River Phoenix
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RIVER PHOENIX IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1982 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1985 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1986 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1986 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 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. 106 TOTAL FILM.COM TFM133.feat_river 0106 10/8/07 08:35:11 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1988 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1989 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1991 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1993 IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 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. >> TOTAL FILM.COM 107 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 108 TOTAL FILM.COM 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.