Following the overwhelming success of my #BanksyisJamesFranco Twitter campaign, which was even (unknowingly) picked up by Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof (BEAT YOU BY A WEEK, LINDELOF!), I thought it was time for another bi-weekly segment of “What Wacky Thing is James Franco Doing Now?”
The wacky thing my fellow Columbia creative writing MFA is doing (we get equal billing in the alumni mag, of course) is exhibiting a 12-hour movie he made using the outtakes from My Own Private Idaho. Which was 107 minutes. GRRR, ART!
“Unfinished” features two films, Endless Idaho and My Own Private River, which are collaborations between Van Sant and Franco. After casting Franco in the award-winning film Milk (2008), Van Sant showed him the dailies and other footage that he had shot many years before for My Own Private Idaho (1991), which starred River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves as street hustlers in Portland, Oregon. Much of this material did not make it into the final cut, and so Franco decided to fashion it into two new films, riffing off the original title.
For Endless Idaho, Franco edited outtakes, deleted scenes, alternate takes, and behind-the-scenes footage from My Own Private Idaho into a 12-hour film. Endless Idaho provides an unprecedented look into the workaday process of making a movie, from location scouting to repeated takes.
My Own Private River consists largely of shots of Phoenix ‘s character, Mike, woven into a compelling portrait. The score is by Michael Stipe [of R.E.M.], who is an art school drop-out. [GagosianGallery via Moviefone]
A 12-hour movie, huh? In between his classwork for his five grad school programs, prep for the Oscars, writing books, and memorizing scripts, I’m sure he watched those 12 hours of footage many, many times to ensure the edits were just right. (*fart noise*) The question remains: how do you turn footage for a 107-minute movie into a 12-hour movie? Answer: 10 STRAIGHT HOURS OF DICKNOSE!