With an Oscar newly under his belt for Taxi to the Dark Side, documentary director Alex Gibney is turning to a decidedly more liberal, somewhat sunnier part of American history. His documentary Gonzo chronicles the life of the famed journalist Hunter S. Thompson, immortalized for this generation in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and iconic in the 70s, when he wrote in a distinctive way about the monsters and liars running the Vietnam war at the time.
Hey, “monster” and “liar” is exactly what he called Nixon—I’m just being true to the man himself. Anyway, a trailer for Gonzo is up at Apple.com, and it manages to capture a lot of the journalist’s spirit in a short period of time. It opens with Johnny Depp reading Thompson’s work, a celebrity gambit that nonetheless seems to mesh with Depp’s outward personality. There are also talking head interviews with all kinds of people-- Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, Thompson’s frequent punching bag Pat Buchanan, even Jimmy Carter for God’s sake. You can’t say the man didn’t have influence, and you can probably credit Gibney’s recent success for landing such high-profile interviews.
The trailer also plays heavily off early-70s nostalgia, which has lately been the domain of insurance commercials and anything else aiming to appeal to baby boomers. It’s a little obnoxious, if not appropriate to the time period, given the overall baby boomer pandering that happens all the time in the media. But it’s a small quibble, especially given that Thompson seems to be the least typical boomer of all.
Final giggle: The movie opens on July 4, and the tagline says “Spend time with a true American Independent.” I have to admit: I’m sold.
