The palm trees serve to remind everybody that the film takes place in Puerto Rico, where an unruly freelance reporter played by Depp finds himself finds himself working for a local paper and getting into all manner of trouble.  The film is based on the first novel written by Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.  This marks the second time Depp has played an onscreen surrogate for his late friend, after starring as Raoul Duke in Terry Gilliam's 1998 adaptation Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

This poster comes from the good, poster-loving folks over at IMPAwards.

I do like that tagline, "Absolutely Nothing in Moderation."  To see how this philosophy is manifested in the film, refer to the first trailer that hit about three weeks back.

After taking an almost twenty-year sabbatical from directing, Withnail and I director Bruce Robinson returns as writer and director with The Rum Diary.  He's an interesting choice, one you can be fairly certain Depp had a hand in selecting, and I'm curious to see what he's done with the material.

You wouldn't know it from this poster, but the film also stars Amber Heard, Michael Rispoli, Richard Jenkins, Giovanni Ribisi, and Aaron Eckhart.

The Rum Diary hits theaters on October 28th.