Lindsay Lohan stars with adult-film actor James Deen in The Canyons, a neo-noir erotic thriller directed by Paul Schrader.

The Canyons centre around the young movie producer Christian (Deen) who makes films to keep his trust fund intact and his actress girlfriend Tara (Lohan) who tries to hide her love affair with another actor from her past. When Christian discovers the truth, they get involved into "a violent tour through the dark side of human nature."

The film's budget was partly raised through crowd-funding site Kickstarter. It received heavy media coverage due to its sexually-charged plot and also because of Lohan's involvement in the project. Distinguished novelist Bret Easton Ellis penned the script.

Schrader praised Lohan for her talent comparing the troubled actress to Marilyn Monroe. “I think Lohan has more natural acting talent than Monroe did, but, like Monroe, her weakness is her inability to fake it," he wrote in his piece for Film Comment.

The director also noted that he still feels it was a "treat" working with Lohan despite her “tardiness, unpredictability, tantrums, absences, neediness, psychodrama."

“All the drama, the mishegas, all the stress—that means little. A director can shoot around misbehavior. He can’t shoot around lack of charisma,” he said.

In one incident, the producers threatened to fire Lohan when she refused to be interviewed by Stephen Rodrick from The New York Times.

According to a source interviewed by Radar, Lohan "knew she was going to be portrayed negatively in the story, even though she was assured that it wasn’t going to focus on her, but would be about how hard it was to make an independent film. However, Schrader told Lindsay, in no uncertain terms, that if she didn’t cooperate with Rodrick she would be fired.”

The New York Times reporter revealed that Lohan was paid “$100 a day and an equal share of the profits” with no decisive powers in the making of the film. Her contract also stipulated that the sex scenes were non-negotiable. One scene features the troubled actress with James Deen and two other actors in a steamy action.

Schrader expressed, “I just wish it was easier for Lindsay.”

The Canyons will have its world premiere at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in Manhattan on July 29. A video-on-demand will be available on August 2.

The Australian release date for the film is yet to be confirmed.

Watch the trailer below:

See other trailers of controversial films this year:

Watch: Lovelace Trailer Released; Amanda Seyfried Portrays 70s Porn Star in Biopic
WATCH: Lars Von Trier Unveils 1 of 8 Chapter Trailers for "Nymphomaniac"

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