Hunter S. Thompson once wrote that "Politics is the art of controlling your environment."

The new documentary film by Academy Award-winning director Alex Gibney, "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," explores the lengths the writer went to in order to manipulate the political environment and forever alter American politics as we know them.

The critically acclaimed documentary opens in Juneau at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 14, at the Gold Town Nickelodeon theater downtown.

The film follows the rise and fall of the legendary writer that popularized the subversive gonzo journalism style, and the literary talent that created such works as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "The Rum Diary." Gonzo journalism, the subjective style of writing Thompson made famous, has been described as a "compelling and outrageous amalgam of reportage and literature, held together by an intoxicating emulsion of drink, drugs and sexual excess."

Gibney - the director of "Taxi to the Dark Side" and "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" - threw down with the Hooligan on Thompson's legacy, his political influence and making a documentary about the man, the myth and the legend of gonzo.

What was the most interesting thing you learned about Hunter S. Thompson while making this movie?

How hard he worked. When you start reading his letters and the drafts of pieces and you start looking at some of the manuscripts, you realize that the image, while it was true to some extent - the wild and crazy drug and alcohol binging - he spent a lot of time hard at work. That was really an eye opener for me.

What do feel that Hunter's legacy will be and how do you think that he'll be remembered?

I think he'll be remembered as a great comic writer and also a guy who forged some pretty interesting territory for political journalism. Sometimes you can't play it straight when people in power are lying and creating a kind of fictional universe. You have to play by different rules and I think Hunter is an example of somebody who at his best carefully navigated that.

What role do you feel he played in American politics and how influential was he in politics over the years?

I think in his heyday he was extremely influential because he was the one person who was writing about how politics really was. Now he did that by not only reporting straightforwardly, but also by telling tall tales and injecting himself and his own perceptions into the middle of the mix. But up to that point, political journalists were just reporting on phony stump speeches that everybody knew were phony and then moving on to the next whistle-stop. The press had become a kind of megaphone for people in power. Hunter, it was like a vivisection of the body politic - he exposed it and it certainly worked.

How did you get involved with this project?

(Producer) Graydon Carter was the one who came to me and asked me if I would take it on and I agreed. I had read Hunter and I liked his writing, but I also felt now might be a good time to examine the role of a guy who didn't play by the rules. There's a lot of that going on in the blogosphere but Hunter did it in a peculiar way that I think was worth talking about and thinking about. Also I was involved in some pretty dark territory on my film "Taxi to the Dark Side." And the other thing you have to remember about Hunter was he was a wildly entertaining and wickedly funny guy and I thought that would be good to explore.

Did you feel any resistance making this film? It appears you had quite a bit of cooperation.

We did have cooperation but it was difficult. The estate was very kind and generous in terms of giving us access, but Hunter didn't leave his estate in the best of condition so it was difficult to wade through all these materials. Ultimately it was very difficult to get permission from different people, not Hunter, or his estate, but other people to include their stuff. It seems like everything is so easy at the end, but it was hell getting there.

How has the film been received, especially by anti-gun people and anti-drug advocates?

I have to be honest and say I haven't gotten any hard-core blogs either accusing me of promoting drugs or promoting rampant gun use. I think that people see the film as a portrait of a guy who didn't live life by everybody's rules. He was an outlaw. But I think they see it as a pretty complete portrait, by which I mean I wasn't endorsing everything that Hunter did, I was just presenting it.

I was kind of surprised to learn about President Carter's relationship with Hunter and the influence his reporting had. Were there any interviews that stood out in particular to you or that surprised you along the way while making this film?

You mean in addition to Carter? Pat Buchanan would be one. That was fascinating to me, that Pat Buchanan liked him so much. I loved talking to Pat. I spent one morning talking to George McGovern and the afternoon talking to his mortal enemy during the '72 (presidential) campaign, Pat Buchanan. That was interesting to me. And listening to Carter talk about Hunter, I mean he loved him. I think most politicians are narcissists and Hunter was a narcissist, they probably connected on that level. But also, Hunter was really interested in politics. And the last thing we've got to remember is that Hunter was a politician. I mean he had run for office. Now it may have started off as a joke, but he certainly got a feel for it and I think that gave him a kind of easy access to politicians. He was one of them.

What do you hope that people will take away from watching this film?

I hope they'll be energized by the passion of a guy who at his very best was a wild-eyed American patriot with a wicked sense of humor. It seems to me that that's worth celebrating.

• Contact reporter Eric Morrison at 523-2269 or eric.morrison@juneauempire.com.