Taglines: It’s not the hills.
The Canyons is an American thriller film directed by Paul Schrader and written by Bret Easton Ellis. The film is set in Los Angeles and stars Lindsay Lohan, James Deen, Nolan Gerard Funk, Amanda Brooks and Gus Van Sant. It received a limited release on August 2, 2013 at the IFC Center in New York City, the Bell Lightbox in Toronto, and on video on demand platforms. Despite negative reviews, Lohan received praise for her performance from some critics.
Notorious writer Bret Easton Ellis (American Psycho) and acclaimed director Paul Schrader (writer of Taxi Driver and director of American Gigolo) join forces for this explicitly erotic thriller about youth, glamour, sex and surveillance. Manipulative and scheming young movie producer Christian (adult film star James Deen) makes films to keep his trust fund intact, while his actress girlfriend and bored plaything, Tara (Lindsay Lohan), hides a passionate affair with an actor from her past. When Christian becomes aware of Tara’s infidelity, the young Angelenos are thrust into a violent, sexually-charged tour through the dark side of human nature.
Principal photography began in July 2012 with the shooting of the first six minutes of the film in the bar of the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles. Many key scenes were shot at the Malibu home of designer Vitus Mataré. Filming was moved to Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles after a failed attempt to film at the Santa Monica Promenade. Scenes were also shot in Amoeba Records on Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood and Cafe Med restaurant at Sunset Plaza, West Hollywood, as well as Palihotel Melrose and The Churchill bar of The Orlando Hotel, both in the Beverly Grove neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Schrader says about filming The Canyons: “…we’re making art out of the remains of our empire. The junk that’s left over. And this idea of a film that was crowdfunded, cast online, with one actor from a celebrity culture, one actor from adult-film culture, a writer and director who have gotten beat up in the past—felt like a post-Empire thing. And then everything I was afraid of with Lindsay and James started to become a positive. I was afraid we wouldn’t be taken seriously and people would think it was a joke. My son and daughter didn’t want me to do it. That just shows you how conservative young kids are.
The rough cut of the film was 1 hour 44 minutes long. Initial edits of the film were disappointing; the film was said to “drag”. Ellis, Schrader and Pope had a disagreement over the final cut of the film. After Schrader showed Steven Soderbergh the rough cut of the film, Soderbergh offered to cut it within three days. Schrader declined, telling The New York Times:
“The idea of 72 hours is a joke, it would take him 72 hours to look at all the footage. And you know what Soderbergh would do if another director offered to cut his film? [Puts up two middle fingers] That’s what Soderbergh would do.” Ellis is quoted as saying: “The film is so languorous. It’s an hour 30, and it seems like it’s three hours long. I saw this as a pranky noirish thriller, but Schrader turned it into, well, a Schrader film.”
On Ellis’ Podcast, he claims to now have a new appreciation of the film, saying he had trouble at first accepting Schrader’s vision of his material, but in the end, has come to an understanding over his reservations during the creative process. He also openly praises Lohan’s performance, calling it “searing,” and blames the film’s perceived ‘failures’ on Lohan’s reputation in the media, which has nothing to do about the film’s quality or her performance in the film. He continued with saying he believes The Canyons to have ended up as being a success both creatively and financially for all those involved. He concludes with saying he is very proud of the final product.
The Canyons (2013)
Directed by: Paul Schrader
Starring: Braxton Pope, Lindsay Lohan, Ross Levine, Kurt Kittleson, Beau Laughlin, Ricky Horne Jr, Ken Locsmandi
Screenplay by: Bret Easton Ellis
Production Design by: Stephanie J. Gordon
Cinematography by: John DeFazio
Film Editing by: Tim Silano
Costume Design by: Keely Crum
Music by: Brendan Canning
Studio: IFC Films
Release Date: August 2, 2013
Visits: 140
