CLOSING NIGHT: DON'T WORRY HE WON'T GET FAR ON FOOT

I thought it was apt that Joaquin Phoenix play a person in recovery as his brother died from an overdose. He has also done other films with Gus VanSant. Jonah Hill was different than his usual boisterous self as a gay, wealthy AA mentor. He did it well. This was a true story written from the autobiography of John Callahan. Gus said he was a character known around Portland that he used to see quickly zooming around town. 

Program Description: 

Guests Expected

Director Gus Van Sant and composer Danny Elfman expected to attend.

Description

Caustic and wickedly funny, celebrated quadriplegic Portland cartoonist John Callahan had a knack for depicting taboo subjects – especially people with physical disabilities – without political correctness. With an engrossing and shape-shifting performance by Joaquin Phoenix as Callahan, accompanied by scene-stealing support from Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, and Jack Black, Gus Van Sant’s (Milk, My Own Private Idaho) newest film follows the life of this troubled alcoholic who journeys from rock-bottom to an oddball AA group to ultimately channeling his demons into sometimes shocking and always humorous profane art.

“Not since American Splendor explored the curmudgeonly everyman sensibility of comic-book artist Harvey Pekar has the complicated headspace of a cartoonist been entered with such infectious fondness as in Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot. A return for Gus Van Sant to the loose-limbed chronicles of outsider existences in Portland, Oregon, that first put him on the map, like Mala Noche (1986) and Drugstore Cowboy (1989), this unwieldy but consistently enjoyable portrait of quadriplegic local hero John Callahan is notable for its generosity of spirit and gentleness.” – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“What makes Phoenix’s performance especially exciting is that you’re watching not just a character go from chaos to self-possession but an actor, too. He looks unhinged when, in his ambulatory scenes, he weaves around, accosting an attractive young woman on the beach in Southern California, squatting behind a car to finish off a bottle of tequila, and, of course, sliding behind the wheel. Phoenix lets Callahan’s inner compass point due south, toward the abyss.” – David Edelstein, Vulture 

Danny Elfman and Gus VanSant did question and answers after the film. Unfortunately most of the conversations surrounded the work between them (Elfman is the composer of most of VanSant's movies). Gus VanSant met hims when he was with a punk band in Southern California: The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. 

They collaborate on the movies after there is already some film to review, then Elfman usually gives him about three choices he has composed and lets VanSant pick. He wrote the Simpson's introduction and also did movies like Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A man in a wheel chair dramatically rolled from the back of the theater and admonished him for not have a disabled actor as the lead role. Gus did say he hired a lot of disabled people for the role. He asked if he had Inclusion Riders for his films and made him promise he would in the future to which he said, "I promise". I wanted the whole night to be about VanSant who I have loved since My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, Good Will Hunting and many more. He is also credited as a writer in this film and most of the other films he has done. 

Trailer: 

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Video of the entire Interview with Gus Van Sant:

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