"The Rum Diary" film & Hunter Thompson - Male Model??

OK, so there's apparently some movement on the topic of making Hunter S. Thompson's 1959 novel "The Rum Diary" into a film. Johnny Depp will be playing HST's alter ego, Paul Kemp, according to this July 31 2007 article:
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=22924

A search for further info turned up this article from 2003 on msnbc: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3404272/

There's one part of this article that really caught my eye:
*"To supplement his income, Thompson worked as a male model for Bacardi Rum and wrote freelance articles."

This was pretty astonishing to me! Anyone ever seen any '50s Bacardi ads featuring someone like the good doctor? As a fan of his work, I'd love to see what they looked like. It's hard to imagine the good doctor endorsing any product, but then again this was early in his career.

Just in case the 2003 msnbc article eventually goes away, am reposting it in full below. Article follows:

Depp to star in ‘Rum Diary’
Hunter S. Thompson’s first novel tells the story of his adventures in journalism
Updated: 3:50 p.m. ET Nov 11, 2003
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - It was 1959. Fired for kicking in a candy machine at a small-town newspaper, Hunter S. Thompson fled to Puerto Rico, where his vagrant journalist lifestyle inspired his first novel, “The Rum Diary.”

Thompson's boozy year marked by cockfights, bowling alleys and pursuit of the governor’s daughter is now being made into a movie, starring Johnny Depp, who first portrayed the legendary cult writer in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”.

“I didn’t know Johnny Depp could act until he played me,” said Thompson, 66, during a telephone interview from his home in Woody Creek, Colo.

Puerto Rican native Benicio Del Toro makes his directing debut, and Nick Nolte and Josh Hartnett co-star. Shooting is scheduled to start in December.

According to Thompson, he was working at the Middletown (N.Y.) Daily Record when the candy machine cheated him of a nickel. After he smashed it and was fired, he moved to New York’s Adirondack Mountains to begin a novel, living off unemployment checks.

Then a sports editor opening at The San Juan Star grabbed his eye. Thompson was rejected by managing editor William Kennedy, who went on to win a Pulitzer in 1984 for his book “Ironweed.” But Kennedy predicted that Thompson would write “the great Puerto Rican novel.”

Journalist and male model
Thompson then covered cockfights on the outlying Puerto Rican island of Vieques for El Sportivo, which was billed as the Caribbean’s Sports Illustrated but turned out to be little more than a doomed bowling tabloid.

To supplement his income, Thompson worked as a male model for Bacardi Rum and wrote freelance articles. He lived in a wooden beach shack in Loiza, a community of mostly Yoruba slave descendants a 25-minute drive from the capital.

“It was the best house on the beach,” Thompson said. “I would take some scuba gear and pick up those big lobsters off the reef with rubber gloves. It was perfect.”

He commuted to San Juan on a motorscooter to frequent El Patio de Sam, a local watering hole still hopping in San Juan’s colonial district. For fun, he would shoot rats at the San Juan dump with a .357 Magnum.

“My only regret is that I didn’t run off with the governor’s daughter,” Thompson said, unable to remember which daughter of former Gov. Luis Munoz Marin caught his fancy. “I still have a seashell she gave me in Aruba.”

Rum and sun
The novel begins with reporter Paul Kemp on an airplane bound for Puerto Rico. He joins The San Juan Daily News — modeled after the paper that turned Thompson down — in the midst of financial problems on an island aflame in political turmoil.

Like Thompson, Kemp finds himself trying to balance his job and a cast of imported misfit colleagues with his appetite for rum and sun.

“I was writing about what it was like to be among vagrant journalists,” Thompson said, confirming that most of the book is based on reality.

“Fiction is based on reality unless you’re a fairy-tale artist,” Thompson said. “You have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you’re writing about before you alter it.”

The book was initially rejected by an agent and got buried beneath Thompson’s other projects. Resurrected 40 years later and published in 1998, it offers a glimpse into Thompson’s youth before the hallucinogenic episodes famously chronicled in “Fear and Loathing.”

It came before the spawning of Thompson’s gonzo brand of journalism where fiction is, in his words, truer than any reportage. Today Thompson, 66, has written more than 10 books, writes a column for ESPN.com and is a regular contributor to Rolling Stone.

He plans his first visit back to Puerto Rico since those halcyon days to act as consultant once shooting begins in December.

“We’re going to come down and take over the island.”

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3404272/

Looks like it is finally coming out later this month

Why is this in "General Tiki" ? Hakalugi, I summon you! from the silent pool of the Tiki Gods
use your powers!

To Beyond!

Wow.....can't wait to post again! Just so you know the movie is filled with lots of Tikis......and rum.

On 2011-10-07 20:03, bongofury wrote:
Wow.....can't wait to post again! Just so you know the movie is filled with lots of Tikis......and rum.

Filled with lots of Tikis? Well why didn't anyone say so before! Thanks.

Back to General!

I have to trust Bongofury on this as he is the resident expert on films with Tiki in them.

Oh, and as far as Hunter Thompson and Tiki goes, there is of course the infamous Bahooka scene in Fear and Loathing.

On 2011-10-07 21:11, Hakalugi wrote:

Oh, and as far as Hunter Thompson and Tiki goes, there is of course the infamous Bahooka scene in Fear and Loathing.

Don't forget The Curse of Lono.

OK I did not read the book, but I know the story takes place in Puerto Rico 1959
Here is the trailer for the movie http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2617613337/

Not a Tiki in site nor was Puerto Rico crawling with Tiki bars at the time (Is it Today?)
now there was lots of Rum, but you still need more to make it a "Tiki Movie"
so I say still not Tiki, but I will concede with further proof & also would like to see the movie
sooooooo........Hakalugi, what say your all seeing eye?

I believe Chuck Tatum was a guy that didn't need other peoples opinions.

Bongofury doesn't have "tiki" in his name, how can we even trust him? Plus, I bet he's just hopping on the tiki bandwagon.

When the Rum Diaries is released (10/28/2011) we will play Spot the Tiki.

If(Tiki>0,"General","Beyond")

C'mon let's be a little more Tiki discerning that that. Remember this is one of the (too frequently overlooked) guidelines of TC that Hanford has given us...

"It's not about simply anything that has a tiki on it or in it."

I'd like see a thoughtful discussion on Hunter Thompson's writings and how they might be relevant to the spirit of Tiki. "Rum Diaries" seems to have several Tikiphile-friendly elements like era (1959), location (Tropics), and obviously rum. As Boris pointed out, "Curse of Lono" is another work.

I've only read his Hell's Angels and Fear and Loathing novels but am interested in some of the other mentioned works.

I'm aware that Tiki bars migrated further east towards the Caribbean when Tiki blew up in Florida after the success of the Mai Kai. Who knows, maybe the film has recreated such a place (historical or not)?

I'll rephrase this for John-O. If there is zero Tiki, this will move to beyond. If there is Tiki, it will remain here in General for dissection.

Well until then, I shall recede back into the shadows like a trap door Tiki Spider......waiting.....

On 2011-10-08 05:17, komohana wrote:

I believe Chuck Tatum was a guy that didn't need other peoples opinions.

He doesn't, but to appear to be social he lets others believe he accepts their opinions
Of course in the movie he ultimately becomes racked with guilt, then dies.......soooooo...

It's a great book, lot's of drinking and fine anti-social behavior.

So the movies out & guess what, No Tikis, who da thunk it?
Jury, I rest my case & request "Judge Hakalugi" to pass sentence & invoke the relocation clause.

No it's not Santa's little brother.
Please help your self to a moist towelette on the way out.

[ Edited by: Chuck Tatum is Tiki 2011-11-17 10:32 ]

So did anyone see the movie, what did you think?

I want to see it.
But wasn't expecting to see any tikis in it.

Jeff(btd)

Movie takes place in Puerto Rico. Tropical locale with lots of rum drinking but no tiki influence in this one. Decent movie with the Hunter S. Thompson madcap scenarios and dialogue. Dick Dale's song Surfing Drums is played during an intense scene. Shaka

Moved to Beyond.

Watched this a coupla days ago on dvd and really enjoyed it, had several good laugh-out-loud moments. Passed on it when it was in theatres because of the poor reviews and word of mouth, so maybe it just exceeded low expectations but I thought it was a fine way to waste an evening.