The Rum Diary - eksamensoppgave

RUMDIARYthe

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Based on the debut novel by Hunter S. Thompson. Tiring of the noise and mad-ness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Paul Kemp (played by Johnny Depp) travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson is one of a growing number of American entrepreneurs who are determined to convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist paradise in service of the wealthy. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessmen’s financial benefit, or use them to take the

bastards down.

- (C) FilmDistrict

RUM DIARYtheIN CINEMAS 10/28

Johnny Depp as the main character. Director of the movie, Bruce Robinson.

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Johnny Depp (left) in the character as Paul Kemp, along with Michael Rispoli as Sala and Giovanni Ribisi in the character as Moberg (right).

Directed by: Bruce Robinson

Produced by: Johnny Depp, Graham King, Christi Dembrowski, Anthony Rhulen, Robert Kravis

Screenplay by: Bruce Robinson

Based on: “The Rum Diary” by Hunter S. Thompson

Starring: Johnny Depp, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Rispoli, Amber Heard, Richard Jenkins

Music by: Christopher Young

Cinematography: Dariusz Wolski

Editing by: Carol Littleton

Studio: GK Films, Infinitum Nihil, Film Engine

Distributed by: FilmDistrict

Release date: October 28, 2011

Running time: 120 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Recommended age: 11 years

BEHIND

THEFILM

The Rum Diary is an early novel by the American writer Hunter S. Thompson that was written in the early 1960s but was not published until40 years later, in 1998.

The story involves a journalist named Paul Kemp who, in the 1950s, moves from New York to work for a major newspaper, The Daily News, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is Thompson’s second novel, preceded by the still-unpublished Prince Jellyfish.

BACKGROUND

Set in the late 1950s, the novel encompasses a tangled love story of jealousy, treachery and violent alcoholic lust among the Amer-icans who staff the newspaper. Thompson himself travelled from New York to San Juan in 1960 to write for an ill-fated sports newspaper on the island. Thompson had unsuccessfully applied to work at the larger English-language daily called The San Juan Star while novelist William J. Kennedy was the editor. While in Puerto Rico, Thompson befriended many of the writers at the Star, providing the context for The Rum Diary’s fictional storyline.

PUBLISHED AFTER 40 YEARS

Though Hunter was only 22 when he wrote the story, it deals extensively with a fear of “going over the hill” and growing old. The characters are typical of Thompson’s work: violent, maniacal and alcoholic, stumbling through life. It is written in a highly paced and rather exciting style, also typical of his work.

Thompson told PBS talk show host Char-lie Rose in 1998 that he had given up the novel because it had originally “bounced about seven times – I got the standard list of rejection letters – and I came back from South America and I got into the politics of the 60s and 70s, and it was a full time job.” He then said that he revisited the book because “it’s got a romantic notion...that and money...and I was faced with the fact of having to dig out my 40-year old story...I can’t change it, like, ‘ye gods, this is me, this is the world I lived in’...so I approached it as a writer...it’s a good story.”

THEBOOK

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Hunter S. Thompson (July, 1937 – February, 2005) was an American journalist and author who wrote The Rum Diary (1998), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971), amongst more.

He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they be-come central figures of their stories. He is known also for his lifelong use of alcohol, LSD, mescaline, and cocaine, and his iconoclastic contempt for authoritarianism. While suffering a bout of health problems, he committed suicide in 2005 at the age of 67.

THE AUTHOR

Jonny Depp, Aaron Eckhart and Amber Heard in a scene from the film.

VENNESLA VGS -ANJA BENESTAD - 2012