Paul Schrader and Bret Easton Ellis's indie L.A. noir The Canyons has been a curious project to track — who's the more random star, comeback queen Lindsay Lohan or porn stud James Deen? — but a new teaser trailer offers an unexpectedly compelling preview of the film, retro-exploitation style.
The tongue-in-cheek spirit works well here, even if it does make The Canyons look like one of Tarantino and Rodriguez's fake Grindhouse trailers. Here's hoping the actual film has this sort of knowing edge. With teaser lines introducing "a HUGE new talent" in Deen it has to, right?
It is worth noting that this trailer offers no dialogue; Deen's screen presence, shall we say, has been proven in his chosen field but his acting chops here have yet to be seen.
Side note: I once overheard strangers talking excitedly about seeing Deen in this movie while waiting in line at a semi-terrible L.A. club, so The Canyons' social media outreach must be working.
On Facebook last week director Schrader shared an update after screening The Canyons for Lohan: "Showed LL the film tonight. She saw and she understood. What a wonderful moment for her. Some tears, some hard words, some kisses but that's life in Lindsayland. Sometimes the movie gods smile. Sometimes you get lucky. LL and I got lucky."
Synopsis (via The Canyons on Facebook):
THE CANYONS is a contemporary L.A. noir from director Paul Schrader, writer Bret Easton Ellis, and producer Braxton Pope about the dangers of sexual obsession and ambition, both personally and professionally, among a group of young people in their 20's and how one chance meeting connected to the past unravels all of their lives, resulting in deceit, paranoia, cruel mind games and ultimately violence.
[The Canyons via The Playlist]