The co-star Johnny Depp hated working with: “I don't give a shit what ...

Sun 3 November 2024 17:45, UK

When Johnny Depp agreed to star in Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, he must have been thrilled to finally see an adaptation of his friend Hunter S Thompson’s book come to life. The project had been in development limbo since it was first optioned in 1976, with a series of directors and actors failing to bring it to fruition. By the mid-1990s, the job was finally underway, with Depp cast as the fictionalised version of Thompson, Raoul Duke. However, frustration soon overshadowed his excitement when he discovered that working with his main co-star—known for his famously vexing method-acting approach—was far from enjoyable.

In 2019, Gilliam was interviewed by Hey U Guys on the 21st anniversary of Fear and Loathing’s release. Arrow Video was about to release a 4K Blu-Ray edition of the film, and Gilliam was in good spirits. This meant he was more than willing to discuss the friction that developed between his two stars – Depp and Benicio Del Toro, who played Dr Gonzo, a lawyer prone to indulging in his love of drug-addled partying.

When asked if he needed to somehow rile Depp and Del Toro up before shooting the film’s many drug binge sequences, Gilliam revealed, “What was interesting was that there were two different styles of acting going on. Johnny knew exactly what he was doing, but Benicio was almost completely out of control, which made all of us angry.”

A true maverick, Del Toro’s penchant for method acting could sometimes manifest as him doing whatever the hell he felt like, regardless of what everyone else on set was expecting him to do. Naturally, as filmmaking requires certain structures and a level of planning to execute to a high level, Del Toro’s acting style sometimes played havoc with different production departments.

Gilliam chuckled, “The continuity girl was shouting, ‘What the fuck is he doing?’. The sound guy was complaining that he wasn’t speaking loud enough. So, Benicio wasn’t the most popular guy on set.”

On the other hand, despite having a reputation as one of Hollywood’s premiere oddballs, Depp’s acting style and behaviour on set has always been straight as an arrow. Gilliam revealed, “Johnny is so clean, crazy and down the line, but Benicio is a force of nature.”

He admitted that Del Toro’s free association style led to a lot of Depp’s material in the drug scenes being cut from the film because his performance simply didn’t match up to Del Toro’s mania. Thankfully, Gilliam believed the sequences worked amazingly when cut together, but that didn’t stop Depp from expressing how much he hated working with Del Toro.

“It was very funny,” said Gilliam, “Because Johnny was getting so pissed off with Benicio. He was always asking ‘What’s Benicio doing now?'” When Gilliam responded that his plan was to shoot Del Toro’s material first so he could get a handle on what the star was bringing to the scene before shooting Depp’s wide shots and close-ups afterwards, Depp was miffed.

Through gritted teeth, the Edward Scissorhands star said, “No. I want to go first. I know what I’m doing, and I don’t give a shit what he’s doing.”

Ultimately, all’s well that ends well, and Gilliam believed that this undercurrent of stress and agitation between his leading men was a boon to the film. He mused, “That tension ended up being a good thing because it kept the whole thing alive.”

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