True Stories

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Synopsis: A nonfiction biopic of the renegade Rolling Stone journalist, who killed himself in February 2005.

The backstory: After Thompson’s death, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, a producer on the film, called Gibney and proposed the idea. Production began at Thompson’s funeral in August 2005.

Budget: $1.5 million.

Financed by: Magnolia Pictures, which will also distribute the film in May.

Sundance moment: “I ruptured a disk in my back before the festival,” Gibney says, “so it was amusing promoting a movie about Hunter S. Thompson while hopped up on painkillers and alcohol.”

Director’s next project: A documentary about the scandals surrounding former Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Return to True Stories or read about other directors: Christopher Bell (Bigger, Stronger, Faster*) James Marsh (Man on Wire) Nanette Burstein (American Teen ) Tia Lessin and Carl Deal (Trouble the Water) Marina ZenovichRoman Polanski: Wanted and Desired