''My Own Private River'' is a re-contextualized adventure drama film of ''

My Own Private Idaho ''My Own Private Idaho'' is a 1991 American independent adventure drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant, loosely based on Shakespeare's '' Henry IV, Part 1'', '' Henry IV, Part 2'', and '' Henry V''. The story follows two friends, ...

'' (1991). Using footage shot and directed by

Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. He has earned acclaim as an independent film, independent auteur. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures. His ...

in 1990, the new edit gives

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...

and Van Sant a shared director credit. The project is in tribute to Franco's favorite actor,

River Phoenix River Jude Phoenix (; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor. He was known as a teen actor before taking on leading roles in critically acclaimed films and becoming one of the most preeminent talents of his generation. Pho ...

. Franco called ''My Own Private Idaho'' one of his favorite movies and praised River's performance as the actor's best. ''My Own Private River'' had its premieres at the Hollywood Theatre on September 25, 2011, at the

Walter Reade Theater Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), previously known as the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) until 2019,Aridi, Sara (April 28, 2019).. ''The New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved April 29, 2019. is a nonprofit organization based in New York Cit ...

on February 19, 2012, and at the

Film Society of Lincoln Center Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), previously known as the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) until 2019,Aridi, Sara (April 28, 2019).. ''The New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved April 29, 2019. is a nonprofit organization based in New York Cit ...

on February 24, 2012.

Cast

as Michael "Mikey" Waters *

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor and musician. The recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades, he is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public imag ...

as Scott Favor *

James Russo James Vincent Russo (born April 23, 1953) is an American film and television actor. He has appeared in over 150 films in three decades. Early life Russo was born in New York City to an Italian father and German mother. A graduate of the High Sch ...

as Richard Waters * Vana O'Brien as Sharon Waters * Rodney Harvey as Gary *

William Richert William Richert (1942 – July 19, 2022) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He is known for writing and directing the feature films '' Winter Kills'', '' The American Success Company'', and '' A Night in the Life ...

as Bob Pigeon *

Grace Zabriskie Grace Zabriskie (née Caplinger; born May 17, 1941) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Sarah Palmer in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), Lois Henrickson in ''B ...

as Alena *

Chiara Caselli Chiara Caselli (born 22 December 1967) is an Italian actress. In 1994, Caselli won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress award as well as the David di Donatello for Best Actress award. Caselli has appeared in American films including '' My Ow ...

as Carmela *

Udo Kier Udo Kierspe (born 14 October 1944), known professionally as Udo Kier, is a German actor. Known primarily as a character actor, he has appeared in more than 220 films in both leading and supporting roles throughout Europe and the Americas. He has ...

as Hans *

Flea Flea, the common name for the order (biology), order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by hematophagy, ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult f ...

as Budd

Development and release

In 2007, at a conference meeting in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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 Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Franco expressed his wish to Van Sant to access the outtake footage for the original film. 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 The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

, joking that "

New Line New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

doesn't want us to compete with the original either."

Music

Songs that play during the film include: #

R.E.M R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first ...

– "Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter" # R.E.M – "

Überlin "Überlin" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. that was released as the third single from their fifteenth and final studio album ''Collapse into Now'' on January 25, 2011. The title is a portmanteau of and Berlin. The song's mus ...

" # R.E.M – "Blue"

References

External links

* {{James Franco 2011 films Films shot in Oregon Films set in Portland, Oregon Films shot in Washington (state) Films set in Seattle Films set in Rome Films shot in Rome 2010s drama road movies American drama road movies Films directed by Gus Van Sant Films directed by James Franco 2010s adventure drama films 2010s avant-garde and experimental films 2010s buddy films 2010s coming-of-age drama films 2011 independent films 2011 LGBTQ-related films American adventure drama films American avant-garde and experimental films American coming-of-age drama films American independent films American LGBTQ-related films Buddy drama films 2010s English-language films Films about male prostitution in the United States Films about sleep disorders Gay-related films Narcolepsy in fiction 2011 drama films 2010s American films English-language independent films English-language adventure drama films English-language buddy films