The Rum Diary

Johnny Depp and his future wife Amber Heard met for the first time while making this film. The couple became a couple in 2012, after Depp's split from his long-time partner Vanessa Paradis; they married in February 2015, separated in May 2016, and their divorce was finalized in January 2017, followed by a public court battle that reignited in 2019 when Depp sued Heard for defamation.

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Johnny Depp suspended his sobriety for this film in order to experience the effects of the drinks depicted.

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This marks the second time Johnny Depp appeared in a film adapted from a Hunter S. Thompson novel; the first was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).

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The final black-and-white shot at the end of the film was not filmed in Puerto Rico, where the film is set, but in Aruba. The writer is shown sitting on a bench at the Aruba Palm Beach Club with a bottle of Amstel beer; the Aruba Caribbean Hotel in the background was the first resort hotel built in Palm Beach. The writer visited Aruba while living in Puerto Rico, and the photograph is also the cover photo of the book.

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The jewel-encrusted turtle, which Sanderson designed after being inspired by a book he read once, is a reference to Joris-Karl Huysmans's novel À rebours, Bruce Robinson's favorite book. In that novel, the turtle dies very soon because it cannot bear the weight of the jewels.

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The restaurant where Kemp and Sala are chased is called "Café Cabrónes," which roughly means "Coffee Bastards."

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During the shoot, Bruce Robinson and the film crew were sweating so much that one crew member brought iced Coronas to the set. At that moment he described his drinking as "savage" and never drank again after the shoot.

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Bruce Robinson, who fell back into alcoholism by drinking a bottle of wine a day, did not take long to adapt the screenplay. After finishing it, he became sober again.

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At one point, Benicio Del Toro was set to direct.

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Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley were front-runners for the role of Chenault.

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In the 2004 film Secret Window, the character played by Johnny Depp leaves his hat on his desk; a copy of Hunter S. Thompson's book The Rum Diary is visible on the desk.

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Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt, Josh Hartnett and Nick Nolte were originally planned to star.

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This was the first film directed by Bruce Robinson since Jennifer 8 (1992).

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Bruce Robinson was Johnny Depp's personal first choice to direct him in the adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). Robinson turned it down because he felt burned out by the film industry. Years later, Depp offered him another chance to direct a film based on Thompson's work, and this time Robinson accepted.

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According to the international maritime signal flag code, the flags on Sanderson's boat on the way to the carnival read STTHOMTP (port side) and CARNIVAL (starboard side).

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Lotterman tells Paul about the kind of stories a plumber from Normal, Illinois, who saved money for 25 years, would want to read on vacation. Richard Jenkins, the actor who plays Lotterman, attended Illinois Wesleyan University in Normal, Illinois.

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Philippe Vonlanthen, who met Bruce Robinson in 1999 at a signing in London for his novel The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Pennman, was considered for the role of Digby.

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The newspaper is called The San Juan Star.

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The car Sanderson lends to Kemp is a 1959 Corvette.

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Amber Heard shares her birthday with film director John Waters, who directed Cry Baby, a film that also starred Johnny Depp.

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The car Sanderson uses is a 1959 Austin Healey 3000.

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