Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a novel by Hunter S. Thompson, which describes the protagonist's (Raoul Duke, a fictionalised representation of Thompson) chasing of the American dream to Las Vegas through a drug-induced haze. It is based on his attempted "coverage" of the Mint 400 motocross race for Rolling Stone magazine in 1973. The movie version, produced in May 1998, has become a cult classic.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is often cited as an example of gonzo journalism, a style of journalism invented by Thompson himself which blends storytelling, fiction, and traditional journalism in an attempt to dig out truths beyond the truth of the subject of the article. The central message is that 1971 was a turning point in hippy and drug culture in America, the year that the innocence and optimism of the late 1960s turned to cynicism and burn-out.
Thompson's lawyer sidekick Dr. Gonzo is based on real-life Chicano lawyer Oscar Zeta Acosta.
The film version was directed by Terry Gilliam and starred Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio Del Toro as the lawyer sidekick. Both actors were cast by the film's original director, Alex Cox who wrote the original screenplay with his longtime collaborator, Tod Davies. When Terry Gilliam became attached to the project as director he rejected the Cox/Davies screenplay for various creative reasons (especially because Thompson himself disliked it and disliked Cox's approach to the movie), and decided to attempt his own screenplay with collaborator Tony Grisoni. When the film approached release, Gilliam learned that the Writers Guild of America would not allow Alex Cox's and Tod Davies names to be removed from the credits even though none of their material was used in the production of the film. Angered over having to share credit in such a way, Gilliam left the WGA and, on certain early premiere prints of the film, made a short introductory sequence in which an anonymous presenter assures the audience that no screenwriters, whatsoever, were involved in writing the film, despite what you may read in the credits.