Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas/Trivia


 * Doing It for the Art: Nearly everyone in the film, but special credit goes to Benicio Del Toro, who burned his arm with cigarettes to match the burns on Oscar Acosta's arm, and ended up getting blood poisoning.
 * He also gained 40 pounds for the role.
 * Dyeing for Your Art: Johnny Depp had his head shaved to match Thompson's male-pattern baldness. By Thompson. With a straight razor.
 * While Thompson wore a miner's helmet.
 * Hey, It's That Guy! (The movie features cameos from Christina Ricci, Cameron Diaz, and Gary Busey, among others.)
 * That hitchhiker Dr. Gonzo wanted to kill in a drug-induced paranoia? An unknown (and long-haired blond) Tobey Maguire!
 * In the circus, one of the barkers (offering a chance to appear on a 200-foot tall screen somewhere outside) is Penn Jillette.
 * The doctor explaining that dope fiends' pants will be encrusted with semen is Mr. Noodle.
 * The hippie Duke meets in the bathroom of the Matrix was played by Flea, bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, nearly unidentifiable under his beard and wig.
 * Lyle Lovett introduces Duke to acid.
 * Gibbs is a reporter covering the Mint 400.
 * Stabler is the very flamboyant clerk at the Flamingo Hotel.
 * President Logan is the head clerk at the Mint Hotel.
 * Mid-Development Genre Shift: It was originally just going to be a straight series of articles covering a motorcycle race in Las Vegas, before becoming the weird, wacky, genre-defining whatever-it-is that it became.
 * What Could Have Been: Bruce Robinson was Johnny Depp's first choice to make the film, but Robinson had quit filmmaking by that point. He would later direct The Rum Diary, based on Hunter S. Thompson's novel and also starring Depp.
 * Famed animator Ralph Bakshi wanted to animate a version of Fear and Loathing based on Ralph Steadman's illustrations. Hunter had given the film rights to one of his girlfriends, and couldn't dissuade her from making the live-action film instead.