In 2013, Paul Schrader compared Lindsay Lohan to Marilyn Monroe. He meant it as a compliment
Paul Schrader defended casting Lindsay Lohan in his 2013 film *The Canyons*, comparing her with Marilyn Monroe as a performer whose public life and acting seemed inseparable. He saw that lack of control as part of their appeal, arguing that audiences felt they were witnessing life rather than a performance.
The film, written with Bret Easton Ellis, was financed through Kickstarter and cast partly through social media. Schrader persuaded Ellis to cast Lohan, despite her troubled reputation and past on-set difficulties, while he was initially wary of porn actor James Deen, who played the manipulative producer. Schrader’s defence later seemed less convincing when he criticised Lohan for withdrawing from interviews and missing photo shoots.
In short
- Schrader likened Lohan’s screen presence to Marilyn Monroe’s.
- He saw their blurred public and acting personas as compelling.
- He later criticised Lohan for missing promotional events.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Schrader’s casting choice can be defended as an artistic risk: he saw Lohan’s public persona and screen presence as inseparable, and believed that unpredictability could make her performance feel unusually immediate. Comparing her with Monroe expressed a view of acting that values the tension between a performer’s public life and the character, while the film’s unconventional financing and casting reflected a willingness to challenge Hollywood conventions.
The case against
A sceptic could argue that this rationale romanticised personal difficulties and treated instability as an artistic asset, rather than weighing whether Lohan could reliably meet the demands of the production. Schrader’s later criticism of her missed interviews and photo shoots also exposed a tension in his defence: the same unpredictability he praised on screen could impose real costs on colleagues and the film’s promotion.
Explained simply
Paul Schrader is an American film-maker, and Bret Easton Ellis is a novelist and screenwriter. They made The Canyons, a low-budget film about people pursuing careers and relationships in Los Angeles; it was funded in part by donations from the public.
Lindsay Lohan, who had become famous as a child actor, played the film’s leading role. James Deen, known for his work in adult films, played a film producer. Their casting drew attention because of their public profiles and, in Lohan’s case, reported difficulties with film sets.