The Rum Diary: resurrected from development hell

After years of more hope than expectation, fans have finally been given a release date for the film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary.

The film has been stuck in development hell since the project was first optioned back in 2000. At the time, Nick Nolte had signed on to star alongside Johnny Depp who would also executive produce.

Fans feared that The Rum Diary would be one of those never-to-see movies that would perennially be stuck in cinematic limbo with Duke Nukem Forever. After two year of no progress, Johnny Depp dropped out and was replaced by a duo of Benicio del Toro and Josh Harnett, but development on this film also stalled.

Perhaps in was just the fate of The Rum Diary, to have its fair share as the lady-in-waiting. After all, Thompson wrote the book in 1961 and it was not published until 1998.

Now the film has come full circle, with Johnny Depp once again at the helm – and fans have finally been rewarded for their patience with movie posters, a trailer, and a release date – 28 October 2011.

For a full run-down of the film, visit The Lesser of Two Equals blog. DangerousMinds also has a copy of a letter from Hunter S. Thompson, lamenting with a few expletives, how long the development process had been taking.