''Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot'' is a 2018 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, producer, photographer, and musician. He has earned acclaim as both an independent and mainstream filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultu ...

and based upon the memoir of the same name by John Callahan. The cast includes

Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix (; né Bottom; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. He is known for playing dark and unconventional characters in independent films. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academ ...

Jonah Hill Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his comedic roles in films including '' Superbad'' (2007), ''Knocked Up'' (2007), '' 21 Jump Street'' (2012), '' This Is the End'' (201 ...

Rooney Mara Patricia Rooney Mara ( ; born April 17, 1985) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, ...

, and

Jack Black Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), '' Shallow Hal'' (2001), '' Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ' ...

, and follows a recently

paralyzed Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 5 ...

alcoholic who finds a passion for drawing

off-color Off-color humor (also known as vulgar humor, crude humor, or shock humor) is humor that deals with topics that may be considered to be in poor taste or vulgar. Many comedic genres (including jokes, prose, poems, black comedy, blue comedy, insult ...

newspaper cartoons. The film had its world premiere at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

on January 19, 2018, and was released on July 13, 2018, by

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

Plot

Alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

cartoonist John Callahan meets Dexter at a party, and the two get in a car. Dexter's drunk driving results in a car accident, which leaves John

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

. John falls in love with

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

physical therapist Annu, who treats him at the hospital and later becomes his girlfriend. After he quits drinking with help from his

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international mutual aid fellowship of alcoholics dedicated to abstinence-based recovery from alcoholism through its spiritually-inclined Twelve Step program. Following its Twelve Traditions, AA is non-professi ...

sponsor Donnie, John builds a new life, drawing off-color newspaper cartoons.

Cast

Production

Originally,

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

had

optioned In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement pertaining to film rights between a potential film producer (such as a movie studio, a production company, or an individual) and the author of source material, such as a book, play, or s ...

the book and invited

to adapt it. On November 29, 2016, it was announced that actor

was teaming with director Van Sant for the biographical film of cartoonist John Callahan, based on Callahan's autobiography ''Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot''. Charles-Marie Anthonioz, Mourad Belkeddar, and Nicolas Lhermitte would produce the film for Iconoclast, and

Steve Golin Steven Aaron Golin (March 6, 1955 – April 21, 2019) was an American film and television producer and the founder and CEO of Anonymous Content LLP, a multimedia development, production and talent management company and co-founder and CEO of Pr ...

for

Anonymous Content Anonymous Content (AC) is an American entertainment company founded in 1999 by CEO Steve Golin. It is based in Los Angeles with offices in Culver City, New York City and London. History Anonymous Content was founded in 1999 by CEO Steve Gol ...

. In December 2016,

and

joined the cast of the film. Hill considers his performance in the film to be the best of his career. In February 2017,

joined the cast of the film. In March 2017, Mark Webber and Angelique Rivera joined the cast of the film.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

began on March 6, 2017 and concluded on April 6, 2017. The film was shot by Christopher Blauvelt.

Release

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot - Press Conference

In March 2017, it was confirmed

would distribute the film. It had its world premiere at the

on January 19, 2018 and also screened at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

on February 20, 2018. It was scheduled to be released on May 11, 2018, then was pushed back to July 13, 2018.

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film has an approval rating of 76% based on 191 reviews, with an average of 6.6/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot'' avoids inspirational biopic clichés thanks to sensitive work from writer-director Gus Van Sant and the admirable efforts of a well-chosen cast." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". David Rooney of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

'' gave the film a positive review, writing: "This unwieldy but consistently enjoyable portrait of paraplegic local hero John Callahan is notable for its generosity of spirit and gentleness". Peter Debruge of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' gave the film a positive review, calling it a "life-affirming sweet-and-sour concoction" and writing, "Some will find it entirely too sentimental, others a tad repetitive (Callahan tends to repeat the same stories), but it’s hard to argue with a movie that celebrates the kind of recovery he went through."

References

External links

*
Official website
* {{Gus Van Sant 2010s biographical films 2018 comedy-drama films Amazon Studios films American comedy-drama films American biographical films Comedy-drama films based on actual events Biographical films about artists Films about comics Films about alcoholism Films about paraplegics or quadriplegics Films based on autobiographies Films directed by Gus Van Sant Films scored by Danny Elfman Films set in Portland, Oregon Films with screenplays by Gus Van Sant Cultural depictions of cartoonists Films set in the 1970s Films set in the 1980s 2010s English-language films 2010s American films