In our weekly seriesAnatomy of a Scene's Anatomy, we're going to be taking a look at (in)famous sexscenes and nude scenes throughout cinema history and examining their construction, their relationship to the film around them, and their legacy. This week, we're looking at Lindsay Lohan's nude debut in Paul Schrader'sThe Canyons and wondering if she undercut herself by waiting too long to go nude on film.
Way back at the beginning of our SKIN-depth Look feature, we covered Schrader's films and how The Canyons, in particular, was a sign that the writer/director had lost his way as a filmmaker. Were it not for last year's masterful First Reformed, many of us would have likely still held the same assessment of his career, which is what made traveling back to The Canyons all the more upsetting as someone who loves and respects Schrader's work. Schrader seems every bit as disconnected from the subpar material as his cast, which includes adult film star turned industry pariah James Deen and, of course, Lindsay Lohan.
Nearly a decade removed from the height of her child stardom, Lohan had gained a reputation for being difficult to work with and her behavior both on set and off in the ensuing years did nothing to dispel those rumors. 2007's Georgia Rule brought the first stories of Lohan's on-set antics, with the actresseventually getting hospitalized for being "overheated and dehydrated." She began withdrawing from roles she was committed to play and was outright recast in 2008's The Edge of Love due to her notorious reputation.
This reputation followed her into the current decade, with her frequent relapses and trips to rehab more or less deeming her too risky to hire. She worked infrequently throughout 2010 and 2011, but 2012 was poised as a comeback year for the fading star, starting with abelabored and unfunnyreturn to host SNL. She was also cast to play screen legend Elizabeth Taylor in the Lifetime biopic Liz Dick, though the film—in addition to being objectively bad—was almost as mired in controversy as everything else Lohan had done in the ensuing years. By the time she crawled her way to the set of The Canyonsin late 2012, it wasn't seen as a comeback so much as what she had been reduced to as an actress.
The Canyons was as low-budget a production as any of the big players involved—Schrader, Lohan, and writer Bret Easton Ellis—had ever done, with Schrader, Ellis, and producer Braxton Pope scraping together around $100,000 of their own money before turning to Kickstarter to get another $150,000 to finish the film. Lohan was paid $100 a day along with a promise of a share of the film's profits and a co-producing credit. It did little to nothing in the way of humbling her or getting her to change her ways.
A behind the scenes profile of the film's disastrous making just prior to release in The New York Times Magazine did absolutely nothing but confirm everyone's suspicions that her time in the spotlight was just about over. It's a scathing indictment of Lohan's on-set behavior and, when paired with the finished product, more or less killed any hopes Lohan may have had at a comeback. Perhaps the only thing saving the film from utter obscurity was the major selling point that the film would finally feature Lohan's topless debut.
Lohan's breasts had been at the center of another film's marketing campaign 8 years earlier when she was, ahem, taped down while appearing in the Disney flick Herbie Fully Loaded. The child star was clearly no longer a child—having turned 18 the year the film was released—and many thought that this was just another way for Disney to capitalize on what they thought was going to be a big time flop. This, of course, stoked the fires of desire in most guys to eventually see her topless, but after failing to do anything but slip a nip while playing a stripper in 2007's I Know Who Killed Me, it seemed like the day might never come.
Thankfully Schrader was a savvy enough director to not keep audiences waiting, and Lohan makes her topless debut just 12 minutes into the film...
It's brief and, according to the aforementioned New York Times Magazine article, took quite a bit of work on Schrader's part, with Lohan pushing off the filming of her nude scenes past what was promised to be a three week shoot...
A month later, Schrader would be standing naked in a Malibu bedroom, missing his dogs and trying to coax Lohan out of her robe.
Schrader was obviously taking a page out of Paul Verhoeven's playbook, who got naked alongside his DP Jost Vacano on the coed shower set of Starship Troopers. It worked and eventually Lohan shot three nude scenes for the film. Her next time appearing nude comes nearly 40 minutes later when she shows off in the shower...
Still, the whole thing reeked of compromise. She promised to be naked and likely had obliged only long enough to fulfill that contractual obligation. Lohan had actually lobbied for the lead role of Tara after having initially been offered the less substantial role of Cynthia, which eventually went to Tenille Houston. Schrader's initial demands of his actress were outlined in the NYTM article...
...no trailers on set and one contractually obligated, four-way sex scene. Oh, another thing, Schrader adds: he will not try to sleep with her. This was probably a more relevant point in 1982, but no matter.
Though that four-way sex scene is probably the most obscured and poorly lit of the three nude scenes, it offers the longest look at Lohan's nude body...
The film and actress' reputation speak for themselves, and this is another case where you're better off just sticking with the good parts here on Mr. Skin rather than sitting through the entire film. While Schrader's career has most certainly bounced back—he just earned his first ever Oscar nomination earlier this year—it's unlikely that anything can revive Lohan's at this point. If the nude debut of a former child star can't evenget audiences excited enough to leave their homes, there's probably nothing that can be done to help her now.
It's a sad state of affairs and makes one wonder if she just waited too long to go nude. That's likely the case, although the apathy with which the film was met can probably be attributed to audiences having tired of her antics. Had she gone nude at 20 rather than 27, we might all have a different opinion of Lindsay Lohan.
Catch up with our other editions of Anatomy of a Scene's Anatomy...
—The "Real Sex" ofDon't Look Now
—Scarlett Johansson's Nude Debut inUnder the Skin
—The 2 Very Different Sex ScenesofBasic Instinct
—How Halle Berry's Nude Debut Led Her toMonster's Ball
—HowMulholland Dr.'s Legendary Lesbian Scenes Deepen the Film's Mystery
—Showgirlsand the Dangers of High Camp
—Rosario Dawson Laid Bare for Danny Boyle'sTrance
—Katie Holmes MakesThe GiftWorth Remembering
—Jennifer Connelly Comes of Age inThe Hot Spot
—Lisa Bonet's Bloody Nude Debut inAngel Heart
—Monica Bellucci Gets Brutalized in Gaspar Noé'sIrréversible
—Stanley Kubrick, The William Tell Overture, and A Clockwork Orange
—Wild ThingsPresents Every Man with His Dream Threesome
—Chloë Sevigny Goes Down in History forThe Brown Bunny
—Helen Hunt Does Her Best Nudity at 48 in The Sessions
—Anne Hathaway Wreaks Havoc on Her Disney Image
—Body HeatBrings Noir Into the 80s, Sexes Up the Genre
—The Master Gives Serious Drama its Horniest Protagonist Ever
—Analyzing the Dream Logic of Eyes Wide Shut
—Isabella Rossellini's Intentionally Unsexy Nude Debut in Blue Velvet
—Margot Robbie MakesThe Wolf of Wall Streeta Skinstant Classic
—Angie Dickinson Steams Up the Opening Credits ofDressed to Kill
—The Strange Sexual Dynamics of Dogtooth
