What a great way to end the week.
Finally! The Rum Diary has a trailer! The press release arrived in my inbox this morning, just before 9am. Of course I clicked on the clip link immediately. It’s his voice that reached me first. His voiceover. A deep sexy drawl. It makes up for what you don’t want to see if you look too closely at his face. I’m just saying he’s not 30 anymore, OK? This is a reality. But a Johnny Depp reality? It’s easily, easily preferable to anyone else’s reality.
You know what else makes me happy? I like Johnny Depp movies in which Johnny Depp looks like Johnny Depp. And not the Mad Hatter. Or some weak-kneed weird skinned middle-aged fool forcing chemistry with Angelina Jolie. Am I still angry about The Tourist? Yes, actually. They played us with The Tourist. Will he make it up to us with The Rum Diary?
Well, on a purely superficial level, it looks like there’s a proper sex scene. Also, his chemistry with Michael Rispoli looks hilarious. And Johnny’s comedic timing, at least from these two minutes, is very, very sharp.
The Rum Diary opens October 28th. (Why isn’t it coming to TIFF?)
Synopsis:
Based on the debut novel by Hunter S. Thompson, “The Rum Diary” tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, 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, a businessman involved in shady property development deals, 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.
Images courtesy FilmDistrict
