Check Out James Deen’s New Movie

James Deen Image by Getty Images

By Anne Cohen July 11, 2013

Relax, it’s not porn.

James Deen, Jewish porn star, makes his non-X-rated debut in “The Canyons,” the upcoming movie co-starring Lindsday Lohan and based off a script by Bret Easton Ellis.

The film — which was rejected by SXSW for having “an ugliness and a deadness to it,” marks a long-awaited (for her, at least) comeback for Lindsay Lohan, whose onset antics were extensively documented in Stephen Rodrick’s article in the New York Times, “Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie.”

In his article, Rodrick added that to his surprise, James Deen was possibly the best thing to come out of this film.

“[The house] quickly became the most dependable player in the film after James Deen,” he described. “On the first day of shooting in Malibu, Deen aw-shucked his way around the predominantly male crew. He wasn’t a big man; maybe 5-8 and 150 pounds, but they regarded him with wonder.”

Despite being a nightmare to work with, Lohan’s acting abilities appear to be back on track, though it remains to be seen which side of her will win out in the end.

“I think Lohan has more natural acting talent than Monroe did, but, like Monroe, her weakness is her inability to fake it,” director Paul Schrader wrote in Film Comment.

Judging by the trailer, good or bad, it will definitely not be boring.

See for yourself below:

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO