As if James Franco didn't already have enough on his plate with his own projects, now he's taken to reworking other people's work.
The "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" star recently decided to re-edit the 1991 River Phoenix film "My Own Private Idaho," with director Gus Van Sant's blessing. Working with footage provided by Van Sant, with an eye toward contemporizing the drama.
"[Van Sant's] films now are much more spare in story and dialogue; they involve longer takes and fewer cuts," Franco noted, via the Paris Review. "We were naturally led to wonder what Idaho would be like if he made the film now, and Gus offered to let me make my own cut. It was overwhelming to be able to cut the raw material of my favorite film, a film that had moved me, that had helped shape me as a teenager. The only way I could justify cutting such material was to do what Gus and I had discussed: I cut it as if Gus had made it today."
Did Franco succeed in making the kindest cut of all? Decide for yourself by watching the video.
River from The Paris Review on Vimeo.
