A journey of a thousand miles end with but a single faceplant

Opening day of Choke. Nationwide. I'm in a dark hotel room in Boston. My face looks like a cabbage patch doll because I passed out face-down in my clothes, drooling into the hotel bedspread after the final grueling day of a 5 week press tour. Woke up at 6am, to an email from my close friend and the film's producer, Beau Flynn. I first read the book in 2001 and I took it to Beau who had voiced a desire to produce whatever I finally decided to direct. I brought him a copy of "Choke" and said, "Here. This one. It's about a sex-addicted colonial theme park worker." He took the book and bought the option the next day. I asked him a few days later what he thought of the book and he admitted that he hadn't even had a chance to read it yet. He just bought it because I believed it could make a great movie. Through the entire seven years he has stood by my side and fought for me and the movie as if it was the only one he ever made. It's not. It's just the only one he did for free. The email he sent me this morning contained a terrific review in the NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/movies/26chok.html?ref=movies. Now I don't generally read reviews, after all, they're written by critics. But they're good for business and producers really love it when you get a good one, even cool, ballsy cowboy producers like Beau. So I truly enjoyed receiving this one from my brilliant, hard-scrapping homeboy. Thanks Beau. For keeping me focused and telling me hard truths when I needed to hear them, for carrying the ball when I couldn't take another step, for directing me so well when I was playing the Lord High Jackass and most of all, for fighting seven years to get my movie of Chuck's brilliant book up on all those screens. As a thanks I won't tell anyone about the special friend who lived in your hotel room with you during the Colonial Dunsboro shoot. I guess I don't have to. Because a picture's worth a thousand words. Oh, and and for fucksake, people, GO SEE CHOKE THIS WEEKEND! Thanks for reading.