A new biography of Hunter S Thompson, king of Gonzo journalism and all round drug-hoofing, Wild Turkey-swilling, gun-toting loony, reveals how Jack Nicholson once had to jump out of a window to avoid getting shot by the occasionally foul tempered scribe.
Nicholson describes a superbly epic weekend, during which, after much
booze had flowed, Thompson changed from jolly boozer to mean drunk
and decided to shoot everyone instead. "One of the first times I met
him," said Nicholson, "he pulled out a gun in the middle of a house. Me
and a friend of mine jumped out the window."
The geriatric actor was lucky. Thompson scared the living
bejesus out of Johnny Depp on one occasion by strapping nitro glycerine
to propane tanks and shooting them, cackling like a demon as they
turned night into day with the explosion.
Thompson is greatly missed, having decided to shoot the shit out of himself just a couple of years ago.