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THE RISE
OFHe was arguably the RIVERN THE NIGHT before staggering back to the booth where OF 30 OCTOBER his friends were. He threw up over himself, greatest actor of his 1993, a party was passed out briefl y and asked to be taken generation, heartthrob, in full fl ow in River outside for some air. Phoenix’s room at That’s when the seizures started: arms and eco-warrior, strict vegan, Hotel Nikko, LA, legs fl ailing, head bashing against the cold attended by a group pavement… Rain lay on top of her brother to drug addict. And of friends that control his convulsions (“He was fl opping like he was dead at 23… included his new a guppy,” said one witness), while Leaf made girlfriend, actress his famously anguished call to 911. “My WORDS MATT MUELLER Samantha Mathis, and his younger sister and brother’s having seizures… I’m thinking he’s O brother, Rain and Leaf (later to take back the had Valium or something… You must get here, name he was born with, Joaquin). River was please, because he’s dying.” drinking champagne and snorting cocaine. At one point, Phoenix momentarily came Eventually, he asked for his car to be brought to, saw a pair of photographers standing over over and the group headed off to The Viper him and uttered his last, wretched words: Room rock club on Sunset Boulevard. “No paparazzi! I want anonymity!” By the time As Viper Room co-owner Johnny Depp and the paramedics arrived, the actor was in full- the Red Hot Chili Peppers jammed on stage, blown cardiac arrest and, despite attempts Phoenix stumbled to the men’s room around to restart his heart at Cedars-Sinai Medical 12:45am, where, already drugged-up to the Center, at 1:51am, the 23-year-old was gills, a musician pal gave him an exotic brand pronounced dead. of heroin called Persian Brown. As soon as he Even as distraught fans turned the Viper snorted the powder, he knew something wasn’t Room sidewalk into a fl ower-strewn shrine, right. “What the fuck is in it?” he shouted, a cruel, recriminatory backlash kicked off.
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AND FALL
Out of the woodwork popped so-called Bottom. River – whose name was inspired by transformed herself from fuzzy Earth mother PHOENIX‘friends’, disclosing pitiful tales of intoxication: the “river of life” in Hermann Hesse’s novel, to steely showbiz matriarch. Sizing up her he’d shown up at a formal wedding in ripped Siddhartha – entered the world on 23 August, kids’ burgeoning talents, she steered the clan shorts, totally off his head; he’d nearly 1970, to a round of applause from friends towards California, where River and his overdosed three years earlier; he was eternally invited to witness the event. siblings performed primitive dance moves on spaced-out on his fi nal fi lm, Dark Blood. Bolting their cart to the Children Of God, street corners like a faith-spouting Jackson What disturbed supporters and naysayers John and Arlyn gave up acid (the cult forbade Five and Arlyn landed them an agent who alike was the gulf between Phoenix’s sensitive, drug-taking), but were present during the began sending River up for TV ads. eco-boy image and the mercurial drug hoover commune’s ‘free love’ sexual heyday, where After four commercials, River rebelled he’d become away from prying eyes. This, even children were encouraged to experiment, against the ad-world phoniness and told his after all, was the militant vegan who’d once often with the sect’s adult members. (Phoenix parents he wanted to be a serious actor. Aware cried when a girlfriend ordered crab off the later claimed he lost his virginity at the age that his button-nosed, blue-eyed cuteness menu. How had this staunchly ethical world- of four.) With John anointed as the cult’s was snagging attention, they relented and he warrior, once considered the most promising “Archbishop of Venezuela and the Caribbean”, landed a TV series (Seven Brides For Seven star of his age, allowed himself to become the Bottoms journeyed through Central Brothers) that lasted one season, followed by Hollywood’s latest poster boy for drug abuse? America, but eventually quit the cult. Living TV movies and sitcom episodes. Then came in a rat-infested hut in Caracas, Venezuela, his big screen debut: winning a role in Joe HEY JUDE the family – which now included another son, Dante’s sci-fi adventure Explorers. Playing a He was born River Jude Bottom in Madras, Leaf/Joaquin, and two daughters, Rainbow and boy-genius boffi n, it was a tough shoot for Oregon, to a pair of itinerant hippies who Liberty – survived by peddling River and the 13-year-old, his unusual upbringing became missionaries for the eccentric cult Rainbow’s hymn-singing talents around the making him a target for bullying cast-mates. Children Of God. His mother, Arlyn, was city, before fi nally hopping a freighter back Frequently reduced to tears, he nonetheless a middle-class Jewish girl who plunged to the States in 1977. displayed incredible talent for an actor with headlong into the LSD-fuelled counter- On their return, Arlyn re-christened the no formal training. And directors were soon culture, where she fell in love with John family Phoenix to symbolise their rebirth and lining up to cast him. >>
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TFM133.feat_river 0107 10/8/07 08:35:14 RIVER PHOENIX
Out and about: (above) Oscar night with Martha Plimpton; (right) teen exploration in Stand By Me; (far right) Mummys boy.
It was 1986’s superlative Rob Reiner Stephen upbringing clashed with the enormous Peppers. Off screen, he lamented the media King adaptation, Stand By Me, and his tender, pressure of being his family’s breadwinner. objectifi cation that came with being a teen honest performance as mixed-up teen Chris Although Phoenix was singled out for heartthrob. “I go into remission, shut myself Chambers, that rocketed Phoenix to stardom. praise, The Mosquito Coast fl opped, and the out and freak,” he shuddered. “I don’t like In the campfi re scene, where Chris breaks down young star was panicked into a pair of dubious being out there.” over the locals’ contempt for his family, Reiner career moves – A Night In The Life Of Jimmy wasn’t getting the emotion he wanted, so told Reardon and Little Nikita – before righting the RENT CHEQUE River to think of someone he’d looked up to ship with Running On Empty. He was ideally It was a role his parents didn’t want him to who had disappointed him. The next take, cast as rebel pianist Danny Pope in Sidney do, but Phoenix was breaking free of the tight Phoenix unleashed a torrent, and was still Lumet’s fugitive-family drama, and acted grip they’d exerted over his career. Gus Van wracked with sobs after Reiner called cut. “He his way to an Oscar nomination with some Sant’s paean to beautiful, strung-out rebel didn’t have a lot of technique,” said the director, revelatory performing, including an exchange boys on a spiritual quest for home, My Own “but you just turned the camera on and he would where he tells girlfriend Martha Plimpton tell the truth… Every time I see that scene I (also his off-screen partner) that his family cry.” Phoenix never revealed his inspiration. are going back on the run – a scene of abject desperation that’s among the most SECOND SKIN moving in his career. Phoenix shed his “second” virginity on Only 19, his Best Supporting Actor nod was Stand By Me, in a backyard tent pitched for the industry’s expression of faith in Phoenix’s the occasion by his parents. According to his bright future. “He has a strong, clear persona IT WOULD REALLY FRIGHTEN THE HELL OUT OF ME TO BE A CREATURE TAKING DRUGS
co-star Corey Feldman, River also took drugs and he’s a very good actor, plus he is for the fi rst time, Feldman claiming they visually beautiful,” gushed Lumet. “He smoked spliffs together. After Stand By Me, ought to have a brilliant career.” Phoenix Phoenix headed to Belize to play Harrison showed up on Oscar night in Ford’s tormented son in The Mosquito Coast. a tux, with Plimpton and his mother on But during Mosquito’s jungle shoot he kicked his arm. Many tipped him as favourite to against his real father’s tense chaperoning win, but he lost to Kevin Kline’s comedic (John was trying to talk his son into quitting gambolling in A Fish Called Wanda. Hollywood). At one point, director Peter Weir With his career shifting into overdrive, spotted his clean-living star scoffi ng Mars River played the teenage Indiana Jones for Bars when he thought no one was looking. Spielberg in The Last Crusade, while the But it turned out that teeth-rotting sweets Phoenix clan decamped to a 20-acre were the least of Phoenix’s worries. The shy, compound just outside Gainesville, Florida. docile sensitivity that made him such a There, River began spending more time on his sought-after Hollywood commodity also music, forming a band called Aleka’s Attic and revealed fatal cracks in his personality – as striking up friendships with REM frontman the deep-rooted pain of his bizarre hippie Michael Stipe and Flea of the Red Hot Chili
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TFM133.feat_river 0108 10/8/07 08:35:16 BROTHER AND SISTERS Whither Rivers siblings? RAIN Full name Rain Joan of Arc Phoenix Born 21 November 1972 in Crockett, Texas Screen time Even Cowgirls Get The Blues, O, Hitch Next in age to River, she changed her name to Rainbow and performed with her brother in their band, Alekas Attic. She later collaborated with REM, toured as a back-up singer with the Chili Peppers and starred in Even Cowgirls Get The Blues for Gus Van Sant. “River and I are as close as a brother and sister can be,” she said shortly before his death. She formed a quasi- religious band called The Causey Way, which has since disbanded. Married musician Michael Tubbs in 2003.
JOAQUIN On-screen: love Full name (far left) renting in Idaho; (above) with Joaquin Rafael Phoenix Samantha Mathis. Born 28 October 1974 in San Juan, Puerto Rico Private Idaho stars Phoenix as narcoleptic last scene he ever fi lmed, Phoenix delivered Screen time To Die For, rent-boy Mikey, alongside Keanu Reeves the line, “I belong to another place. I’m in Gladiator, Walk The Line as a slumming rich kid. As the perpetually another world.” Around 8pm, he went back The middle child, Joaquin felt dazed hustler, Phoenix is disaffected, elusive, to his hotel. Less than six hours later, he left out by his other siblings spaced-out. It’s an extraordinary, instinctive was dead. earthy monikers, so changed his name to Leaf from the performance – and he paid a heavy toll to ages of four to 18. He quit acting after Parenthood extract it, immersing himself in Portland’s DOOM ROOM (1989) to live away from public scrutiny, before making street-kid culture before shooting started. Sadly, River Phoenix’s name today brings a stunning comeback in Van Sants To Die For (the “It’s our responsibility to explore all the the instant, word-association response, family needed a new breadwinner). His desperate 911 directions that might even be suggested in the “The Viper Room”. The concrete pathway call in Rivers final minutes led to reporters asking him script,” he said later. “Our research was extra- that played out his dying moments became how he could stay so calm. “People are heartless,” he curricular, it wasn’t necessarily needed.” a macabre LA tourist attraction, while the declared angrily. “Motherfuckers are cold.” In light of later events, that comes as a media seized on his death as headline news. painful admission, but Phoenix sank far It was a seismic event that signalled the LIBERTY enough into his messed up character that he ruthless ascendancy of celebrity culture, Full name was undoubtedly dabbling in heroin (whether where hard-partying ‘It’ girls can shove Libertad Mariposa Phoenix he had before has never been defi nitively G8 summits off the front pages. There was Born 5 July 1976 in established). For Phoenix, Idaho represented a feeble attempt to anoint him the new Caracas, Venezuela a delayed adolescence that he embraced with James Dean, but the days when a beautiful, Screen time None the exhilaration of a youth hanging out with brooding screen idol could become enshrined The only offspring of the cool, new friends he was desperate to impress. as legend no matter how sordid their earthly Phoenix family who never Only instead of a sneaky spliff, it was foil demise were gone and the Phoenix cult took any real interest in wraps of smack… quickly faded. acting, Liberty was an avid dancer but quit after her Junkies are notorious liars, and he joined His devastated family circled the wagons, second child was born. She named her first child Rio the club on the Idaho publicity trail. “It initially denying River’s drug problem. As it in memory of her late brother and worked in Costa would really frighten the hell out of me to be turned out, his system was swimming in Rica for a while as head chef at her fathers vegan a creature walking around taking drugs,” he eight times the lethal dosage of cocaine and restaurant. Liberty also spent a few years in a country fi bbed. “Why throw a curve on life?” In the four times that of heroin. Not counting Dark band and still helps out Rain with her musical career, industry, however, Phoenix’s smackhead Blood, which had to be abandoned after his while raising her three children – Rio, Indigo and reputation spread fast. Away from the death, Phoenix appeared in 13 fi lms in 13 Scarlette – in Florida. nurturing cocoon of his family, he began years. His fi nest performances are testament patrolling the Sunset Strip’s druggy rock ’n’ to an actor able to convey pain, fragility and a roll scene. He seemed to know LA was a bad wisdom beyond his years, but only Stand By SUMMER infl uence on him (during a brief hiatus on his Me could realistically be considered a classic. Full name last fi lm, Dark Blood, he told director George That most of his fi lms are unremarkable has Summer Joy Phoenix Sluizer, “I’m going back to the bad, bad city”) undoubtedly diluted his legacy. Born 10 December 1978 but was unable to resist its lure. “I love River’s family. They brought him in Winter Park, Florida On his last two fi lms, trouble was clearly up to believe he was a pure soul who had a Screen time The Faculty, afoot. Watch Phoenix’s angry, mumbling message to deliver to the world,” ex-girlfriend Dinner Rush, The Believer performance in Peter Bogdanovich’s country- Plimpton told Esquire a year after his death. The youngest member of the western romance The Thing Called Love now, “But they created this Utopian bubble so that Phoenix clan lives next door and you wonder why someone, anyone, didn’t River never socialised. He was never prepared to brother Joaquin, went to NYU film school and won strong-arm him straight into rehab. On that for the world in which he’d have to deliver an Independent Spirit nomination for her role in The fateful October night, he was 11 days shy of that message.” Believer, opposite Ryan Gosling. “I think Im asked to fi nishing Dark Blood, and due to go straight All his life, River Phoenix believed he prove myself even more because of my last name. I on to New Orleans to play the interviewer in was on a divine mission. But he wasn’t the care more about my self-recognition and the journey TF of self-love as opposed to outside recognition and the MICHAEL TIGNE/GETTY IMAGES, ALLSTAR, ALPHA, MOVIESTORE, EMPICS, LFI, RONALD GRANT ARCHIVE, REX, CORBIS, WENN REX, GRANT ARCHIVE, CORBIS, EMPICS, LFI, RONALD ALPHA, ALLSTAR, MOVIESTORE, IMAGES, MICHAEL TIGNE/GETTY Interview With The Vampire. Creepily, in the messiah. Just a very messed-up boy. love of others.” She married long-time boyfriend Casey Affleck last year and named their son Indiana August.
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