Bret Easton Ellis: ‘Lindsay Lohan was fired from The Canyons’

Lindsay Lohan was fired from her latest movie The Canyons on the first day of rehearsals, according to the film’s screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis. The erotic thriller was finally premiered in New York City this week (beg29Jul13) after months in limbo following rejections from a number of U.S. film festivals.
Filming was dogged by rumours of troubles on set with Lohan, and Ellis has now revealed the Mean Girls star was dropped from the cast and subsequently rehired after she was late to the first rehearsal.
Ellis admits he was initially opposed to giving the job to Lohan, and even made sure an understudy, French actress Leslie Coutterand, was on stand-by in case of issues with the leading lady.
He tells Rolling Stone, “I was against her being cast at first because I heard she wasn’t well and I thought she was going to bring a lot of baggage to the movie… Lindsay was fired for being late to the first rehearsal, and that was a very dramatic day.”
Editors of The New York Times published an expose about the rumoured troubles on set, and Ellis insists the problems were actually much worse than the report suggested: “The New York Times got (it) totally right. It actually was much worse than how it was reported – it was much more emotional and draining. I know that Leslie (Coutterand) was definitely in the wings that first week.”
However, Coutterand was eventually dismissed when the initial troubles with Lohan calmed down.
Ellis adds, “Everything went away when we saw that she was playing the role this way. It really worked for the movie. She made the character much more combative and confrontational, whereas, in the script, the girl might have been less likely to act that way. She gave it a desperation that I really liked a lot… When it became apparent that Lindsay was going to finish the movie, I think Leslie was told, ‘No, it’s okay’.”
The writer goes on to insist the 26-year-old star, who was released from rehab on Tuesday (30Jul13) after a 90-day court-ordered stint, has a bright future ahead of her if she can stay sober.
He adds, “If Lindsay stays clean and sober, she would be great. I don’t think she has to be totally sober, but if she pulled it back a bit?… The thing that people forget is that she’s actually a good screen actress… It’s just been buried by the tabloid activity of the last four or five years… She obviously has a… viable future. But, you know, it depends on how she decides to approach her life.”