River Phoenix's Last Film will be Released after 18 Years
It's been eighteen years since actor River Phoenix died on Halloween night in 1993 outside of The Viper Room. At the time Phoenix was working on a film with Dutch director George Sluizer called Dark Blood. The director has announced that he will recut the original footage shot for the film and release it after.
After Phoenix tragically died "Sluizer took the original Dark Blood footage and kept it hidden fearing, he says, it would be destroyed. The director has now re-edited the material and believes with a few adjustments – using voice over for instance – he can now deliver a final cut of the film for release next year." The director plans to ask Joaquin Phoenix, who is River’s brother to do the voiceover for River’s character Boy.
The film follows the story of a hermit (Phoenix) "living in the desert on a nuclear testing site as he waits for the end of the world. When a Hollywood jet-set couple (played by Judy Davis and Jonathan Pryce) arrives to find shelter, he begins a troubled relationship with the wife."
Sluizer is mostly known for his film Spoorloos, which ended up being remade into a film called The Vanishing which starred Jeff Bridges and Kiefer Sutherland.
Phoenix was a hell of a talented kid that died way too early. He starred in films such as Stand By Me, The Mosquito Coast, My Own Private Idaho, Explorers, Sneakers and ever played a young Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade.
What are your thought's on this final River Pgoenix film being recut for release?