Gus Van Sant Joins Paul Schrader's 'The Canyons'; Behind The Scenes Photos Of James Deen, Lindsay Lohan & More

Who knows what to expect with Bret Easton Ellis and Paul Schrader's "The Canyons" starring porn star James Deen and Lindsay Lohan. With the film now in the midst of production, they've pulled out another surprise with writer-director Gus Van Sant now evidently joining as an actor in a supporting role. Announced by Ellis on Twitter and on the "The Canyons" Facebook page, Van Sant will play the psychiatrist of the protagonist played by Deen.

Also available on the FB page are a number of behind the scenes/set photos which includes the first look at Deen and Lohan, who respectively play Christian, a "trust fund kid, power player and major manipulator, who is a film producer that enjoys filming his own three-way sex sessions," and his girlfriend/former model Tara, who "has sold her pride for the material comforts Christian can provide" in what's simply being described as an L.A. noir following a small group of young twenty-somethings trying to make it.

One of the photos; the dark one with Deen in the foreground and Lohan in the distant background is being noted as a screenshot of the film which may clue us in into the look of the film (Schrader previously cited "Fallen Angels" and "Heartbeats" as inspirations for the visual look he was going for).

Van Sant and scribe Ellis are no strangers, pairing on the developing "The Golden Suicides," the story of well-known L.A. and New York artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake who mysteriously committed suicide in 2008. (The status of that project remains up in the air but, last we heard, Gasper Noe was meeting Ryan Gosling with the project on the agenda). This role will be Van Sant's first on-screen appearance under the helm of another director -- if you discount a cameo on an episode of "Entourage" -- and with Broken Social Scene's Brendon Canning penning the score, the intrigue around the project continues to build.