Johnny Depp to toast writer Hunter Thompson in 'Rum Diary'

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Hollywood idol Johnny Depp, a great fan of "gonzo-journalist" Hunter S. Thompson, will star in an adaptation of the writer's autobiographical novel "Rum Diary," it was reported Monday.

Thompson wrote the work at 22, and Depp's film will be set in the decadent Puerto Rico of the 1950s, according to Variety. Depp already has portrayed the literary legend in the 1998 film "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."

Thompson, a US counter-culture star and pioneer of in-your-face journalism, killed himself in February 2005 aged 67.

His remains were cremated and fired out of a giant cannon -- a singlular send-off paid for by Depp.

© 2007 AFP