The last film to feature River Phoenix has been given a US release thanks to Lionsgate Films.
DARK BLOOD is an existential western starring River Phoenix as Boy, a widower who retreats to the desert to make magical dolls as he waits for the world to end. Johnathan Pryce and Judy Davis play a married couple who are held hostage by Phoenix after he becomes infatuated with Davis and wants to make a better world for her.
Dutch director and co-writer George Sluizer has campaigned for the rights to the film since it was shot in 1993. Around 65% was shot before Phoenix tragically died from an overdose outside Hollywood’s notorious Viper Room.
The film then fell into the hands of an insurance company for many years before Sluizer recovered it from a London warehouse in 1999. In 2007 after a life threatening illness, Sluizer attempted to finish the film;
“The negatives were still good but part of the sound needed to be rebuilt and re-recorded, and only 65 percent of the story was shot…so I had to rewrite the story.”
The film has already been screened at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival and is currently screening in Japan with releases in Turkey, Brazil and South Korea.
A UK release is unknown at this time but we will keep you updated!
Source: Lionsgate Films
