Gonzo Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Thompson with Tom Miller & Crew

As filmmakers, we all collect stories. And not just the ones that make the cut.

People want to know about the famous people, the athletes and the movies stars. Or the craziest shoot, or the most dangerous.

Well here’s one of my weirdest.

I was the Director of Photography on an interview with Hunter S. Thompson for ABC / ESPN. We took over the basement bar of the iconic Hotel Jerome in Aspen.

After lighting for a couple of hours, Hunter's people came in and said he's going to need a large table next to him.

Long story very short - that table ended up being filled with every drug imaginable - and he took most of them during the interview which lasted for hours!

His sentences never really started or ended, they just went on and on in this rather brilliant diatribe about all topics ranging from Muhammad Ali to politics.

It was very hard to keep up and I'm really glad I wasn't the one asking the questions. Nor did I have to edit the answers!

He liked to smack people with that little rubber hammer (pictured) - especially our sound guy Drew.

Later Ed Bradley from 60 Minutes showed up, along with a few other stars, to watch the interview.

It was a wild night! But our next interview with him was even crazier.

The Woody Creek Cabin Interview

Years later we shot an interview with Hunter at his fortified Cabin in Woody Creek, also known as Owl Farm.

It was Valentine’s day, and his leg was in a cast. We arrived in the early evening to set up for a marathon nighttime interview. (Hunter started most of his days around 6pm.)

The cabin was VERY cluttered - filled with scraps of papers and index cards on the refrigerator and walls of his kitchen - little notes to himself, his people, and bits of writing.

One said, “DO NOT UNDER AND CIRCUMSTANCES CALL THE COPS.”

I should have taken more pictures, but he asked us not to, and I wanted to respect his space.

Again lots of drug, lots of women hanging around helping him. Then later his wife showed up. They were going to celebrate the Valentine’s evening by injecting some black tar heroin later.

I called him Mr. Thompson once, and he corrected me: “Doctor Thompson.”

He was quite paranoid. We had to set up a separate camera filming us setting up in the living room that he could watch from a monitor in the kitchen.

When we brought him in for the interview, he was became very agitated. He threw a bunch of pillows and other objects at our equipment.

I got him to calm down by turning off all the lights, and asking him a question about politics - something about George Bush. Well that got him going! As he started talking, we slowly brought up the lights and got into the interview, which lasted until about midnight.

Later that year Hunter Thompson took his own life.

His ashes were shot out of a canon in a ceremony attended by his friend Johnny Depp, who played him in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

Recently, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation re-opened the case. Thompson's 2005 death in his Colorado home was originally ruled a suicide, but CBI officials said the bureau is conducting a case review into his death at the request of his widow, Anita Thompson. According to the release, no foul play has been identified in the years since Thompson's death and the new investigation is meant to answer any lingering questions by bringing in a fresh agency.