PRAISE, LOATHING GREETS THOMPSON ADAPTATION

CANNES, France - With its extreme portrayals of drugs, sex, paranoia
and excess, director Terrv Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas"
has been an argument-starter at the 51st Cannes Film Festival.

An uncompromisingly faithful version of Hunter S. Thompson's legendary
semi-factual coverage of an off-road race, "Fear and Loathing" has
Johnny Depp in an amazing impersonation of journalistic outlaw
Thompson (bald pate and all) and "Usual Suspects" star mumbler
Benicio Del Toro as Thompson's attorney sidekick, fitted with a
prosthetic stomach.

And while the film's supporters praise Gilliam's fidelity to the book
and stunning visuals, its detractors seem worried that the movie has
pro-drug vibes.

At the Cannes news conference, Gilliam, Depp, Del Toro, and producers
Laila Nabulsi and Stephen Nemeth seemed unfazed. Asked what kind of
audience he expected, Gilliam cited demo-graphic studies that showed
the movie tracking well among "smart people, the youth audience and
surfers," with detractors topped by "females between the ages of 35
and 40" (but not, mysteriously enough, any other females).

Depp, meanwhile, described how he achieved his uncanny, counterfeit screen
Thompson: clipped, ironic chatter, paranoid body language. He said he was
aided immeasurably by time spent with Thompson at his home near Aspen,
Colo. where -- cigarettes and all -- Depp slept next to a gun-powder cache.

Checked-by: trikydik@inil.com (trikydik)