My Own Private River
Promotional screening poster
Directed byGus Van Sant
James Franco
Written byGus Van Sant
StarringRiver Phoenix
Keanu Reeves
Edited byJames Franco
Music byJames Franco
Release date
  • September 25, 2011 (2011-09-25)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

My Own Private River is a re-contextualized adventure drama film of My Own Private Idaho (1991).[1] Using footage shot and directed by Gus Van Sant in 1990, the new edit gives James Franco and Van Sant a shared director credit.[2] The project is in tribute to Franco's favorite actor, River Phoenix. Franco called My Own Private Idaho one of his favorite movies and praised River's performance as the actor's best.[3]

My Own Private River had its premieres at the Hollywood Theatre on September 25, 2011, at the Walter Reade Theater on February 19, 2012 and at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on February 24, 2012.

Cast

Development and release

In 2007, at a conference meeting in New York City for the 2008 film Milk, Franco and Van Sant responded to questions about Franco's favourite movie, which turned out to be My Own Private Idaho. Van Sant admired Franco's appreciation for the film, while Van Sant enticed Franco to give him a tour of the film's locations in Portland, Oregon. Franco expressed his wish to Van Sant to access the outtake footage for the original film.[4]

Van Sant showed Franco the collection of unseen film. Franco was interested to digitize and assemble the footage as a re-contextualized film. About the unseen footage, Franco stated, “I edited the film as I imagined Gus might have if he made My Own Private Idaho today,”

In an interview in February, 2012, Franco suggested that the film was unlikely to be released on DVD or Blu-ray, joking that "New Line doesn't want us to compete with the original either."[5]

Music

Songs that play during the film include:

  1. R.E.M – "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter"
  2. R.E.M – "Überlin"
  3. R.E.M – "Blue"

References

  1. ^ Utichi, Joe (7 March 2011). "James Franco brings River Phoenix back to life". The Guardian.
  2. ^ Franco, James; Sant, Gus Van (2012-02-19), My Own Private River, retrieved 2016-10-12
  3. ^ Franco, James (10 April 2013). "James Franco: I'm obsessed with "My Own Private Idaho"".
  4. ^ TIFF (14 September 2011). "James Franco & Gus Van Sant on MEMORIES OF IDAHO - Future Projections" – via YouTube.
  5. ^ Abrams, Simon (20 February 2012). "James Franco Says 'My Own Private River' Probably Won't Be Released On DVD, But He Did Seek Joaquin Phoenix's Approval - IndieWire".
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