It seems like last year, Johnny Depp was bounced around to a few unexpected projects. He spent some time filming Public Enemies (which we saw HERE), then jetted off to replace Heath Ledger, along with Jude Law and Golden Globe winner Colin Farrell in Terry Gillaim’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It seems like we heard that Tim Burton was going to be filming Alice In Wonderland for Disney mere weeks before he was actually filming it and Depp was on hand as The Mad Hatter (maybe first seen HERE).
That’s a lot of work, back and forth, from a guy who was exclusively Captain Jack Sparrow for a few years there.
Now, we’ve got a casting announcement that suggests Depp’s next project will be The Rum Diary, which would see him reprise his role from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and bring Hunter S. Thompson to screen once more…
The casting call is for Chenault, the love interest in The Rum Diary, who - from the casting info - seems to just be walking sex:
THE RUM DIARY (One Role) Feature Film
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: GK FILMS & INFINITUM NIHIL
UNION: SAG
Writer/Director: Bruce Robinson Based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson
Casting Director: Denise Chamian
Casting Associate: Angela Demo
NY Casting Associate: Julie Schubert
Sounds steamy….Casting Assistant: Krysti Charron
Start Date: March 2009
SUBMIT JULIE SCHUBERT TEL: XXX-XXX-XXXX
[PAUL KEMP] -Johnny Depp
SEEKING: [CHENAULT] A beautiful, 25 year old, translucent vision from Connecticut, with a killer smile and a wry, enigmatic personality, she wears barely-there sarongs, sunbathes nude, and oozes sexuality in everything she does. She enchants and mesmerizes Kemp from the moment they meet: while both escaping a tedious, high-end party. Chenault is dating and possibly engaged to Sanderson, but clearly feels an attraction to Kemp. She’s a daredevil who loves to dance and drive fast. She gets into big trouble with a lust-crazed, violent crowd during Carnival in St. Thomas. .. LEAD. This role contains nudity.
STORY LINE: 1960: Divorced alcoholic and struggling novelist PAUL KEMP decides to kick around San Juan until his ship comes in, working as a journalist for a daily newspaper that’s on its last legs, drinking gallons of rum and experimenting with LSD. With his new friend BOB SALA by his side, he becomes entangled in a corrupt hotel development scheme with a slick PR consultant named SANDERSON, and falls in love with Sanderson’s unattainable girlfriend, CHENAULT. . .
Paul Kemp is one of the alter egos of 22-year-old Hunter S. Thompson, and the one that Johnny Depp will be inhabiting for the film (Johnny Depp as 22? We’ll worry about that later).
Word on the production street is that Krysti Charron, the casting assistant is partial to Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johannson, but readings for this role will probably include a swath of relatively unknowns.
No one has yet been cast, but when they are, expect The Rum Diary to start spinning it’s wheels.
