Flavorwire

Yesterday we told you that Dark Blood, the movie that River Phoenix was working on (and 11 days from completing) when he died back in 1993, was finally going to be making its way to theaters. Along with some re-editing, part of what was needed to make that happen was voiceover work by River’s younger brother, Joaquin. Now Deadline is reporting that the Phoenix family — despite what director George Sluizer hopes — want nothing to do with the project, and in fact, have not been in communication with him about participating. Interesting. Perhaps this was all an attempt by Sluizer to drum up a little publicity, and in turn, additional funding to finally finish the movie. Or maybe he was hoping that by putting Joaquin on the hotspot, he’d get a positive response. Either way, we remain doubtful that we’ll actually see this drama hitting theaters as soon as 2012.