Hunter S. Thomson is to blame for everything.
Johnny Depp idolized the famed Gonzo journalist and the two became great friends, with Johnny portraying Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, one of his most iconic portrayals to date.
It was a bond that lasted until Thompson’s death in 2005, a tragedy that rocked Depp’s world. Depp later stated of his friendship with Thompson when asked about it:
‘ “It was a love affair, a tremendous love affair, that lasted until his departure.
“Whether I have a dream about him or something happens during the day that makes you think, ‘My God, Hunter would really enjoy this,’ he’s always with me.
“I miss the 3 a.m. phone calls from people wondering if I’ve heard of the hairy black tongue sickness.
I miss getting him worked up about a sporting event or anything like. Everything is missing from my life.”
Depp went to great measures to pay tribute to his late friend. He spent three million dollars erecting a cannon the size of the Statue of Liberty and then firing Thompson’s remains out of it in his own back yard, probably certainly in response to Thompson’s almost certainly joking request for how his remains should be disposed of.
Depp also had his production firm step in and take over the stalled film adaptation of Thompson’s novel ‘The Rum Diary,’ which had been mired in development hell, with Depp reprising his part as the star, and this is where a certain Ms Heard comes into the picture.
Depp notified Amber Heard that she had been cast as Chenault by calling her and stating, “It’s you kid, you’re the Dream Girl,” according to Amber Heard’s testimony in court. That’s because Chenault’s character is supposed to embody the ideal of the American Dream, but with a hint of rebellion thrown in for good measure.
So we have a situation in which Depp is clearly still grieving for his deceased friend, is producing a film based on his work, and has to spend all of his time with a lady who acts and looks precisely like Thompson’s idealized ‘Dream Girl.’ It must have felt fate to Depp, but it wasn’t; it was simply a cocktail for not thinking clearly if ever there was one.
If he had met her in different circumstances there’s a fair chance that the age gap and their clearly incompatible personalities (to put it extremely mildly) would have rightly put him off, but he didn’t, he met her in circumstances that practically guaranteed that he would fall in love with her, and now several hundred fights, multiple public lawsuits, two severely damaged careers, a severed finger and a soiled mattress later, here we are.
