Lindsay Lohan flick ‘The Canyons’ rejected by SXSW film fest due to “quality” issues

As if the reported on-set difficulties and bad press weren’t enough, Lindsay Lohan’s troubled new film “The Canyons” is also apparently having a hard time finding a film festival willing to screen it.

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The erotic thriller stars Lohan, Canadian Nolan Gerard Funk, and porn star James Deen as a trio of Los Angeles twenty-somethings who become embroiled in a web of sex, obsession, and deceit. "The Canyons" was financed through a Kickstarter campaign last summer.

Still smarting from being denied a spot at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival earlier this month, filmmaker Paul Schrader (“Taxi Driver,” “American Gigolo”) learned about his film’s rejection from the SXSW Fest when The Hollywood Reporter published a story yesterday. A source inside SXSW told THR that “The Canyons” suffers from “significant quality issues,” adding that the Lohan comeback vehicle also has “an ugliness and a deadness to it.” Ouch. SXSW subsequently apologized for the leak.

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In theory, Schrader’s past work alone should have been enough to secure “The Canyons” a spot at either fest. He wrote Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” for goodness sake! Add to that a script penned by "American Psycho" author Bret Easton Ellis and you'd think that was a winning formula for the movie.

However, the trailers and clips released for the indie neo-noir movie haven’t been very flattering for anyone in involved, and Schrader's recent movie track record has been nothing to brag about either. Still, many Schrader fans are holding out hope that the divisive filmmaker has created some sort of intentionally bad satire with "The Canyons," the kind of movie destined for "so bad, it's good" cult status.

For his part, Schrader seems to be taking the film fest rejections in stride. On the Facebook page for "The Canyons," the director said that he should have expected the "blowback" surrounding the film and Lohan's presence in it. Schrader also said he still thinks the film is "very good" and is working on getting it a limited theatrical and on-demand release.

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It seems like Lindsay Lohan's big Hollywood comeback is going about as well as you might expect.

"The Canyons" currently has no release date.