The Movie: Never one to back down from a challenge, Gilliam suits up for a book adaptation that had defeated Martin Scorsese and Oliver Stone and had seen Alex Cox fired by the producers of this latest version before El Tel was brought aboard.

It’s a long, strange trip that captures gonzo god Hunter S Thompson’s rambling prise and, in Johnny Depp, his wacked-out personality, even if the film itself never quite gels.

Terry’s Trials: The biggest issue was trying to get permission, apparently… “Cooperating with our vision wouldn't gain the hotels much! We ended up with a couple of the old hotels that, for whatever reason were at least accommodating enough to let us shoot there. We were only able to shoot inside the Riviera and inside the Binions.

“The Riviera was actually very accommodating. And as far as exteriors, the Palace Hotel we converted into Bazooka Circus. We had to wheel in this 20-foot-high clown head, which is a huge open mouth as our entrance. Then they'd got six lanes of car in the entranceways for cars to come in and disgorge the clients, and we were allowed to use two lanes at any one time.

“So we were dancing around a casino that was functioning. And so that was all very difficult stuff. And each thing we had to get done in a night; we were not allowed to come back anywhere!

“Our problem was trying to make a Vegas that looked like Vegas in 1971. We were very limited in what's there that we could use. The key shot that establishes Vegas, the majority of it is computer generated.

“The Mint Hotel doesn't exist any more, so all of that had to be recreated. Circus Circus, which in our script is 'Bazooka Circus' (because Circus Circus wouldn't let us near their place), we had to build all that. It was great because we were able to take it much further than the reality.”