Directed By Robert Zemeckis: Peter Guber Produced Film
One of the most profitable and creatively explosive duos of the late 20th century was (the high-energy, deal-making showman) and Robert Zemeckis (the technical wizard with a heart of gold).
While Guber is often known for his tenure at Sony or his current role as the CEO of Mandalay Entertainment, his legacy as a hands-on producer includes greenlighting and championing some of Zemeckis’s most defining works. Let’s look at the magic they made together. This is the big one. Without Guber, Hill Valley might still be a sleepy town stuck in 1955. peter guber produced film directed by robert zemeckis
Guber, as producer, didn't just write checks; he was the chief problem solver. He helped navigate the minefield of licensing characters from Disney and Warner Bros. to appear together on screen (a miracle in itself). He trusted Zemeckis’s noir-meets-cartoon vision when everyone else was telling him to make a "safe" kids' movie. One of the most profitable and creatively explosive
Zemeckis and his writing partner Bob Gale had been shopping Back to the Future for years. Every studio passed. They were told it was "too nice," "too soft," or "not sexy enough." Disney famously rejected it because they thought a mother falling for her son was too risqué. This is the big one
“this is alas just another film that panders to the image Thompson himself tried to shirk – the reckless buffoon that is more at home on fraternity posters than library shelves. It is a missed opportunity to take the man seriously.”
This is an excellent summary on the attitude of the seeming majority of HST ‘admirers’.
It just makes me think that they read Fear and Loathing, looked up similar stories of HST’s unhinged behaviour and didn’t bother with the rest of his work.
There is such a raw, human element of Thompsons work, showing an amazing mind, sense of humour, critical thinking and an uncanny ability to have his finger on the pulse of many issues of his time.
Booze feature prominently in most of his writing and he is always flirting with ‘the edge’, but this obsession with remembering him more as Raoul Duke and less as Hunter Thompson, is a sad reflection of most ‘fans’; even if it was a self inflicted wound by Thompson himself.