Documentary Tells Extraordinary Story of River Phoenix' Last Movie

AMSTERDAM, September 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

'Dark Blood', the final movie of legendary actor River Phoenix and Dutch director George Sluizer, was never publically released. The inside story about Phoenix' sudden death and the following legal war and other intrigues considering the movie - one of the most extraordinary in filmmaking - will be told in the documentary 'Never Give Up', which sound designer and Sluizers collaborator Harold Jalving is about to release in the summer of 2016. 

Sluizers family and the original cast and crew will participate in the documentary. Among them starring actor Jonathan Pryce, known for his roles in 'Game of Thrones', 'Brazil', 'Evita' and governor in 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. 'Never Give Up' follows both the long lasting battle of Sluizer and his family to get the movie released and 'Dark Blood's' cinematographer Ed Lachman with his search for the mysteriously missing final shots of River Phoenix on film.

Sluizer, known for his movie 'The Vanishing'(Sandra Bullock, Jeff Bridges, Kiefer Sutherland, Nancy Travis), completed 80 percent of the 'Dark Blood' takes in 1993, when starring actor River Phoenix suddenly died of a drugs overdose. The recordings were shut down, the insurance company became the legal owner of the shot material and sued Phoenix' family, claiming River had broken his contract.

When the insurance company announced to destroy the recordings in 1999, Sluizer took action to save the film "with the help of a professional person who could open locks", Sluizer said. In 2012 he succeeded in completing the movie. 'Dark Blood' successfully premiered at the Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht and was applauded during many international film festivals in Berlin, Miami, Sao Paulo and Moscow, but was never publically released to movie theatres.

Sluizer passed away in 2014 at the age of 82. His last wish was that the movie will be shown to the audience someday. "Therefore our documentary has two missions," Jalving says, "We want to tell the extraordinary story of 'Dark Blood' and get the film released as well."

Although a legal solution is near, this might not be settled when the documentary hits the theatres.

In order to document the complete story of 'Dark Blood', Jalving and his crew need to visit Amsterdam, London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles and 'Dark Blood's' film location: the Utah desert. Therefore Jalving started a fundraising campaign on Indiegogo.com for the needed 180.000 dollars.

Visit http://igg.me/at/nevergiveup/x

For pictures visit: http://goo.gl/WX5QBg 

SOURCE Harold Jalving Sound Design