolic and alcoholic journalist who relocates from New York to San Juan in Puerto Rico: a change that takes him from the frying pan and into the fire. It is directed by Bruce Robinson whose classic 1997 film, Withnail and I, was a favourite of Thompson and Depp’s.
