Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie

Stephen Rodrick | New York Times Magazine | January 2013 | 31 minutes (7,752 words)

Stephen Rodrick (@stephenrodrick) is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, contributing editor for Men’s Journal and author of The Magical Stranger.

Much has happened since my story was published in January. Here are some highlights:

The Canyons was eventually released on August 2, a ‘day and date’ release which means in theaters and available on video on demand simultaneously. It played in 30 markets or so theatrically and made a mere $51,000 at the box office. But it did make its money in “multiples of the negative cost of the picture,” which is moviespeak that everyone made their investment back and then some, but not enough to, say, buy the Malibu mansion where much of it was filmed.

After being rejected by Sundance and Berlin, the film screened out of competition in Venice, but Lindsay was a no-show, which was a disappointment to the European paparazzi.

Reaction to the story was varied and vastly entertaining. James Deen described it as “pretty accurate! But there’s so many things in there that are just like, that’s not true,” which I dispute, but so it goes. It is kind of the ultimate subject’s response to a magazine story. Lohan’s people announced the story was accurate except for the accounts of her drinking on set and driving. That is understandable considering her probationary status. At first, Schrader wouldn’t tell me what he thought, but sent forwarded emails from film school professor friends, one who called the story ‘scaborous.’ I think he eventually warmed to it to some extent. I love that guy.

Deen has returned to his cozy zone of porn and is a must-follow on Twitter. Bret Easton Ellis is writing for television and has started a great new podcast whose first three guests were Kanye West, Marilyn Manson and Judd Apatow. Lohan, from what I hear, is doing okay, still working on staying sober. She had to endure a catastrophic performance by her mom and dad on Dr. Phil that was some of the saddest, car-crash television I’ve ever seen. Her future film career is unclear. Producer Braxton Pope is helping produce video stuff for Kanye West and the Dum Dum Girls and has a half-dozen other projects in various stages of development.

And Schrader? He is in pre-production on a Nic Cage film called Dying of the Light.

Schrader and Cage, now that’s a story!