The actor died while shooting director George Sluizer’s movie Dark Blood in 1993, and the movie lay unfinished until last year (12), when the Dutch filmmaker debuted it at the Netherlands Film Festival.
He will now show American critics and industry figures the Hollywood icon’s final movie, about a man living on a nuclear test site in the desert, awaiting the end of the world. The movie also co-stars Jeremy Irons.
Jaie Laplante, the director of the film festival, says, “Dark Blood is a film of legend, one of Hollywood’s great mysteries. The tragic loss of River Phoenix’s outstanding talent is still profoundly felt 20 years later. We are proud that George Sluizer has honoured Miami as the place to finally share his remarkable collaboration with Phoenix and the other great artists involved with Dark Blood.”
Phoenix died after suffering drug-induced heart failure outside The Viper Room club in Hollywood in October, 1993. The Miami International Film Festival runs from 1 to 10 March (13).
