Rum Diary is a book written by Hunter S. Thompson that Johnny Depp has been trying to get made into a film since 2003. Depp was close friends with the rogue journalist and he has been very passionate about this project.
Today with the casting of one of two remaining major roles, the film is one step closer to a production that Bruce Robinson is writing and directing.
Amber Heard a relative newcomer who so far has been cast in supporting roles in more modest movies is in negotiations to play the coveted female lead opposite Depp Her notable roles include the title character in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane and Seth Rogen’s high school girlfriend in Pineapple Express.
In Diary Heard will play Chenault, a woman in the middle of a love triangle in the tale of a washed-up, hard-drinking journalist named Paul Kemp (Depp) in 1950’s Puerto Rico. Chenault is a free-spirited girlfriend of a fellow journalist who cheats on him with Kemp, trying to convince him to run away with her.
The role drew strong interest from many leading ladies including Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley amongts others. Though some had reservations regarding the nudity the role calls for, that didn’t inhibit Heard. In the upcoming ensemble Bret Easton Ellis adaptation The Informers, she spends all but one scene in the flesh. Diary, however, also will offer the opportunity to showcase some dramatic chops.
The role of Sanderson, the third part of the love triangle, has not yet been cast.
The project, which Depp, Christi Dembrowski and Graham King are producing, begins March 30 in Puerto Rico.
Heard, who just booked the lead in John Carpenter’s haunted house thriller Ward 19, also nabbed a cameo in Columbia’s Zombieland, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. She will play the object of Eisenberg’s affection who turns into a zombie.
source: Hollywood Reporter
