VIDEO – LET IT RIDE –
Dec. 8, 2024 – When first-time movie producer Stuart Regan found a novel entitled Leaving Las Vegas in a secondhand bookshop, he was stunned by its unflinching depiction of alcoholism. In O’Brien’s real life, followed Ben Sanderson, an alcoholic screenwriter who decides to move to Las Vegas to drink himself to death after losing his family and job. In ‘Sin City’, he strikes up a relationship with a prostitute, and a slight glimmer of hope begins to appear for both of them. However, she can’t save him with her love, and he succeeds in killing himself with alcohol.
This was obviously extremely dark, harrowing material. It was made even darker, though, by the fact that O’Brien committed suicide only weeks after his book was optioned. The last time his father saw his son, he was in hospital, having drunkenly driven his car into a telephone pole. When he was released, he went on a binge and took his own life, but not before ensuring his family received the entire six-figure cheque he was paid for the film adaptation of his novel.
