Fear and hatred in Las Vegas is a 1998 American black comedy street adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel of the same name. It was co-written and directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo. The two start journeys were originally assigned with a journalistic goal that turned out to be an exploration of the Las Vegas setting under the influence of psychoactive substances.
Despite critical and financial failures, Las Vegas Fears and Hate has become a cult film largely due to its release on DVD, including the Special Edition released by The Criterion Collection.
Video Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)
Plot
In 1971, Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo drove across the Nevada desert. The duke, under the influence of mescaline, complained of a gigantic bats of bat, before going through the inventory of psychoactive drugs of the couple. Shortly after, the duo stopped to pick up a young passenger, and explained what they were doing. Duke has been commissioned by unnamed magazines to travel to Las Vegas and cover the 400 Mint race bikes. However, they also decided to take advantage of the trip by purchasing a large number of drugs and renting a convertible Chevrolet Impala red. The young man soon became frightened of the antics of the duo and ran away on foot. Trying to reach Vegas before the hitchhiker can go to the police, Gonzo gives Duke a section of a sheet of Sunshine Acid, then tells him that there is little chance to make it before the drug comes in. By the time they reached the strip, the Duke was on full journey, and barely made it through check-in, hallucinating that the hotel clerk was a moray eel, and that his barmates were lizards in the depths of the party.
The next day, Duke arrives at the race, and comes out with his photographer, a man by the name of Lacerda. During the coverage, the Duke became irrational and believed that they were in the middle of the battlefield, so he fired Lacerda and returned to the hotel. After consuming more mescaline, as well as huffing diethyl ether, Duke and Gonzo arrived at Bazooko Circus casino, but left shortly afterwards, Gonzo's chaotic scary atmosphere. Back in the hotel room, Duke leaves Gonzo unattended, and tries his luck in a quick round of Big Six. When Duke returns, he discovers that Gonzo, after consuming a full sheet of LSD, has destroyed the room, and sits fully clothed in the tub, trying to pull the cassette player with him, because he wants to hear the song better. He begged the Duke to throw the machine into the water when the song "White Rabbit" peaked. Duke agrees, but throws a grapefruit in Gonzo's head before running out.
The next morning, Duke wakes up an overly high room service bill, and there's no sign of Gonzo (who has returned to Los Angeles while Duke sleeps), and tries to leave town. When he approached Baker, California, a highway patrolman pulled him to speed up, and advised him to sleep at the nearest stop. Duke goes to a pay phone and calls Gonzo, knowing he has a suite in his name on Flamingo Las Vegas so he can cover the district attorney's convention about narcotics. Duke checks into his suite, only to meet Gonzo LSD-tripping, and a young girl by the name of Lucy he carries. Gonzo explains that Lucy has come to Las Vegas to meet Barbra Streisand, and that she gave him LSD on the plane without realizing that he had never done it before. Sensing the problems they can face, Duke convinces Gonzo to throw Lucy at another hotel before his journey fades away.
Gonzo accompanies Duke to the D.A. convention, and the couple silently snorts cocaine as guest speakers deliver a funny speech about "cannabis addicts" before showing a short film. Unable to retrieve it, Duke and Gonzo run away back to their room, only to find out that Lucy has called. Their journey is mostly over, Gonzo deals with Lucy over the phone (pretending that he is being beaten by thugs cruelly), when Duke tries to soften by trying a few stacks of Gonzo adrenochrome. However, the journey was spinning out of control, and the Duke was reduced to a confusing mess before he breathed out.
After an unspecified amount of elapsed time, the Duke wakes up with the total destruction of a previously pristine suite. After finding his tape recorder, he tried to remember what had happened. As he listens, he has brief memories of the general chaos that has occurred, including a hot encounter with a waitress at a restaurant, convincing a desperate cleaning woman that they are police investigating a drug ring, and trying to buy orangutans.
Duke dropped Gonzo at the airport, having lost the entrance, driving on the tarmac and stopped right next to the plane, before returning to the hotel for the last time completing his article. Duke then speeds back to Los Angeles.
Maps Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)
Cast
Hunter S. Thompson also has a brief cameo in the film while Duke has a flashback to San Francisco's music club, The Matrix, where Thompson can be seen sitting at a table as Depp walks by telling his inner monologue, "There I am... Mother of God, there I'm Holy Damn! Obviously I am a victim of a drug explosion. "
Production
Development
Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone each tried to pull the film off the ground, but to no avail and continued.
The film Rhino started working on the film version as early as 1992. Production director and film producer Stephen Nemeth originally wanted Lee Tamahori to direct, but he was not available until after the date of January 1997. Depp wants Bruce Robinson to steer, but he is "unavailable... because of the choice ". Rhino appealed to Thompson for a movie rights extension but the author and his lawyer refused the extension. Under pressure, Rhino retaliated by turning on a green film and hiring Alex Cox to go straight in a few days. According to Nemeth, Cox can "do it by price, can do it quickly and can make this movie take place in four months."
Rhino hired Terry Gilliam and was granted an extension from Thompson but only with the proviso that the director made the film. Rhino would not commit to Gilliam in case he did not succeed. Thompson remembers, "They keep asking for more time, I'm a little nervous about that, because I think they're trying to delay doing it so I start charging them again... I want to see the movie finished, once it starts." The studio threatens to make movies with Cox and without Depp and del Toro. Both actors were angry when producer Laila Nabulsi told them about Rhino's plans. Universal Pictures stepped up to distribute the film and Depp and Gilliam paid $ 500,000 each but the director still did not have a definite deal. In retaliation, Depp and Gilliam locked Rhino off the set during filming.
Casting
During the initial development to get the films made, Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando were originally considered for the Duke and Gonzo roles but they both became too old. After that, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi are considered duos, but it's a mess when Belushi dies. John Malkovich was then considered for the Duke role, but he became too old as well. At one point John Cusack almost cast (Cusack previously directed the drama version of Fear and Hate in Las Vegas , with his brother playing Duke). However, after Hunter S. Thompson met with Johnny Depp, he became convinced that no one else could play it. When Cox and Davies started writing scenarios, Depp and del Toro committed to starring in the film.
Gilliam said in an interview that his films are the lead actors, the performance of two characters in Fear and Loathing is hyper realistic but honest. 'I'm interested in real people in strange and twisted environments that force them to act... to react against.'
Dr Gonzo is based on the friend of Thompson Oscar Zeta Acosta, who disappeared sometime in 1974. Thompson changed the ethnic identity of Acosta to "Samoan" to fend off suspicions of Acosta, who were in trouble with the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is a "Chicano lawyer" famous for his party parties.
The lead actors perform extraordinary preparations for their respective roles. Del Toro earned over 45 pounds (nine pounds) in nine weeks before the filming began, and extensively examined Acosta's life. In the spring of 1997, Depp moved into the basement of Thompson's Owl Farm home and lived there for four months doing research for the role of studying Thompson's habits and behavior. The actor is through the original manuscript, reminiscences and Thompson notebooks he kept during the actual journey. Depp remembers, "He saved everything, not just [the book] is true, but there's more, and that's worse." Depp even traded his car for Thompson's Chevrolet Caprice convertible, known to fans as The Great Red Shark, and drove it around California during its preparation for the role. Many of the costumes Depp had worn in the film were original items from the clothes Depp borrowed from Thompson, and the author himself shaved Depp's head to match his natural male pattern of baldness. Other props, such as the Duke cigarette filter (TarGard Permanent Filter System), Hawaiian shirts, hats, patchwork jackets, silver medals (awarded to him by Oscar Acosta) and ID, belong to Thompson.
Write
Cox began writing scenarios with Tod Davies, a UCLA Thompson scholar. During pre-production, Cox and producer Laila Nabulsi had "creative differences" and he forced Rhino to choose between him and Cox. He has an agreement with Thompson to produce movies and studios firing Cox and paying him $ 60,000 in script fees. Thompson's disapproval of Cox/Davies manuscript care is documented in the movie Breakfast with Hunter.
The decision was made not to use the Cox/Davies script, which gave Gilliam only ten days to write another. Gilliam has stated in an interview "While we were writing the script, we really tried not to find anything, we kind of crossed out the book." The director asked for help from Tony Grisoni and they wrote the manuscript at Gilliam's house in May 1997. Grisoni remembered, "I'll sit on the keyboard, and we'll talk and talk and I'll keep typing." One of the most important scenes of the book that Gilliam wanted to put in the film was a confrontation between Duke and Dr. Gonzo and waiter from North Star Coffee Lounge. The director says, "These are two people who have exceeded the limit, this is unforgivable - that scene, it's ugly." My approach, rather than throwing it away, is to make the scene the lowest point. "
Initially, the studio wanted Gilliam to update the book for the 1990s, which he considered, "And then I saw the movie and said, 'No, that's apologizing.I do not want to apologize for this.It's what I s. ' This is an artifact If it is an accurate representation of the book, which I think is an accurate representation of a certain time and place and people. "Terry Gilliam, while speaking with Vision & amp; Sound , highlighted if he has updated the movie into the 1990s it will only "be the story of two people going overload" by keeping it in the 70s, using the background of the Vietnam War and the losses felt to American dreams, offer reasons for character actions.
Writers credit dispute with WGA
As the film approaches the release, Gilliam learns that Writers Guild of America (WGA) will not allow Cox and Davies to be removed from credits even though none of their material is used in film production. According to WGA rules, Gilliam and Grisoni must prove that they write 60% of their script. The director said, "But at least there are five previous attempts to adapt the book, and they all come from books, they all use the same scene." Gilliam said in an interview, "The end result is we are not there.As a director, I am automatically considered a 'production executive' by the union and, by definition, discriminated against, but for Tony to go without credit it would be totally unfair. David Kanter, Cox and Davies agents, argued, "About 60 percent of the decisions they make of what's in the book are in the movies - as well as their wide-eyed attitudes." According to an audio commentary by Gilliam on the Criterion Collection DVD, during a period in which it appears that only Cox and Davies would be credited for the screenplay, the film begins with a short scene where it is explained that no matter what the word is in credit, no author is involved in making film. When this changed in early May 1998 after WGA revised its decision and gave credit to Gilliam and first Grisoni and Cox and Davies both, a brief is not necessary. Angry at having to share credits, Gilliam openly burned his WGA card at the signing of May 22 on Broadway.
Filming
According to Gilliam, there is no strong budget when filming begins. He felt that it was not a well-organized film and said, "Certain people do not... I will not mention names but it is a strange movie, like one foot shorter than the other. Depp was in a location in Los Angeles, he got a phone call from comedian Bill Murray who had played Thompson on Where the Buffalo Roam . He warns Depp, "Be careful or you'll find yourself ten years from now still doing it... Make sure your next role is some very different men."
The shooting at a location in Las Vegas began on 3 August 1997 and lasted for 56 days. Production has problems when they want to shoot at the casino. They are only allowed to film between two and six in the morning, only given six tables to put extras around and insist that the extras really gamble. "The exterior photos of Bazooko Casino were filmed in front of the Stardust hotel/casino with interiors built with Warner Bros. Hollywood sound stage.For a periodic Vegas look in the 1970s, Gilliam and Pecorini used the rear projection footage of the old television show, Vega $ According to the cinematographer, this recording enhanced the movie "already an extra extra world tone."
Cinematography
Nicola Pecorini was hired on an audition basis, he sent Gilliam who made fun of the fact that he had only one eye (he lost the other because of retinal cancer). According to Pecorini, the film's appearance is influenced by Robert Yarber's "hallucinatory paintings: the paintings use all kinds of fluorescent colors, and light sources do not always make sense." According to Gilliam, they use him as a guide "While mixing our pallets with very disturbing fluorescent colors."
For desert scenes, Pecorini wants a specific and undefined quality without real-life horizons to convey the idea that the landscape is never ending and to emphasize "a certain kind of uncertainty outside the character car, because all that matters to them is within the Red Shark." For scenes where Duke devotes a space full of lizards, production should have 25 animatronic reptiles but they only accept seven or eight. Production uses motion control techniques to make it look like they have the whole room and make some tracks with the camera that adjusts the lizards with different costumes each time.
During production, it is Gilliam's intention that should feel like a medication trip from start to finish. He said in an interview, "We start at full speed and that's WOOOO! The drug comes in and you're at speed! Whoah! You get the buzz - that's crazy, it's outrageous, the carpet is moving and everyone is laughing and having the right Time. , very slowly, the walls begin to approach and it's like you will never get out of this damn place.This is a bad nightmare and there is no way out. "To convey the effects of various drugs, Gilliam and Pecorini compiled a" phase "list detailing "cinematic quality" of any drug consumed. For ether, Pecorini says they use "loose depth of field, everything becomes unclear"; for adrenochrome, "everything becomes narrow and claustrophobic, moving closer to the lens"; mescaline is simulated by having "fused colors with each other, no source flare, playing with color temperature"; for amyl nitrite, "the perception of light becomes very uneven, the level of light increases and decreases during shooting"; and for LSD, "everything is very broad, hallucinations through morph, shape, color, and sound."
Pecorini and Gillam decided they wanted the film to be made at a wide angle but because of the small budget they could not afford the fall of anamorphic lenses so they paired Arriflex 535, Arri BL-4S and Arri 35-iii with a set of Zeiss Standard Primes and 250D Vision 5246 from the Kodak movie to get a saturated view of this movie.
Soundtrack
Music belongs to psychedelic rock and classic rock genre. The soundtrack contains the songs used in the movie with the sound bites from the movie before each song. Most of the music comes on the soundtrack with a few exceptions: the Lennon Sisters version of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music played at the beginning of the picture, Jefferson Aeroplane's "Somebody to Love" which was heard during a flashback, Debbie Reynolds "Tammy", Perry Como "The Magic Mom", Beck, Bogert & amp; Appice "Lady", Tom Jones "It's Not Ordinary", Frank Sinatra "You Become a Habit with me", Edible the "Spy vs Spy" Edible, Out-Islanders "Moon Mist" from Polynesian Fantasy , and a recording of "Ball and Chain" by Janis Joplin.
Rolling Stones song "Jumping Jack Flash" sounded at the end of the movie when Thompson came out of Las Vegas. Gilliam can not pay $ 300,000 (half of the budget soundtrack) for the right to "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones, who play a significant role in this book.
The Dead Kennedys performed the song "Viva Las Vegas" sounded at the end of the credit closing.
Track list
Release
Fear and Hate in Las Vegas underwent preview tests - a process Gilliam did not enjoy. "I always get very tense on them (screening test), because I'm ready to fight I know the pressure from the studio is, 'someone does not like it, change! ' " The filmmaker said that it is important to him that Thompson loves the movie and remembers his writer's reaction to the screening, "Hunter watched it for the first time at the premiere and he made all the fucking noise! ​​Apparently it all flooded back to him, he revived the whole trip! He shouted and jumped in his seat like it's a roller coaster, ducking and diving, shouting 'SHIT! LOOK OUT! GODDAMN BATS!' It's fantastic - if he thinks we've caught him, then we have to do it! "Thompson himself stated," Yes, I like it.This is not my show, but I appreciate it.Depp does a great job. The narrative is what really holds the movie it's together, I think.If you do not have it, it will just be a series of wild scenes. "
Fear and Hate in Las Vegas debuted at the Cannes Film Festival 1998 and Gilliam said, "I'm curious about the reaction... If I'm going to be disappointed, it's because it does not make waves, that people are not angry. "
Home media
At the time of Fear and Loathing released as a DVD Criteria Collection in 2003, Thompson demonstrated its approval of Gilliam's version by recording full-length audio commentary for the film and participating in some special DVD features.
On the audio commentary track in the DVD Criteria edition, Gilliam revealed great pride in the film and said it was one of the few times where he did not have to fight widely with the studio during filming. Gilliam explains this to the fact that many studio executives read Thompson's book in their youth and understand that it can not be made into a conventional Hollywood movie. However, he expressed frustration with the advertising campaigns used during the initial release, which he said tried to sell him as a weird comedy. The film was later released by Universal Studios on HD DVD and, furthermore, Blu-ray; Criteria for releasing movies on Blu-ray on April 26, 2011.
Reception
box office
The film opened widely on May 22, 1998 and grossed $ 3.3 million in 1,126 theaters on its first weekend. The film reached $ 10.6 million, well below the budget of $ 18.5 million. However, the film revived interest in Thompson's novel. Vintage Press reported an initial reprint of 100,000 copies to tie in with the release of the movie, but demand was higher than expected and forced the novel to re-print five more times.
Critical response
Gilliam wanted to provoke a strong reaction to his film as he said in an interview, "I want it to be seen as one of the great movies of all time, and one of the most hated movies of all time." Fear and hatred in Las Vegas polarized criticism; currently has a 49% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, by reading the site's critical consensus, "Visual creative, but also aimless, repetitive, and devoid of character development."
In The New York Times, Stephen Holden writes, "Even the most precise cinematic realization of Mr. Thompson's image does not begin to match the surreal ferocity of the author's language." Stephen Hunter, in his review for the Washington Post , writes, "No story at all.Small episodes no special imports come and go... But this movie is too weird to be emotionally inserted." Mike Clark, from USA Today , found the movie, "unavailable." In The Guardian, Gaby Wood writes, "After a while, though, the ups and downs do not come quite often even for the audience, and there is an element of boredom that is usually found in others who are crazy experiences." Roger Ebert thought the movie is embarrassing. He gave the movie one star out of four and said it was "a terrible mess of a movie, no shapes, trajectories or goals-a joke movie, if it's just a joke.Two characters walk aimlessly past Las Vegas's odd background real, some hallucinating, all can be exchanged) while out of their minds Humor depends on attitude Outside a certain point you have no attitude, you just inhabit the country.
Gene Siskel's "thumbs up" review at the time also noted that the film captured the themes of the book into the movie, adding "What the film is talking about and what it says about the use of Las Vegas as a metaphor for - or a location for - the worst in America, the extremes of America, the obsession of money, the American visual roughness. "Michael O'Sullivan gave this film a positive review on the Washington Post . "What lifts the story from a history of drugs is the same thing that lifts the book into the literary world.This is the feeling that Gilliam, like Thompson, always really controls the media, while abandoning himself completely to unpredictable powers. out of his control. "Empire chose the 469th largest movie movie in their" 500 Greatest Movies of All Time "list.
cult status
Since the release of films in home media, including the Special Collecting Edition, the film has reached cult status. This led to the film being played back in various theaters such as The Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square, London and a special screening of the original VHS tapes at Swordtail Studio London in 2016.
The increased attention to the film has also caused some news outlets to reconsider the original acceptance of the diversified film; Joe Queenan of The Guardian says that for many people, "No, Fear and Hate in Las Vegas is unusual for pampering and unpleasant, it's really jaw-dropping Those of you who disagree with this opinion are idiots. "Scott Tobias of The AV Club argued in his recent review of the film that "the film would have a bigger impact if the film was produced at that time, when Brewster McCloud proved that anything was possible, but the lack of a time machine, Gilliam did what he could to revive era. ".
Awards
The film is nominated for awards that praise and condemn it. Terry Gilliam was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998 while Johnny Depp won the best foreign actor award from the Russian Guild of Film Critics in 1998.
But Depp and Del Toro were also nominated by the Bad Movie Awards Stinkers for the worst on-screen couples, and during the same award depiction Del Toro. Gonzo was also nominated for the worst supporting actors.
See also
- Gonzo Journalism
- Where Buffalo Roam
- List of movies featuring hallucinogens
References
External links
- Fear and hatred in Las Vegas on IMDb
- Fear and hatred in Las Vegas at AllMovie
- Fear and hatred in Las Vegas at Box Office Mojo
- Fear and Hate in Las Vegas at Rotten Tomatoes
- Fear and hatred in Las Vegas in Metacritic
- Collection Criteria essay by J. Hoberman
- Collection Criteria essay by Hunter S. Thompson
- Wide Angle/Closeup: Fear and Hate script analysis - Compare Gilliam/Grisoni and Cox/Davies scripts
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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