Thread by @forallbirdsongs

🪡 🎞️ #JohnnyDepp on the unique madness that encompassed the life of #HunterSThompson & their friendship towards the first collaboration on #FearAndLoathingInLasVegas

What drew so many people to Hunter S Thompsons; novels, stories, characters & his utter fascinating hyperactive madness?

#JohnnyDepp called him one of the greatest american writers of 20th century.

Multiple actor duos were considered for the parts of Duke & Gonzo; Nicholson, Brando, Aykroyd, Belushi & more. Due to different directors being attached to the movie—too much time had passed for the proposed actors to play the respective roles (due to their age at that point).

However, at that point Hunter S. Thompson had met Johnny Depp and was convinced that no one else could play his “character”.

Hunter S. Thompson developed a very close friendship with #JohnnyDepp & approved of his performance. He also said that if he ever saw anyone acting the way Depp does in the film, he would probably hit them with a chair.

To understand his persona a bit better— here’s a letter he wrote on an airplane to #KeithRichards & one of the last recorded voicemails he apparently left on #JohnnyDepp’s phone.

For #JohnnyDepp’s portrayal in #FearAndLoathing — while they were in Thompson's kitchen. Hunter shaved Johnny Depp's head but Depp refused to look in a mirror.

On February 20, 2005, Hunter S. Thompson unfortunately chose to die at his farm in Woody Creek, Colorado.

His ashes were blasted out of a cannon at a ceremony held in Woody Creek, Colorado. Fireworks & Greenbaum's 1969 anthem "Spirit in the Sky" was played. Johnny Depp made sure that his final wish was respected & spent $3 million dollars to make it happen.

“I’m trying to make sure his last wish comes true,”—Depp said to the Associated Press at the time of the funeral—“We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out.”