The Canyons Director Compares Lindsay Lohan To Marilyn Monroe: 'Similarities ...

First Published: July 10, 2013 10:43 AM EDT Credit: Nickolas Muray/George Eastman House/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- The director of Lindsay Lohan's latest movie, 'The Canyons,' has compared the starlet to Marilyn Monroe.

Director Paul Schrader wrote that he was reading 'The Making of the Misfits' (a book from James Goode, which chronicled filming that project as Arthur Miller and Marilyn's relationship disintegrated), when he was struck by the similarities between the two stars.

'Similarities? Tardiness, unpredictability, tantrums, absences, neediness, psychodrama - yes, all that, but something more, that thing that keeps you watching someone on screen, that thing you can't take your eyes off of, that magic, that mystery,' the director wrote in a piece for Film Comment magazine.

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Schrader, who wrote the 1976 film 'Taxi Driver,' went on to share his opinion that Lindsay 'has more natural acting talent than Monroe did.'

'But, like Monroe, her weakness is her inability to fake it,' he continued. 'She feels she must be experiencing an emotion in order to play it. This leads to all sorts of emotional turmoil, not to mention on-set delays and melodrama. It also leads, when the gods smile, to movie magic.'

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The director also pointed out differences between the two starlets. He wrote that Monroe was protected by the studio system's ability to do damage control, something not available nowadays, and how these days, people can become stars without 'being taken seriously,' while Marilyn had to show she was studying her craft.

'LL lives in a world of instant celebrity gratification Monroe could have only dreamed of. Paid for public appearances, paid to wear clothes, paid to pose, paid for gossip tips, paid for tweets,' he wrote. 'These rewards are available without the pretense of responsibility.'

But, should anyone have gotten the idea that the director's experience wasn't a positive one, he noted at the end of his piece that 'it was a treat to work with Lindsay.'

'A director can shoot around misbehavior. He can't shoot around lack of charisma,' he wrote. 'I just wish it was easier for Lindsay.

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'The Canyons,' written by Bret Easton Ellis, and starring Lohan, Nolan Gerard Funk and James Deen, opens in theaters on August 2, 2013.

The film follows the story of a producer named Christian (Deen), whose girlfriend, Tara (Lohan) is trying to hide an affair she had with an actor.

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