River Phoenix's last film titled "Dark Blood" premiered at the Miami International Film Festival on Wednesday, March 6.

The 80-year-old George Sluizer directed River Phoenix's film, and almost died before the film was finished.

It is still unclear whether or not the last film of River Phoenix will be released to the general public. Sluizer claimed that negotiations are ongoing with the company that owns the movie.

The film Dark Blood was finished 20 years after River Phoenix's death.

When actor and friend of Phoenix Jonathan Pryce first received a copy of Dark Blood, he said he was reluctant to watch it.

He told AP, "[River's death was] very hard to comprehend for a while. It was a terribly sad time."

In the film, Pryce and co-star Judy Davis play a Hollywood couple that travels through the desert trying to save their marriage while on a second honeymoon.

They find shelter in Phoenix's shack after their car breaks down, unaware that Phoenix's character plans to imprison them. Phoenix played 'Boy', a widower who lives alone in the desert, according to the Associated Press.

But the process to create a film starring Phoenix, who died in 1993, proved to be very difficult.

Phoenix was a 23-year-old rising star of the films Stand By Me and My Own Private Idaho when he died outside 'The Viper Room', a club in Los Angeles. He reportedly died of heart failure of a heroin and cocaine overdose.

At the time of Phoenix's death, about 80 percent of the movie had already been filmed, but most of the missing scenes were between Phoenix and Davis.

There was initially talk of finding a replacement actor or using special effects to complete the film, but Sluizer passed on those options until 1999.

Then, the director learned that the footage, which had remained in storage, would soon be burned to make room for new films. He transported it to the Netherlands, his homeland, and stored it for another 10 years.

In 2007, Sluizer was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia, and the director felt compelled to finish Dark Blood before it was too late.

Sluizer sorted through the material and narrated the voiceovers himself to fill in the missing pieces until it was ready for release. He calls Dark Blood a story that transcends time.

River Phoenix's mother, Heart Phoenix, reportedly sent Sluizer a letter asking him not to finish and release the film, which Sluizer ignored.

"No one seems to understand that an artist wants to finish his art, just like a painter would want to finish his unfinished painting," Sluizer explained to The Hollywood Reporter. "The family's response is understandable, but it's an immature point of view."