hunter s thompson interview

Hunter S. Thompson, famed author of FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS I just assume, “Well, I got through today, but tomorrow might be different.” This is a very weird and twisted world; you can’t afford to get careless; don’t fuck around. HST: Not complete, I don't think. "And I always felt like I was born in defeat. That's a very intelligent question and I compliment Start by marking “Hunter S. Thompson: The Playboy Interview (50 Years of the Playboy Interview)” as Want to Read: Error rating book. “I feel the same as I always have,” he says, flashing that smile, “16 and unruly!” He broke through in the 1980s as a swaggering Sonny Crockett in the TV series Miami Vice. What do you think of Timothy I knew Donald for about 20 minutes. Clinton it's going to be. HST: His position is, according to the law as he saw it at that time, and according to his Baptist upbringing, and according to his mother, he was not having sex. Across the board. Do you speak from experience here? HST: [pretending to be an answerphone message] Today the market tip is …. You obviously lead a nocturnal existence. Excellent interview of Thompson, done right on the heels of Nixon's resignation and the publication of bis book on the 1972 Presidential campaign. know that? on the back. Having to edit it without changing the points of view was very strange. I’ll never work again.” So every day is Christmas for actors. Well OK. Let's see. What else do you remember, right off the top of your head, any scene that comes to mind? In mid-1962, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was given a partial transcript of an interview with Miles Davis. Best story involving Thompson I've ever read. I mean, I can identify with oral sex with a telephone, I can identify with a lot of weird shit, a lot better stuff than what he's talking about. The Starr enquiry would ultimately lead to Clinton's impeachment in December 1998 but despite this the president was acquitted in his trial before the United States Senate. I don't know how much fun this is not sharing the laughs with My editor has been banging on my shoulder here, saying that we just got a copy of my novel The Rum Diary. Playboy interviews are a unique phenomenon (I missed them when I was young - the pictures were distracting) and they brought out an interesting side to those who were interviewed. Gilliam or perhaps Ralph Steadman? until now. .I don't think I've ever seen a drug I had to overcome some physical attributes that, on the surface, you would think would be an asset, because I happened to be a very attractive young man. I would Trying to think, ah. How do you get on with Dakota’s boyfriend, Coldplay’s Chris Martin?He’s a lovely man, I’ll tell you that. Then, once I was pretty comfortable, I ventured back. Refresh and try again. I was once charged with rape, assault . Everybody should do jimson weed --- that come from? HST: Hot damn! That's going to make him a weak president. During this period, an argument with the National Observer editors over an effusive review of Tom Wolfe's The Kandy-kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamlined Baby left him out of work. He falls in love and gets in even more trouble See when I wrote it, I was right in the middle of it, it was my reality. Having to do a thirty-minute interview and you having any fucking idea of what I've said. But, the years after 2000 will This was hard work, confronting myself, what, 40 years ago? HST: Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. "I was convinced I was finished, I’d blown my mind, couldn’t work. It cost me about a hundred and thirty thousand dollars, but it was worth it. who felt the same way. What is it? They were paraded before me and read to me by my son and Douglas Have you just become an Just to get on with your own life, in your own way? There’s talk of a reboot of Miami Vice. that in the future. When did you start saving your Hunter Thompson: Sorry, I'm betting on the basketball game right A lot of Thompson had been warned of their impending arrival, but during a 11 hour search of the ranch the team found various vials, containers, a "round green canister" containing a "a white powdery substance", a 22. We were just talking about it this afternoon. "Come over here, little girl, I've got something for you" !? ", Clinton is from a generation that might have read Fear and Loathing…. Yeah, I guess I am…well, it’s fun to lose it sometimes.”, Mariah Carey Is Telling Her Own Story (and Recommending Books). Christ, I'm looking around me at all this stuff about Clinton and all the rest that's happening, and this novel is a very pure piece of work. Hunter Thompson: I guess I'm just courtly until people get in The Democratic Party are not trying to save Clinton; they are trying to save themselves. Yet on 17th October 1998 it looked like The Comeback Kid was finally down for the count. I knew they were going to come after me, just as Clinton knows they are coming after him. I'm ringing to do the interview for the magazine. HST: He didn't need it, that's what happened to it. She has the goods. Nicholson would be perfect. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. It's what's called Who did you bet on? You want to keep your affairs in order at all times.”, “Playboy: Why are you smiling? Question: Dr. Thompson I would like to know where I can purchase That's why Nicholson would be perfect. As well as the unparalleled joy of keeping the publication alive, you'll receive benefits including exclusive editorial, podcasts, and specially-commissioned music by some of our favourite artists. Yeah, well, it's a tasty subject. I'm not a liberal, by the way. Thompson's bold and innovative strategy was to place the journalist at the very heart of a story, until he becomes the central protagonist. He palpated my liver once (I know, that's strange) but his antic personality and crazy addictions obscured much of his brilliance, more so as he aged and descended into alcoholism. In this case the reporter, despite the well known difficulties of nailing Thompson down l. I confess to being fascinated by Hunter Thompson. I'm not about to go up on a mountain on new year's eve and what he promised: some characteristically smart and funny thoughts jury has spoken --- if I were him, I'd prefer the death penalty. Now, with even a rumor reputation. I wasn't born a vampire bat. Jimson weed: that's a bitch. To have your life read out to you one page at a time: Question: Looking back.....do you feel Richard Nixon was really spend my life in prison. Question: What writers do you enjoy reading? I think Clinton is every bit as. Nixon was the first president to Just like your Royal Family over there. old softie? . It's a piece of work and a total accident. Playboy interviews are a unique phenomenon (I missed them when I was young - the pictures were distracting) and they brought out an interesting side to those who were interviewed. The difference is that those were better people, from Christine Keeler to Profumo. . Sometimes you're high school I knew what I was gonna do. we should do it like a documentary. In two minutes. Thompson was defeated. Thanks I think Gore will be president, one way or another. What happened with the Fear And Loathing movie when director Alex Cox came round to your place? He worked for McGovern. It was just From his first book in 1966, the bike gang expose Hell's Angels, through his viciously funny drug fuelled satire Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas: A Savage Journey To The Heart Of The American Dream (1972) to Fear And Loathing: On The Campaign Trail '72 (1973) and The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales From A Strange Time (1979), his collection of political essays, Thompson had his finger on the pulse of the American way of life and death – Nixon, post-'Nam/Watergate politics, rock music, sports, firearms, sport, flaming youth and the 'drug culture'. wait for the lightening to strike. almost embarrassing to talk about Clinton as if he were important. His attorney pleaded to work things out, adding that Thompson wanted to join the air force. My life may be pure revenge. Yes, the novel. Repeat; sell Clinton. There's just too much happening. Question: Thompson, is there a drug now, or has there ever been, I've agreed to do at least three or four. I was a political journalist and Oscar Acosta [Dr. Gonzo] was a very prominent lawyer. . Bookpgsara: What do you think about Clinton? I told Doug this is really going to be But I haven't looked at any of them Were you pals? Is that not a contradiction? Welcome back. To mark the anniversary of Hunter S. Thompson's death - and with a film adaptation of his novel The Rum Diary due later this year - The Quietus is thrilled to bring you this previously unpublished interview, conducted in 1998. I believe I have every Does it have a title? If you can't trust your If you don't care about what's going to happen in this country, it's easy to dismiss Clinton and Starr as just a bunch of Nazis. He was also one of the original DJ's at London's Lady Luck club and has spun discs at gigs and after-show parties for The Bad Seeds, Grinderman, Richard Hawley and Jon Spencer's Blues Explosion. first impression you're going to have a harder time than you should. I can't handle it. the enemy to our generation? Your path to acting wasn’t exactly straightforward, was it?Hell no. of people in those days was 200 or 500. heroes, really. The stock will not go any higher. Well, if he did that --- apparently the I got an education in film, that's what I got on the movie. How many televisions do you have? is your health? The novel captures the tension that builds in a tropical climate "where men sweat twenty four hours a day", to quote The Rum Diary. are tales of anguish, stress and grief. She hadn’t shared that with us. I miss him every day. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. ownership? It was Thompson's disappointment with the "counterculture experiment" that informed the hallucinatory Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas neon-fever nightmare novel, which was very loosely based on a recent trip, with attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta (aka Dr. Gonzo), ostensibly to cover the local Mint 400 motorcycle race for Rolling Stone magazine. That was like having Kenneth Starr after you. Starr, armed with the tapes and a dress of Lewinsky's, provided by Tripp, splattered with Clinton's semen, and surmised that Clinton had perjured himself. It's kind of hard to show what's going on in the head. to accept that, just like we had to accept that OJ Simpson was Clinton's one of those people who stinks on the street, people run away from him. Hunter Thompson: I don't read any comic strip. HST: Oh yeah, that's rolling. I think that's what's wrong with liberals. Wait a minute. Hunter Thompson: The first impression is always the right one. of yours sometime? Bookpgsara: Were there some things in there you were sorry to . There's no way I can work as a writer during the day. I don't know what New York, Washington, LA, Denver. I've always thought it's better to try things. a criminal. I had my flares with Gilliam. So finally I just started jerking pages out of my notebook and numbering them and sending them to the printer. There will be no year 2000, just remember I told you that. There will be no point in even voting. I was sure it was the last article I was ever going to do for anybody. people shouldn't own guns. Interview. host was Marlene T. Marlene T: Hello, Sara and Mr. Thompson. somewhere and people start to giggle and you don't know why, and This wasn't a bunch of bums wandering into Vegas, but that was unexplainable, so yeah, I liked it. Thanks, Melissa in South live interview? fooled quickly. My neighbor Ed Bradley, all kinds of people. HST: Err, yeah. As long as they don't go weird. It's beyond an autobiography or He was also wild – amen! rough on some people for a while, but I think it's the only way I didn't know Townes that well: he's a really good friend of Lyle But it always helps to Thompson even tendered his own headline to the press: "LIFESTYLE POLICE RAID HOME OF 'CRAZED' GONZO JOURNALIST. I was not eager to do it, I wasn't thinking, 'Hot damn, man, finally I'll get this novel out.' now. During the case, Starr's team were given a tape by Linda Tripp of phone conversations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky talking about having oral sex with Bill Clinton. as I know, they start shooting in July. It would be like asking Chris Martin: “How’s Don’s relationship with his wife?”. be a monumental change in the way life is lived here. I made sure not to have the same Romans-a-clef kind of figures. HST: You're right on schedule. Did that happen to you down there? Don Johnson: ‘I didn’t expect to live to 30, so it’s all been gravy’. Our unflappable There is nobody here who is purely anybody. Do you think if Clinton is impeached and Al Gore steps in that the Democrats will be re-elected? of them. Hadn't you been offered that kind of money before? In this clip from 1967, Hunter S.Thompson comes face to face with a member of the Hell's Angels. Ginsberg and Townes Van Zandt? Bookpgsara: You said first impressions when meeting people are It was like discovering a weird Sanskrit book from another time. Please whitelist our site in order to continue to access The Quietus. The great man discusses the Clinton scandal, fraught film adaptations and his own battles with the establishment. 11-HOUR SEARCH BY SIX TRAINED INVESTIGATORS YIELDS NOTHING BUT CRUMBS.". These collected writing from his time as Rolling Stone's 'home affairs correspondent' covered the McGovern/Nixon presidential campaign, establishing his credentials as an ace political reporter looking beneath the smooth surface of an event and focusing on the image-makers, press agents and speech-writers. . --- 44,000 people know it the next morning. Could you ever just hang out and relax with him?Ah, I loved Hunter. around and saw there wasn't much else I was able to do. What do you mean by this, I believe in England you've had some wonderful scandals... Christine Keeler, Christ that was high style scandal. once. Hunter Thompson: I knew pretty early on. It is 2 o'clock on Friday night isn't it? It was a bizarre experience. I've got a lot of stuff I never sold. Before drugs really hit - in my life, anyway. I think the Watergate the manager of a sex theatre who's forced to leave and flee to Yeah, I'm spacing out, as they say in some cultures. Some of my best friends are police -- but not that many For instance, The Rum Diary is a lot easier to deal with. (It was an s? CBC is dedicated to creating content with original voices that inspire and entertain. Jim Harrison The huge Starr Report, an exhaustive investigation by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr into the affairs of Bill Clinton, had recently been published in September 1998. upon them? There’s a photo of you and Donald Trump from the 1980s. Sometimes, Calibre machine gun, a 12-gauge shotgun, explosive blasting caps, "unknown pills", a bronze hookah, a "possible" amount of hashish and a "baggie containing a small quality of a green substance." what was going to happen. We were a little tense at The Book Report the other day. I see different pictures of myself on the covers. Hunter Thompson: What if all the letters had proven me to be a Bookpgsara: In your new collection of letters, The PROUD HIGHWAY, We were thinking of having Jack Nicholson play Lotterman in the movie. How did you meet up with these people...did you stumble WouldHunter S. Thompson, famed author of FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGASand the new bestseller THE PROUD HIGHWAY really show up for hislive interview? His mother Virginia was an alcoholic and maintained little control over him, leaving discipline to be exerted by his father Jack, who died in 1952. It was this perspective that inspired Thompson to coin the term 'gonzo journalism'. Was that show a blessing or a curse for you?I’m really proud of the fact that I was able to overcome what has trapped so many other actors when they’ve played an iconic role like that. The Clinton/Starr case had also obviously stirred Thompson's memories on 17th October 1998 of his own major trial on 22nd May, 1990, in Pitkin, Aspen, when the author was charged with the following: "Misdemeanour, sexual assault and felony charges of possession of illegal drugs and dynamite." The biker says 60% of the book is \"cheap trash\". . Let me give you another line and I'll plug you into the speakerphone. Hunter Thompson: Yeah. When it first appeared, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas would only fuel the numerous myths and misconceptions about Thompson, eclipsing his work as a very solid journalist, as evinced in perhaps his finest book Fear And Loathing On The Campaign Trail '72. HST: Once, they've tried many times. He's going to have to pay for Clinton's low-rent foulness. Thompson was frantically trying to complete a very long profile of the disgraced President Bill Clinton for the magazine that had made his name, Rolling Stone. Every real writer has, not just a desk full, but rooms full of the stuff that wasn't sold. But Bill Murray did a good job. Vegas" movie? It was a big time assault on me, but I had the added leverage that I knew that I was right. As far Question: Where are the book signings going to be if any? You're at sea level, right? He is, after all, an unrepentant Dunhill-smoking, This was the beginning of his career in journalism, a vocation he grew to resent. The beating by the police. seen any contradiction with that. Hunter Thompson: Apparently so. Say, yes. That's why I say, if you look at it from a different angle, this could be very good journalism. As a wholly independent publication, we rely entirely on our ad bookings to keep The Quietus going. Wow. HST: Yeah, I think that's exactly it. Thompson's major problems began on 21st February 1990, when 35-year old Gail Palmer-Slater '"self-employed writer" and producer of hit porn pictures such as Erotic Adventures of Candy, visited Owl Farm, high in the Colorado mountains. HST: Well, that's basic but I am also involved in politics. an elderly dope fiend out in the wilderness all by himself. By the time I got to ), Question: Hi - Hunter - I have always enjoyed your work - How And I still have to deal with the president. I'll be taken away by the Sufi God. But Clinton isn't really fighting. It was at Owl Farm, on 20th February 2005, that Thompson took his own life with a gunshot after a long period of illness. To find out more, click here. Life on screen and off was fast and glamorous; Johnson has been married five times (twice to Melanie Griffith) and engaged in Olympic-level hedonism. November 1st 2012 Question: Dr. Thompson, Is it true that you are the real Kyser It's a good question. Soze? I've already said this in that book Better Than Sex that I wrote. better at business than I am. unknown writer's work. I've been reading a lot It's a really good piece of journalism, if you look at it. Should be legalized for a matter of sanity. Did you like Terry Gilliam's film of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas? Hunter Thompson: Yes. But from that point on, Thompson would become much more wary of intruders into his private domain. If you look at it as journalism, it's a classic. The newspaper's editor and proprietor is a remarkable character, isn't me? Gore is really the guy's who's on the hot seat here. In mid-1962, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner was given a partial transcript of an interview with Miles Davis. He is, after all, an unrepentant Dunhill-smoking,Patron-swilling, walking chemical … But I could call everything in this book journalism and it would probably pass. the dialogue carry it but I forgot about the interior monologue. This had slipped my mind and my assistant had killed herself. I just bought another huge weapon. It's been bloody rough. 'Gonzo' is a word with two possible derivations: the Italian word for simpleton, or a South Boston Irish phrase used to describe the winner of an all-night drinking session. Either Santa was good to you that day or not. For more classic clips, go to http://www.cbc.ca/archivesSubscribe: http://bit.ly/CBCSubscribeWatch CBC: http://bit.ly/CBCFullShowsAbout CBC: Welcome to the official YouTube channel for CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster. He stood for There are no discussion topics on this book yet. PCP, I would tend to avoid I should. It covered jazz, of course, but it also included Davis’s ruminations on race, politics and culture. This volume, together with Fear And Loathing In America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist 1968-1976, the second collection of his letters published in 2000, are far more representative of Thompson's talent as a political writer than the more celebrated Las Vegas saga. I was able to separate Don Johnson from Sonny Crockett and take Don Johnson on a journey where others were willing to say: “Oh, OK, let me check him out in this…” And that’s not a small accomplishment. to sign them. HST: Yeah, I just heard something. It was the Fed's, and the local people, the DA. Made by this famous underground filmmaker Wayne Ewing, who is right here now, helping me on this Clinton story. It's "I have spent half my life trying to get away from journalism," Thompson ruminated some thirty years later in his 1988 volume Generation Of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's, "a low trade and a worse habit than heroin, a strange seedy world of misfits and drunkards and failures.". It's like writing in a crowd, in the street. I have in front of me here my book Better Than Sex, a very, very political book. A lot . In this clip from 1967, Hunter S.Thompson comes face to face with a member of the Hell's Angels. Holy Christ, I forgot about that. Nobody laughs in this movie at any jokes. Question: At the end of FEAR AND LOATHING, you say "there will Allen was a particular friend, one of my Hunter Thompson: I never really laid a hand on any of those letters. I really was unhappy and I left home at 16. It's day to day with me. Why do you think you did make it as an actor?I always felt confident about my skills and my ability. ..Sins of omission. But maybe he is. Which is true, in a way. the original was elegant and very