Before 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl provided the perfect vessel for his slightly askew charisma, Johnny Depp was generally viewed as a weird actor.  He toplined many a movie and was certainly a household name, but his predilection for strange, often daring material marked him as alienating off kilter for mainstream American audiences.  In fact, the Edward Scissorhands, Dead Man, and Ed Wood actor was fond of joking that he would never make a profitable movie.  Now, though, he's undoubtedly one of the biggest movie stars on the planet; Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides grossed more than a billion dollars over the summer, a fear it most assuredly wouldn't have accomplished without Depp's face on every billboard.

One of the very weirdest roles of Depp's pre-Jack Sparrow career was his pitch-perfect take on Raoul Duke, the somewhat-fictionalized narrator of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the Terry Gilliam-directed adaption of Gonzo journalist and American firebrand Hunter S. Thompson's book.  Thompson was a real-life friend and mentor to Depp, an avowed reader said to own a formidable literary collection.  For literally years, Depp has been trying will into existence The Rum Diary, based on the first novel Thompson ever wrote. 

The film finally hits theaters today, six years after the author's death.  Dep, who actually paid to have Thompson's ashes blasted from a cannon in accordance with his will, discussed the film during the official press conference, attended by IAR Managing Editor Jami Philbrick.  At a panel with The Rum Diary writer-director Bruce Robinson, Depp discussed once again playing a Thompson surrogate, how he and Robinson tackled the material, and living with Hunter inside him.

Last week, we saw two clips from The Rum Diary, an adaptation of the first novel written by legendary Gonzo journalist and literary ass-kicker Hunter S. Thompson.  Those two excerpts highlighted a familiar side of the latest Thompson surrogate played by Johnny Depp, as freelance journalist Paul Kemp dabbled in psychedelics and driving utterly without caution.  Now, with the movie hitting theaters in mere hours, FilmDistrict has released two more clips that show the more taciturn side of freewheeling Kemp.  In the first, he's scrutinized by his toupee-wearing new editor, played with relish by the always-great Richard Jenkins, and in the second, he raises an eyebrow at the ruminations of a wealthy, wealthy man, played by Aaron Eckhart.

Opening in theaters on October 28th is the new Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) film The Rum Diary, based on the novel by author Hunter S. Thompson. The film marks the second time that Depp has played the main character in an adaptation of one of Thompson's books, following his work in '1998s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Depp and Thompson went on to become very close friends and the movie star was credited with finding the forty-year old unpublished manuscript for "The Rum Diary" hidden in the author's house. After the book was published, the two friends teamed up to turn it into a movie but were unable to do so before Thompson's untimely death in 2005.

Eventually, Depp enlisted Withnail and I director Bruce Robinson to write and direct the movie, even though he had not helmed a film in almost twenty years. In addition to Johnny Depp, the film boasts an impressive cast of actors including Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), Amber Heard (Drive Angry), Giovanni Ribisi (Avatar), Michael Rispoli (Kick-Ass), Marshall Bell (Puncture), Amaury Nolasco (Transformers), and Richard Jenkins (The Visitor). 

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had the chance to sit down with actors Giovanni Ribisi, and Michael Rispoli, as well as director Bruce Robinson to discuss their work on The Rum Diary. The two actors, and the director spoke candidly about the new film, working with Johnny Depp, how he got Robinson to come out of self exile to make the movie, Ribisi's unusual performance, and Rispoli's love for playing the "sidekick."

FilmDistrict has released not one, but two new clips from The Rum Diary, which hits theaters in just one week.  The film is an adaptation of the first novel ever written by incendiary Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.  Johnny Depp plays Thompson's onscreen surrogate Paul Kemp, a freelance journalist who finds himself working in Puerto Rico during the 1950's.  Depp previously played Thompson doppleganger Raoul Duke in Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, in which Duke plentifully tripped balls and tore ass around Vegas and the surrounding desert in a huge boat of a convertible.  These two new Rum Diary clips show the seemingly more level-headed Kemp both tripping balls and driving recklessly through Puerto Rico in a considerably cooler convertible.  This time, instead of a bloated Benicio del Toro riding shotgun, it's the lovely Amber Heard.

Earlier this week, we saw an international poster for The Rum Diary that suggested the Canadians speak neither English nor French, but the international language of Johnny Depp's handsome face.  That's all well and good, as the sight of Depp's mug probably sells a lot more tickets than any cleverness ever could, but after the exceedingly clever and striking first domestic poster for the film, one couldn't but be a little underwhelmed by the Canadian one-sheet.  Perhaps sensing this, FilmDistrict and GK Films have issued another poster that once again sidesteps Depp in favor of an evocative, fun image.

The film sees Depp once again playing a surrogate for Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson after memorably bringing Raoul Duke to boisterous life in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the 1998 adaptation directed by Terry Gilliam.  In this take on the first novel Thompson ever wrote, Depp plays Paul Kemp, a hard-living reporter who finds debauchery and journalistic opportunities in Puerto Rico.

In addition to the plethora of mini-booze bottle comprising the film's title, part of what made the very first poster for The Rum Diary so much fun was that it eschewed the obvious by not simply being one big image of Johnny Depp.  Since Depp is an international super-mega-movie star and all, most marketing campaigns for his films stick to what sells: Johnny Depp's face.  Unlike its predecessor, a brand new Canadian poster for The Rum Diary sticks to what sells by focusing on Depp's funny expression and incidentally including some Palm Trees.

Out of roughly seven billion people currently inhabiting the planet earth, Johnny Depp is, at the moment, probably one of the most famous.  Thusly, when marketing a movie starring Depp, the obvious move is to plaster his face on every available surface, so as to inform the audience in no uncertain terms that Johnny Depp is, in fact, starring the movie.  Though Depp plays the lead in The Rum Diary, the very first poster for the film does not simply sell itself on the actor's famous mug.  Instead, newly-unveiled poster presents and striking, clever image that ties directly the predilections of Depp's character.  It's good.  It's very good.

Just last week, we shared a new photo of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard looking professionally gorgeous in The Rum Diary.  Now, just in time for the weekend, FilmDistrict and GK Film have released the first trailer for the film.  It basically plays like a night of partying in reverse, kicking off with what looks to be a mountainous hangover and proceeding into some wild antics that include an excess of mini-booze bottles, automotive mishaps, errant toupees, beautiful tropical vistas, plenty of innuendo, flaming alcohol, a dollop of journalism, and no end of eccentricity.

The Rum Diary is based on the first novel by Gonzo journalist and American firebrand Hunter S. Thompson, so this is Depp's second turn as an onscreen surrogate for his late friend.  The first time was as Raoul Duke in Terry Gilliam's appropriately acid-soaked adaptation Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, back in 1998 when Depp was still a "weird" actor and not one of the most famous, bankable stars on Earth.  This time, he plays Paul Kemp, a boozy freelance journalist who snags a job in Puerto Rico, where shenanigans promptly ensue.

Johnny Depp is once again starring as a Hunter S. Thompson surrogate in The Rum Diary, an adaptation of the author's first novel which sees Depp playing Paul Kemp, a 1950's freelance journalist working for a run-down newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  A brand new image from The Rum Diary provides another look at the actor in character, along with our first real peek at Amber Heard in the film.  Basically, this is very nearly too much beauty for one image.

Depp already played a Thompson doppleganger in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam's batshit-insane 1998 adaptation of Thompson's equally batshit-insane, thinly-fictionalized 1971 investigation into the savage heart of the American dream.  Depp has long been an acolyte of Thompson, having a close personal relationship with the inimitable Gonzo journalist, even paying to have the writer's ashes blasted out of a cannon in accordance with his will.  

You may not recognize veteran character actor Jared Harris by name, but you would definitely recognize his face and his accomplished body of work. The English born actor, who is also the son of legendary actor Richard Harris (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone), is probably best known for his role as Lane Pryce on the hit AMC show Mad Men. But the actor has also appeared in numerous film and television projects including a recurring role on the Fox series Fringe, as well as high-profile parts in movies like Mr. Deeds, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Lady in the Water, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. In fact, the actor will soon be seen in the pivotal role of the villain Professor Moriarty in the upcoming film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. But first you can catch Harris’ excellent character work in legendary horror director John Carpenter’s new film The Ward, which opens in theaters on July 8^th.

The movie is a psychological thriller that revolves around a young girl named Kristen (Amber Heard from Drive Angry) who is admitted to a psychiatric hospital in 1966 where she begins to believe that a mysterious and deadly ghost is haunting her. As the specter gets closer and closer to her, she starts to realize that the true threat to her life … might actually be herself. In the film, Harris plays the creepy Dr. Stringer, the man in charge of the psychiatric hospital who may or may not be trying to help the girls. The movie also features Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick Ass), Danielle Panabaker (Sky High), Mamie Gummer (Taking Woodstock), and newcomer Laura Leigh as Kristen’s fellow inmates at the hospital.