James Franco directed a 12 hour film using MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO outtakes; another one featuring a Michael Stipe score
James Franco’s hustle is getting to legendary status.
The man apparently defies the laws of a 24 hour day, finding time to be an Oscar nominee, Oscar host, grad student, performance artist, musician, writer, director, actor, and all around busy body. And now, apparently he’s been busy at work on two really compelling projects.
Cinematical has uncovered Franco’s latest project, based around the film MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO, MY OWN PRIVATE RIVER, which “consists largely of shots of River Phoenix‘s character, Mike, woven into a compelling portrait.” Featuring a score by one Michael Stipe of R.E.M., this is only the tip of Franco’s apparent love for the Gus Van Sant film.
Franco has a second film, a 12-hour epic entitled ENDLESS IDAHO, which uses outtakes, deleted scenes, alternate takes, and behind-the-scenes footage to make a film about “the workaday process of making a movie, from location scouting to repeating takes.”
The films have apparently been shown at the Gagosian Gallery, where the actor is exhibiting with Van Sant himself, and while they sound absolutely interesting, these pieces will likely never see the light of day in any big way. Personally, I’d love to see the Criterion Collection nab up these two and put them on a new Blu-ray of IDAHO, but hey, who knows what could happen.
What do you think?
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