Orange County News Blog

Herman (Matthew Lillard) and Rose (Nora Zehetner) jump into their relationship.

Spooner, the romantic comedy that was directed by former Santa Ana resident Drake Doremus and stars former Tustin resident Matthew Lillard in the title role (and which won a rave here as well as an Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Award at April's Newport Beach Film Festival), keeps getting accolades ladled on top of it.

The latest comes from the 2009 Rainier Independent Film Festival in Washington state, where Spooner was honored as the Best Feature film. That marks the third award the quirky gem has picked up in four festival appearances, having also won Best Feature at the 2009 Sonoma International Film Festival.

Doremus emails or texts or Tweets or whatever it is you kids do from the road that he is grateful for the support and that the positive buzz is leading to distribution offers. "Hopefully if all goes well it will be in the world for mass consumption sometime next year!" he writes.

In the film, Lillard plays Herman Spooner, a 30-year-old used car salesman who lives at home in Monrovia with his increasingly unaccommodating parents. His refusal to grow up is challenged when he rescues pretty young stranded mortorist Rose Conlin (Brick's Nora Zehetner), who is just as lost in life as Herman is. He's found the woman of his dreams, but she's heading off to the Philippines to pursue a dream of becoming a teacher. Herman must man up to do what is right for both of them.

Doremus, the son of Orange County Crazies founder Cherie Kerr, is in the middle of editing his follow-up feature, an untitled, improvised comedy he shot earlier this year that stars his Spooner editor, Andrew Dickler.