Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival January 19,2018
a Gus Van Sant film
Plot(Spoiler Alert)
John Callahan gets into a terrible car crash after putting a lot of alcohol in his system. He now has to be in wheelchair for the rest his life, but he finds a purpose for himself and that is drawing hilarious cartoons that people find very entertaining.
Blaine: The idea of turning John Callahan’s story into a movie started off with the late Robin Williams. Robin was a big fan of John’s cartoons and he had bought the rights to the autobiography so he could develop it into a movie. A few years later while Robin was working on “Good Will Hunting" with Gus Van Sant, he asked him if he knew who John Callahan was. Gus was aware of John Callahan’s work after seeing his cartoons on L.A. Weekly. Gus spent years trying to put the right story together. Two different screenplays were written. John Callahan wrote his whole life in the book, but Gus wanted the movie to focus on certain things. For one he wanted it to focus on John recovering from alcohol and his relationship with his sponsor, Donnie. Gus met the real John Callahan before his death in 2010. Gus interviewed John Callahan for four hours and recorded the whole thing on camera.
When Robin Williams died, Gus wasn’t thinking about “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” because losing Robin Williams was unexpected and terrible. Gus was asked if he was planning to continue working on the project. Gus felt he could do it, but he was faced with a new challenge and that was finding a new actor to play John Callahan. Robin Williams was supposed to play John Callahan and the first two screenplays were written for him. The way John Callahan was written in the drafts was different from who he was. John was written with more of a Robin Williams personality. Gus had worked with Joaquin Phoenix on a movie called “To Die For” and ever since then Joaquin had been trying to work with Gus again. Joaquin would audition for three movies Gus was going to make, but he never got the part. Gus didn’t think Joaquin was right to play John Callahan, but Joaquin has had more experience in acting since “To Die For” and has become a professional at it. Once Joaquin was hired, a new script was in development for the third time and the part was rewritten for Joaquin. Gus always gives his actors the freedom to find the performances themselves believing they’ll feel comfortable with the part. Joaquin watched the video interview Gus did of John Callahan and he would study John’s body movement and the way he talked. Joaquin noticed that John would always shift in his chair. Joaquin visited the Rancho Los Amigos, the rehabilitation hospital where John was a patient. Joaquin asked the patients there why John moved like that and they told him that it was like avoiding bed sores and that he would change positions to get blood flowing. Joaquin also had to learn how to draw, which was very difficult. Joaquin didn’t like it because he was terrible at it. Joaquin also read John Callahan’s autobiography, which he felt was really important because it described who John Callahan was in life. While they were shooting, Gus Van Sant realized that Joaquin Phoenix had evolved since ‘95 into an actor who was able to do anything.
“Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot” was shot in only 25 days. Movies like this don’t require much, but with a tight schedule the director has to make sure he gets everything he wants, like great performances from his actors and gets the shots he needs for every scene. When they shot the session scenes, four cameras were shooting it at the same time because there were seven people and they needed shots focussing on each person as they were acting through the scene during a take. “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot" cuts to different pieces of John Callahan’s life from the last day he walked to him giving a speech on how he turned his life around. The story is not told in a straight order. The movie is all about John Callahan and focusses on him a lot because this is his story. John was abandoned by his mother and he says that might have been his obsession with alcohol to take away the pain. John didn’t have any interest in cartoons at first, but once he started drawing cartoons it became his habit. Alcohol used to be John's main thing in life, but he gave it up after going a whole night without it and cartooning replaced the alcohol addiction. John was afraid he wasn’t going to move anymore when he was brought to the hospital after the car accident. But when John was put in the electric wheelchair he was relieved that he could still move his arms while playing around with the wheelchair controller.
There was so many people in John’s life, but there was one person John was really close to and that was Donnie. Donnie was a recovering alcoholic, who liked men, was dying of AIDS and a AA group leader. John trusted Donnie a lot because he was helping John recover from alcohol. John described Donnie perfectly in both the book and the interview with Gus. John talked about Donnie a lot. Gus had met Jonah Hill at the Bowery Hotel in New York and Jonah told Gus he wanted to do a movie with him. Years later, Jonah gets an email from Gus saying he has a project they can do together and he wants him to play this character named Donnie. Jonah said yes to the project without reading the script first. Jonah has taken on some dramatic roles before, but Donnie felt like his most dramatic role yet. Jonah found Donnie an inspiration because he was someone who was at ease with himself even though he was sick. Donnie accepted who he was in life. Learning about Donnie also helped Jonah feel comfortable with himself. Jonah had an idea for a scene that wasn’t in the script. He felt that Donnie should dance because he’s enjoying life.
John’s love interest was a Swedish caregiver named Annu. Annu met John shortly after he was brought to the hospital and they took a liking to each other very quickly. Annu would come and go in John’s life. After John quit drinking and started to become a cartoonist, he ran into Annu and she was now a flight attendant. Annu was very happy to see John doing well. Every time Annu was in the state she would spend time with John. Joaquin had suggested to Gus that Rooney Mara play Annu. Joaquin and Rooney had worked with each other a couple of times and they developed a close relationship with each other. Gus was ok with that, but it made him question if a big actress like Rooney Mara would play a small part in the movie. Rooney’s schedule was free and Gus Van Sant was on her list of directors to work with, so she was up for it. The Swedish accent wasn’t difficult for Rooney because she already had experience in doing a Swedish accent when she played Lisabeth Salander in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”. Jack Black was always in mind for Dexter, John’s drinking buddy. Jack Black is all about having fun when he is acting and Dexter sounded like the type of character suitable for him. John met Dexter once during the night of that terrible car accident. They got themselves drunk, got in that accident and that was it. It took more than 20 years for Gus Van Sant to make “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot” and this was a dream project for Robin Williams.
My rating on “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” is five out of five stars
Music by Danny Elfman (Edward Scissorhands, Good Will Hunting, Big Fish and Alice in Wonderland)
