From KCRW in Santa Monica, this is The Treatment.

Welcome to the treatment, which you can also hear at KCRW.com.

My guest documentary director, Alex Gibney, has had a very good year.

He had two films at the

Oscars this year, one of which the one he directed, Taxi to the Dark Side, won the Oscar for

Best Documentary. His new film, Gonzo's on the Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson. Alex, thanks

for being here. Great to be here, Elvis. Both Johnny Depp and Bill Murray told me, after playing

Hunter Thompson, that there's something about playing him that gets into your bloodstream and you can't shake it.

I think it's true. I think it's true. I heard that Bill almost did a little something for us on this, but I heard that he just said that he was walking around for years afterwards, talking like Hunter.

And Johnny, he's in the zone.

I mean, I think there's now a psychic connection between the two.

You know, he really feels deeply connected to the man.

And when he, in this film, when we needed somebody to read Hunter's words, he goes right there. Like there's no barrier to cross.

It's kind of amazing because I've got to imagine in some ways Hunter's an influence on you.

Because the way you use documentary, you sort of like, in a way, use it for almost old school journalism.

You kind of set up a question.

You want to basically peer behind a mystique in almost all the films you've done.

Right.

And Hunter sort of a way did that. You want to basically peer behind a mystique in almost all the films that you've done. Right.

And Hunter sort of a way did that.

You know, he's often sort of peeled away his own mystique.

But peeling away layers of mystique is kind of the way you work, but you go from journalism to drama with it.

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