Thursday, June 12, 2003 | 8:18 a.m.
More than 30 years after writing "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," Hunter S. Thompson wants to know how he can get into trouble in Las Vegas.
"If you had to think of one thing that happens during my visit there, what would be the most fun of anything for me to think of? Set off a bomb ... ?" he asks. "What would be fun? That's what I'm thinking about."
It has been quite some time since Thompson was last in Las Vegas his most famous visit, of course, being in 1971 during a trip to the city to cover the Mint 400, the famous off-road race featuring bikes, trucks, cars and buggies.
That experience led to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream," a wondrous, enchanting, desperate and sometimes frightening booze-and-drug-fueled orgy through the insanity and excess of the Strip.
It's the book for better or worse for which Thompson is probably most associated.
More than three decades later the 65-year-old Thompson returns to Las Vegas as a guest of the CineVegas International Film Festival.
The festival, which begins Friday and runs through June 21 at Brenden Theaters at the Palms, features 60 independent films and documentaries including the world premiere of a documentary on Thompson, "Breakfast with Hunter."
The film is a look at the life and times of Thompson, specifically during a brief period in the mid-'90s, and closes the festival at 7 p.m. June 21. During the filming of the documentary Thompson was battling a 1995 charge of driving while impaired as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was in production.
Thompson will also attend a round-table discussion on "Artists, Icons and Legends" of the latter half of the 20th Century, also featuring Dennis Hopper and Grace Slick. The art panel discussion begins at 2 p.m. June 21 at C2K at The Venetian.
The journalist/author acknowledges it has been many years since his last trip to Sin City, but, he assures, there's a compelling reason for that.
"I have an interesting story to tell that I'm going to save. I wouldn't want to antagonize anyone ahead of time," he says in a phone interview from Owl Farm, his home in Aspen, Colo. "I look forward to being back there and seeing if (Las Vegas) even resembles the Vegas in my memory and in my mind. I'm curious.
"I appreciate the invitation from the CineVegas people. I intend to have fun there, to make up for all of the agony I had before."
Fear and legend
Time and drugs have a way of distorting reality. Fewer have benefited from this as much as Thompson.
Over the decades his twisted exploits have become mythic. Thompson is no longer a mere mortal, he's an icon to the downtrodden, the paranoid, the rebellious and the partiers.
He can also be trickier than an angry rattlesnake.
There's an anecdote that surfaced some years ago about Bill Murray becoming chummy with Hunter during filming of Murray's "Where the Buffalo Roam," a "celebration" of Thompson and his "gonzo" lifestyle.
After the filming was finished, Murray was staying with Thompson at Owl Farm.
At some point Thompson tied Murray to a chair and tossed him into his pool. Murray, securely fashioned to the chair, sank like an anchor to the bottom. There he stayed. The former "Saturday Night Live" star would have drowned had he not managed to squirm free of the bindings and swim frantically to the surface.
That incident ended their friendship.
Then there was what "Breakfast With Hunter" director Wayne Ewing has to say about one of his best friends in a recent phone interview from his home in Ventura, Calif.
Ewing had acquired a camera for Thompson and called him with the good news. Thompson told Ewing to bring the camera to his house.
"He said, 'Just come right on in, I might be in the bathroom,' " Ewing said. "I thought this was slightly suspicious because normally I would never enter his house without him saying, 'Come on in.'
"So I got there, knocked on the door and I didn't hear anything. I thought, 'Well, he said to come right on in.' " I knocked again and called out: 'Hunter? It's Wayne! It's Wayne!' I thought I heard a grunt, so I walked into the living room. And I thought I heard another grunt, so I stepped into the kitchen doorway. And there he was dripping wet, wearing a bathrobe with a 12-gauge shotgun pistol in his hand and a look that said, 'I can kill you now and no court in the land would convict me.' "
Thompson fired a shot from 10 feet away, barely missing his best friend. The wood pieces from the blasted door shot all around the room, scaring the bejesus out of Ewing.
But the near-deadly prank put nary a dent in their friendship, Ewing said.
"Not at all," he said. "I took it as the ultimate toast from Hunter."
Only rock 'n' roll
Ewing laughs when asked how difficult it was to document the life of Thompson.
"I think it was as easy for me as it could be for any human being," he said. "Because Hunter and I are such good friends, and there's such a high degree of trust between the two of us and because we spent so much time together. And also, because I helped Hunter in a number of other ways along the way as a way of making it easier to do the film."
An independent producer, director and cinematographer, Ewing is kept busy -- his most recent job was director of photography on the NBC series, "Crime and Punishment."
But Ewing put much of his life on hold to volunteer as Thompson's road manager, editorial assistant and all-around gofer.
One of Ewing's many responsibilities during that time was to make sure Thompson made it to the Hollywood set of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for his cameo.
Ewing called ahead to arrange a limousine to pick Thompson up from the Van Nuys, Calif., airport, and that the limo was stocked full of scotch and ice. He also made sure that Thompson had his favorite hotel suite reserved for the duration of his Los Angeles visit.
"If he doesn't get the room he wanted, there's hell to pay," Ewing said. "I make sure everything goes smoothly. It's like being the most pressurized rock 'n' roll manager in the world, because Hunter does not have a lot of patience. But he's also a lot of fun to be around because you never know what's going to happen."
Hunter on Hunter
It's a few minutes into the conversation and Thompson says he's "in a talking mood."
We delve into several topics.
We discuss his "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" film, which was directed by Terry Gilliam with Johnny Depp as Thompson, aka Raoul Duke, and Benicio del Toro as his friend, Samoan attorney "Dr. Gonzo."
"It's not supposed to be me, but somebody else's interpretation of me. But this 'Breakfast' film is actually me," he says. "In matters of Murray, Depp and Benicio there's always the question of the interpretation. I didn't expect to be depicted perfectly or accurately."
But with the documentary, "there is no question of what you're watching. I guess the only question is whether you like it or don't like it. But there's no interpretation because there's no interpreter. It's just the camera at the time."
Still, Thompson says he appreciates the daunting challenge Gilliam faced in translating "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" to film.
"It's hard to do because it's my work representing me. There's no victory, you can't win. It's too personal for me to look at as art," he says. "But I like it. What the hell? It is a different kind of thing."
Thompson has become such a legendary figure in popular culture that some of his more fervent fans have websites detailing every facet of his life.
"I guess that's a responsibility," Thompson says of his fan base. "But in a way all of what I do is a responsibility to myself. I'm glad to have these people. I think it's a good crowd. You could do worse than hanging out with Hunter Thompson fans. There are a worse bunch. You could be working for Republican auditors. That would be death. I'd rather be put in the police force."
Thompson almost was.
In 1970 on a lark, he ran for sheriff as part of "The Aspen Freak Power Uprising." He narrowly lost.
Three decades later Thompson takes a more practical view of his campaign, saying, "it got out of hand.
"I got a lot more big-time publicity than I really anticipated. I was running to take the heat off of someone else," he said. "Unfortunately, I just generated massive heat and there was a backlash."
His stunt drew major media coverage from the likes of The New York Times along with publications and TV coverage from overseas.
A British film crew was also on hand to record the election. Some of that footage was even included in "Breakfast With Hunter," such as the stunned and despondent reactions at "Thompson for Sheriff" headquarters after the election results.
"People recognized it as interesting and original and, perhaps in those days, as a great victory for the young generation," he says. "I just realized in order to get these people to vote for you, you're going to have to go out and register them. Which sounds mundane now, but it was an original thought out there in this neck of the woods."
Eventually, the nearly hourlong conversation winds down, but only after 10 minutes or so of discussing the loss of freedom in the United States, a grave concern of Thompson's.
"That's why I protect (my freedom) so feverishly. That's what my life has been about," he says. "What worries me is that other people could be so willing to give up their personal freedom for this illusion of security. It's a trade-off. Would you rather be free or secure? And Americans in increasing numbers, up to 85 to 90 percent now, want to be secure. They'll submit to anything as long as they feel safe. It's horrifying.
"I think it's a miracle that we're all free -- just even to gather in Las Vegas and have fun. I don't think that will be able to happen three years from now. I have a very dark view of the situation."
He then says it's time to go. It's close to midnight his time and Thompson has yet to write his weekly column for ESPN.com, "Hey, Rube."
"I've been a sportswriter for most of my life," he says. "I like it. It's an old vice."
Still, there's that nagging question of what Thompson can do for fun while in Sin City.
Hunter never reaches a decision. He's open to options.
No matter what kind of mischief he does explore while in town, however, he plans to visit his past, exploring some of the sights from his trip three decades ago.
"It seems like so long ago, that when I read it now, it's like I'm reading words engraven in stone," he says. "It seems like someone else's adventure. I want to check in on places, including my attitude when I was there. I don't know what's going to happen.
"Maybe I can cultivate some of the fear and some of the loathing."
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