Exclusive: Lindsay Lohan is getting out of rehab on Saturday, kids. It’s been 90 days, she’s fresh as a daisy, and determined to turn over a new leaf. One thing is for sure: we know she can act. Paul Schrader’s “The Canyons” screened here last night in New York and Lindsay got kudos (in absentia) from everyone. Indeed, as Schrader said, she’s grown out of the ingenue stage and into a new chapter as a tough cookie, a broad. Think Annette Bening in “The Grifters.”
And so: it does seem as though Lindsay is going to be in Ben Affleck’s next directing project. Ben is putting together “Live by Night,” based on the novel by Dennis Lehane. Lindsay is thisclose to signing on– possibly as Emma, the tough waitress with a heart of gold who gets involved with the two male leads. “Live By Night” is a crime noir period piece, and Lindsay would be perfect for it.
In the meantime, Lindsay has agreed to be followed around by Oprah’s documentary crew for the first 45 days of her return home to New York. She’s going to be living “The Truman Show.” What better way to keep her on the straight and narrow?
“The Canyons” is going to be remembered as a notorious movie, one that should become a cult classic overnight. There is graphic sex. Lindsay is naked, friends. Her breasts are her own and, as Elaine Benes once said, “spectacular.” She acts up a storm, is not campy but very controlled and quite riveting. Unfortunately most of her scenes are with real life adult porn star James Deen. His emotions run from A to Z. Deen speaks in a monotone that could hypnotize Edward Snowden’s interrogators. There’s just no way out for him. I’m not even sure he makes the minimum requirement for porn acting.
Schrader called Brett Eaton Ellis’s characters “Beautiful people doing bad things in nice rooms.” I like it! The whole movie cost $250,000 and they raised it on Kickstarter. The production was given a Malibu canyon house “and it’s the sixth main character in the film,” Schrader said last night. It’s owned by someone in the music business, he said.
“The Canyons” is rated NC-17, at the very least. You should know that going in. There are threesomes and foursomes, and I’m not talking bridge or golf. Deen has some sex with a guy which Lindsay’s Tara encourages. This is not “The Parent Trap.” But it’s Paul Schrader, and you know what? Even for $250K it looks good, the direction flows, and there’s a story.
Schrader’s next film stars Nicolas Cage, and is said to be under the aegis of Red Granite Productions.
