Quendrith Johnson

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

Don’t you love hearing about a Hollywood party after it happens? Oh wait, an afterparty, after it happens? C’mon, saves you time and a hangover. Meanwhile last night was the LA premiere of DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR ON FOOT from Amazon Studios, a curious biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix that opens July 13.

Jack Black and glasses, Joaquin Phoenix and cigarette during, not after, the afterparty

This adapted screen story of car-wrecked cartoonist John Callahan also stars Rooney Mara, the lately elusive Jack Black, Kim Gordon, Beth Ditto, Heather Matarazzo, fiendish Udo Kier, Rebecca Rittenhouse and Dion R. Earl. It is written and directed by the formidable Gus Van Sant, with the always keen music of Danny Elfman. The movie is based on the autobiography of John Callahan with the same title from 1990.

Kim Gordon, Jack Black, Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix, Gus Van Sant

In real life, Callahan was once described to the New York Times as having “a gleeful appreciation for the macabre” by his cohort in captions, Gary Larson. Larson of “The Far Side” cartoons fame, was no dark-humor slouch himself, so it makes sense these two had a connection. The quick backstory is that in 1972, Callahan wasn’t driving his own car, but was the passenger in a 90 mile-an-hour car crash that resulted in his paralysis. Ironically, he would later credit the accident for leading the way to Alcoholics Anonymous, where Callahan, who was adopted, began to unpack some of his reasons for drinking from the age of 12, reportedly. In the movie, Jonah Hill plays his sponsor at AA.

One panel drawn by Callahan shows a posse in the desert, an empty wheelchair, and the titular funny cutline “Don’t worry, he won’t get far on foot.” In the rough-edged but well-drawn box, the cutline caption presumably has the word “can’t” crossed out for “won’t” as a substitution. Callahan’s signature is obscured by scrub brush, and his playful work sought to empower and reflect on those other-abled and how society reacts to or rejects their difference. A quadriplegic since the 1972 incident, he died at age 59 in July of 2010, so the release date this month is significant. If you can imagine the lengths Callahan went to continue drawing these panels with failing limbs, that gutsy charisma sets the tone here.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch - okay, the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, that is - other guests wandering around the Arclight and afterparty last night included LA LA LANDer Damien Chazelle, Mark Duplass, Twilighters Peter Facinelli and first/best franchise director Catherine Hardwicke, Jane Levy, Moby (don’t say he doesn’t get out of the studio) and politically on-fire George Takei.

Jack Black is awesome, Joaquin Phoenix agrees

Here’s Amazon’s official description of the film, which opens in theaters Friday, July 13.

After Portland slacker John Callahan (Joaquin Phoenix) nearly loses his life in a car accident, the last thing he intends to do is give up drinking. But when he reluctantly enters treatment — with encouragement from his girlfriend (Rooney Mara) and a charismatic sponsor (Jonah Hill) — Callahan discovers a gift for drawing edgy, irreverent newspaper cartoons that develop an international following and grant him a new lease on life. Based on a true story, this poignant, insightful and often funny drama about the healing power of art is adapted from Callahan’s autobiography and directed by two-time Oscar® nominee Gus Van Sant. Jack Black, Carrie Brownstein, Beth Ditto and Kim Gordon also star.

Mostly, even in the worst of times, DON’T WORRY, HE WON’T GET FAR as John Callahan’s retelling, reminds us that passion and dreams cushion the blows in real life… and it almost feels normal in Hollywood again, like the tide of hashtags has crested and we are for the movies.

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