Johnny Depp graces the current cover of Aspen Peak magazine, which includes a wonderful feature article called “Johnny Depp’s Rum Diary Promise.” The author, Douglas Brinkley, is a renowned historian and writer, currently a professor at Rice University and literary executor of Hunter S. Thompson’s estate, and a longtime friend of Hunter and (of course) Johnny. “Making The Rum Diary was my fulfillment of a promise I had made to Hunter,” Johnny told Brinkley. “I had found the novel before it was published at Owl Farm. Hunter had it in his basement archive -— The War Room -— just lying around. I was floored by the elegant prose. I couldn’t believe he wrote it when he was only 22! And together we decided to make a motion picture out of Rum. From the start it was collaborative. Now I’ve fulfilled the deal.”

Brinkley sees Bruce Robinson’s film of The Rum Diary as “perfectly” capturing the distinct HST “voice made of ink and rage.” Brinkley writes, “Even though The Rum Diary‘s characters are seedy, marginal, booze-soaked, depraved, and disheveled, they all have heart.” Johnny Depp agrees. During the filming, “Hunter’s spirit was with us every minute. We visited all of his old haunts. We put a picture of Hunter on a chair along with a bottle of Chivas Regal. We channeled him.”

Brinkley notes that Johnny might not be done playing “the Hunterfigure;” he suggests that eventually Johnny might make films of either The Curse of Lono or Hell’s Angels because, says Brinkley, “You can put the Hunterfigure into any situation and have instant comedy.” Certainly Johnny’s affection for Hunter and his writing is undimmed: “I never tire of him. If I feel blue I think about him and smile.”

The Zone thanks Emma and Theresa for sharing the Douglas Brinkley article. You can read more about it on the Zone’s News & Views forum. To see a larger version of the Aspen Peak cover, CLICK HERE.