Hunter S. Thompson’s life story to be adapted for TV

Image: Neale Haynes/REX/Shutterstock via AFP Relaxnews

MGM Television has announced it is developing a TV series about the journalist and writer Hunter S. Thompson, a pioneer of “Gonzo” journalism and author of “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. The “Fear and Loathing” project will be headed by Davey Holmes, who is already working on the small screen adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel “Get Shorty”.

Over ten years after his death, Hunter S. Thompson is to become the subject of a TV series. No details have been disclosed about the project which has not yet been claimed by any channel or platform. It’s not yet known whether the biopic will cover the whole of his life or a particular time in his career.

The only information available at the moment is that Davey Holmes will be the showrunner. He previously served as showrunner on the “Get Shorty” series, screened last summer on Epix. If “Fear & Loathing” gets the green light, Holmes will share showrunning duties with Bob Nelson, the screenwriter of Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska”, so he can also work on “Get Shorty” as its second season has been ordered for 2018.

Hunter S. Thompson is known for having been a pioneer of “Gonzo” journalism in the early 1970s. His ultra-subjective investigations written in the first person with a political slant and under the influence of hallucinogenic substances covered such subjects as Hell’s Angels bikers and the hippie movement. He is also remembered for having written “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, which was adapted for the big screen by Terry Gilliam and starred Johnny Depp. JB

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