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Rooney Mara (Carol, The Social Network) and Jonah Hill (Superbad, The Wolf of Wall Street) are rumored to be in talks to join an upcoming biopic about quadriplegic Portland cartoonist John Callahan, according to Hollywood website The Wrap. Gus Van Sant is eyeing the film, and Joaquin Phoenix is also rumored linked to be linked to the project, which has long been in the works.
Titled "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot," Van Sant's possible new project is based on Callahan's 1989 autobiography of the same name, which chronicles how the famed cartoonist used illustration to cope after he was paralyzed in a car crash while riding alongside a friend who was driving drunk at the age of 21.
Callahan wrote a weekly column for Willamette Week for years under the title "The Lighter Side of Being Paralyzed for Life," where his politically incorrect humor not-infrequently pissed people off, sometimes leading to boycotts of his work. He went on to publish cartoons in publications including the New Yorker and Playboy. Callahan passed away in 2010 after a lengthy hospital stay.
Mara recently voiced the character(s) "The Sisters" in Kubo and the Two Strings, created by Hillsboro's LAIKA studio. Jonah Hill has frequently played wacky sidekicks since his big break as Seth in 2007's Superbad. We hope he doesn't play the person responsible for paralyzing Callahan, and would prefer that Hill is cast as as young Willamette Week editor in chief Mark Zusman.