Documentary Tells Extraordinary Story of River Phoenix' Last Movie

Documentary Tells Extraordinary Story of River Phoenix' Last Movie

'Never give up' follows George Sluizers battle for the release of 'Dark Blood'

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 




Harold Jalving Sound Design

CONTACT: Note to editors: For further information please contact Harold Jalving Sound Design, Mobile: +31-651922484, E-mail: haroldsound@gmail.com


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