Mojave Phone Booth screening

Have you heard that there is a film called Mojave Phone Booth, which concerns a phone booth out in the Mojave Desert, and which coincidentally was inspired by a phone booth that used to be out in the Mojave desert?

Well, there is, and in August 2006 I attended a screening of of it at North Hollywood's Historic El Portal Theater. (By Historic one can only assume they must be referring to the fact that Sarah Silverman filmed Jesus Is Magic there).

My camera was conveniently out of commission, so Attorney Joshua boldly and expertly handled the photographer duties. He is, after all, a professional. (And by professional, one can only assume that I mean a lawyer. One would be correct.)

After the film there was a panel discussion-ish sort of deal.

Leave it to Wagner to find the pirate in the crowd.

It's not that Wagner does not get the joke.

Die Meister meets da maestro: Mojave Phone Booth director, co-writer, & co-producer John Putch.

Mojave Phone Booth co-writer Jerry Rapp tries to explain Wagner's inexplicable exclusion from the script.

Before the movie we ducked into a pizza joint a few doors down from the theater and ran into Robert Romanus. I had to introduce myself and say hello; I mean, DUH—Robert Romanus, you know? I hope I wasn't too OHMYGODYOU'REMYHERO but this is fucking ROBERT ROMANUS, man—doesn't he look just like the guy who deflowered Jennifer Jason Leigh without fail, every single time you watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Damn straight he does. Nice guy, too. He was cool, even though (as he told me later) I guess my hat kind of freaked him out a little at first. It's a hat thing. Some people have it.

1982: Robert Romanus with a carton of calcium, flanked by a completely different phone booth.

2006: Robert Romanus cartin' some porcelain, flanked by the signature of Ray Wise. (At first I thought it was the more thematically appropriate Ray Walston.)

(And, not to be repetitive, but just to reiterate: ROBERT ROMANUS!)

I babble; Rutger Hauer listens. There's something bad wrong about that.

Strangely, it looks as though Janeane Garofalo's about to clean the motel room. Something bad right about that.

(Something else bad wrong: my hat, apparently. Serve papers on me, I'm an Arizonan.)

Uh, Mr. Hauer . . . there would appear to be a statue beside your going-out-of-doors slippers.

How such a thing could happen to a guy who carries such a handsome statue I do not know, but I got the definite idea that Christine Elise McCarthy took me for a complete loon. Mainly because I'm pretty sure she flat-out told me so.

She also wondered at Wagner's nutball racial conceptions. Don't we all.

Even so, Christine won the Quote of the Night award by commenting to a friend, as she cradled Wagner for the photo: "It's me & Wagner—shut the fuck up!"

These should be David DeLuise's headshots, demonstrating that—

He can do: Comedy

He can do: Drama

He can do: . . . Drugs? Lucas with the Lid Off? I don't know.

I do know that if I were a casting director who had relatives who were statues, there's no question that these photos would win me over.

Co-producer Jerry Jacobs plies the Meister for a good review.

The warm & charming Joy Gohring knows how to caress a genius.

A Michael York-ish pose from Kevin Rahm

Putch and Romanus celebrate in advance Mojave Phone Booth's impending award from The Valley Film Festival (one of many festival awards so far ).