Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Rabid followers and fans of the great Hunter S. Thompson, the father and pioneer of Gonzo journalism, regard his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as the greatest work of the late follower. The book, which is about a wildly psychedelic and crazy adventure of a journalist and a lawyer in Las Vegas, cemented its place in American literature as a critical insight into the failed counter-cultural movement of the 1960’s. It was adapted into a movie in 1998 starring Johnny Depp, who is a close friend of Thompson, and Benicio del Toro. To many fans, revisiting the savage journey of the two characters is the ultimate immersion in the book. To complete your experience with fear and loathing, here are some of the locations used in the film.

There were several hotels featured in the film, but only two facilities in Las Vegas were used for the production when they began shooting in 1997. Among these hotels was Stardust, a hotel and casino which closed in 2007 when properties such as the ARIA and Wynn Las Vegas are starting to take over the city’s skyline. Another hotel used in the production of Fear and Loathing is The Riviera, a 110,000 square feet of gaming masterpiece in the heart of The Strip. According to director Terry Gilliam, the film’s director and the only American-born member of the Monty Python comedy troupe, said that The Riv was only one of the few hotels to allow them to shoot within their facilities.

However, there are some places in Vegas—all important to the plot—which they have to recreate for the purpose of the story. While the Circus Circus was mentioned in the book, the management of the hotel refused to take participation in the production, and banned the entire cast and crew from getting near their grounds. Instead, they had to shoot somewhere else, recreating the hotel’s famous “Horse Around Bar” and changing the name to Bazooka Circus to avoid legal disputes with the owners. Meanwhile, they had to recreate the Mint Hotel since the structure is vital to the plot. In the movie, Depp and del Toro’s characters stayed in room 1850, where they started their out-of-this-world journey towards the death and decay of the counterculture of the sixties. While the film uses Las Vegas as the perfect example for the disconnected realities of the American Dream, other shooting locations such as California, Arizona, and the Red Rock Canyon in Nevada. If you want to see through the yellow aviator glasses of Thompson, then visiting these places can give you a glimpse of how the great Doctor sees them all.