River Phoenix would have turned 50 tomorrow

He really was something else.

I blame Flea.

He would have been another Johnny Depp @ 50. That is to say, a grotesque mess.

"Live Fast, Die Young, and Leave a Good-Lookin' Corpse."

Brad Pitt took his career.

I can’t think of any other actor who has broken my heart in three separate films (Stand by Me, Running on Empty, My Own Private Idaho).

I was a huge fan and he's been in some of my favorite films. As an adult I realize, from reading bios and old interviews, he was really fucking stupid. A stupid pretty drug addict.

The Phoenix had no time for school. They had to sing on street corners and beg for change.

^Phoenix children

They turned vegan because the parents were too lazy to work and they couldn't afford meat.

He objected to meat but not heroin?

Neither River nor Joaquin gives the impression they enjoy acting.

Their parents are lazy assholes.

"He would have been another Johnny Depp @ 50. That is to say, a grotesque mess."

Just like me. Must run in the family.

The whole family leeches off Joaquin.

Why couldn’t River have given us one nude scene? Was he shy?

Is Rain the only normal one? Joaquin must in a Johnny Depp type situation where he's supporting his whole family. Still a mama's boy

If the rumors about Rain and Joaquin are true she is definitely not normal.

Other than exploration around the time of My Own Private Idaho, were there any legitimate gay rumors about River?

I heard rumors about Michael Stipe and River from a shop bottom back in the day.

Apparently Michael Stipe wrote Bang and Blame about River

He was pretty popular in Japan and was the subject of many photobooks.

He was very photogenic

Another Japanese photo

Kinda had an effortless beauty

He was probably molested after he came to Hollywood as well.

Proof beauty doesn't provide happiness.

"He objected to meat but not heroin?"

Apparently. After he died people said "how could he have been a drug addict? He didn't eat meat! The hardest thing he drank was carrot juice!" Someone later pointed out that being vegetarian doesn't make one immune to drug addiction.

Did we ever see his dick or ass?

River went the way of James Dean and Jeff Buckley. Died while young and pretty. If he didn't treat his drug addiction and lived long enough, he would have ended up like Brad Renfro or Whitney Houston.

R4...that would be Decaprio.

R23, that is a hilariously nipple-centric photo. I approve.

I like that he was vegan, but never found him hot. I thought he had unattractive nose and scowled too much.

So?

Happy Birthday, River.

Despite his facade He seemed very angry to me, especially later in his career.

Of course he was angry. He got old enough to understand how fucked up his life was. He didn't like being an actor but felt a duty to his family to support them. He also didn't fit in with his peers because he lacked a proper education and missed out on a having a normal childhood due to his traveling missionary parents. He didn't smile or look directly in most photos either. He apparently wanted to quit acting after his contract was up to pursue music

Young and strong Hollywood son

In the early morning light

This star fell down

On Sunset Boulevard

Still the best tribute, Natalie Merchant’s River. When I lived in L.A., each Halloween I would take flowers to lay at the Viper Room, listen to this on repeat and weep.

"I blame Flea."

Why Flea? John Frusciante was the one who gave him the drugs in the club.

I think if River had not died, Leo DiCaprio would not have become the star he is now.

R36 I should clarify that he seemed outwardly angry at others, nasty. I’m his age and I’m thinking when he was on Donahue and some later interviews; one when he was interviewing Flea about music and another where he’s wearing sunglasses and talking about cumming in camera lenses. He turned into a dick.

Also, he was shit at music from what little I’ve heard and seen.

R40 Have you seen him live? Any interesting early 90's drug gossip?

R41 No, just stuff online but I did have a PETA record he has a song on.

Rain released this music video of him and his band Aleka's Attic

R38, You're right -- Frusciante was a major contributor to River's death, but the story of that night has been told and retold by eyewitnesses who have changed the narrative so many times, who knows what to believe. The night of his death would make for a great documentary, but we'll never get the true account. The story I heard was that River became depressed and hurt when Flea told him he couldn't play that night. River drowned his sorrows with too many drugs, and he OD'd. Sadly, he had a beautiful ass, but he couldn't live forever.

R44 I also heard that when he found out that he was not able to perform, he actively looked for drugs (cocaine maybe?). And that probably Flea gave him the drink. He hasn't used for some months so it was just too much for him - and anybody - to take. But I wonder why someone like Flea thought a cup full of Persian Brown would not be harmful for a person. Maybe it was meant to be passed around?

He then threw up in the bathroom, which was full with people.

It might sound weird, but I would have loved to have been there that night.

Also River was filming Dark Blood in the desert and was starving himself for the role. So his body was in a weak and fragile state. He also apparently was erratic on set which annoyed super-professional Judy Davis.

Stumbled upon this weird ass show Autopsy: The Last Hours of River Phoenix on Amazon Prime the other day. The production values are lacking, but the information and scientific examination seemed on point. Maybe this is what that true crime channel stuff looks like, I don’t watch it, but it might answer a lot of questions people are bringing up.

The infamous interview he did on drugs. He said some insightful things though. He may not have been formally educated but he was intelligent.

He was brilliant in playing tortured young man-kids. I dont know if he had the range to play other roles though.

R45, was that what it was? Persian Brown? I just recently read that he took something weird other than the usual coke, weed, and booze. And I agree with you, I would have loved to be there too. Not too long ago, I used to work in the Frank Geary building across the street and I could see the Viper Room from my desk, it was cool/creepy. Sometimes during lunch, I'd walk across the street to have a smoke and stand near the spot where he fell -- there was still fresh graffiti on the sidewalk and walls -- you could still find the occasional fresh bouquet of flowers decades later. I agree with a few others here though, he probably would have went the way of Renfro.

R50 Wow, do you have some Hollywood gossip?

If I remember correctly from his autopsy, there were no signs of serious drug aka needlemarks or in his nasal cavity.

Parents were in that vile Children of God cult and he intimated he was abused. Then the parents get out and pimp out their kids via Hollywood.

Sorry, Gen X'er here! My best friend and I still think River was talented and beautiful.

R21, He looks like 80s Christian Slater, they could've been brothers.

Old Man River.

[quote] He objected to meat but not heroin?

Poppies are all-natural & easily grown. I just grew them myself for the first time this year. I planted a bunch of mixed, unidentified seeds Burpee sent me last year as a free gift. Two plants were poppies. They're supposed to be cool weather plants but bloomed through the hottest July on record.

So drugs are OK as long as they are plant-based. I’m not a drug warrior but I don’t buy that line of reasoning.

Can we get back to River’s ass? What actors besides Keanu had it?

Allegedly, Bobby Bokowski--the cinematographer on Dogfight.

R20 I believe Stipe wrote Bang and Blame in response to River’s family. He wrote EBow the Letter for River, and dedicated that album to him. If you listen to EBow, it’s clear as day that Stipe was in love with lovely River. They spent more time together than most people realize. I can almost guarantee something was going on there. River certainly was Stipe’s “type”.

R59 Stipe was pretty attractive when young. So they would have made a hot couple.

EBow the Letter

I remember in A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon (which I’d love to see again) that his character was made fun of for having tinymeat.

It was a definite loss he had something special. I loved him in Silent Tongue

Dicaprio was already on the rise at the time River died, he didn't take River's career. River would've been too old for Gilbert Grape, Basketball Diaries, Marvin's Room and Titanic.

I could be reaching here, but although it was released 5 years after his death, At My Most Beautiful is likely another song inspired, at least in part, by Stipe's relationship with River. There's not only Rain appearing in the video, but also the song's object of love, whose perma-scowl, long eyelashes, and endearing habit of saying his name when leaving a voicemail, to me, sound a lot like River.

He was so overrated.

R66 Thanks for dropping by to be a dick.

I just ordered two River DVDs, Dogfight and the director’s cut of A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon.

God, I was in 8th grade when he died. That and Cobain dying a few months later was the one-two punch for those around my age. Running on Empty and Idaho are still two of my all time favorite films.

And I don't think Brad Pitt took River's career. River was never that much of "hunk". It has to be Leo, right? Really attractive, but also an actor's actor.

[quote] Kinda had an effortless beauty

Mainlining heroin isn't my idea of 'effortless.' He was thin and pretty because he was an addict. If he'd lived just 5 more years his life would have taken its toll on his looks.

R70, no, he was thin and pretty long before he became an addict. The drugs did take a toll on him, including his looks.

River started looking rough around the time of The Thing Called Love. You can tell he was already starting to burn out and was clearly filled with anger and resentment.

According to Bruce LaBruce, Brad Renfro freaked out over seeing a picture of dead River in a casket that hung over Bruce's sink. Weirdly prophetic. Though what's more disturbing is underage Brad and barely legal Dominique Swain hanging out with Bruce LaBruce. Brad lost his looks very early due to his drug abuse.

He reportedly had his first gay experience on Dogfight. He let a fellow actor give him a blowjob. As for his later interviews. He was just doing too much drugs. We all know people become assholes when they do that shit. I remember watching A thing called Love. That horrible country and western movie he did. It didn't even seem like him. Like the spark was gone out of his eyes. I was reading a book about his agent. He kept forgetting his lines and couldn't do simple scenes when they were doing that movie. Towards the end they would have her or his mother come to movie sets. He had become so unreliable.

Also in the book, he turned down Reality Bites. And his agent had to beg for him to get a role in Interview with a vampire. He was mad at her because he felt he should have gotten the role of Lestat. He died before he could do it and we got stuck with Christian Slater.

R75, he would have been a good Lestat.

(R76) if he had gotten clean. He would have been amazing.

River was hot. Joaquin looks like a serial killer.

This info is from "Lost in Hollywood", a biography of River Phoenix by John Glatt:

According to the coroner's report River Phoenix had ingested "eight times the lethal dose of cocaine, four times the lethal dose of heroin, as well as traces marijuana, Valium and ephedrine, the last an over the counter cold medication." Cause of death: "acute multiple drug intoxication."

His memorial service was ridiculous. NOBODY would talk about his drug use or his depression; it was all swept under the rug. Until the director John Boorman couldn't stand it anymore:

During the emotional testimonials in which his friends and associates spoke of him like a gallant hero fallen in battle, the British director John Boorman, who was sitting at the corner of the stage, was getting restless that no one was quite facing the reality of the actor's tragic death. At one point Boorman could no longer contain his frustration and shouted out "Is there anybody here who can tell us why River took all those drugs?"

There was an embarrassing silence that was punctuated by Liberty and Summer Phoenix running out of the room. Phoenix's girlfriend, Samantha Mathis, who had been with him at the time, bravely stood up and tried to explain.

"RIver was so sensitive", she began. "He had so much compassion for everyone and everything that he had a weight on his heart. He was obsessive. When he wanted to eat artichokes he would eat 10 at a time. He did everything to that degree."

I want to hear more about his gay experiences. Dogfight blowjob? Idaho dabbling? Stipe romance?

River as Lestat really would've worked. A shame that didn't happen.

River would have been the perfect Lestat.

Now I'm thinking about River as Lestat and I can totally see it. Wow, what perfect casting that would've been. Cruise was all wrong for the part and he was also a bit too old.

He was just so lovely. I was heartbroken when he died. Hard to believe that troll is his brother.

I was a senior in high school when he died. He was huge with my age group, and we were all pretty broken up about it. Most of our teachers had no idea who he was. Then Kurt Cobain died about six months later. That was also a huge event.

If River was Lestat I feel like they would have needed a different person for Brad’s part. I don’t know why, but I can’t see any chemistry there.

He was cast to play the role Christian Slater took in Interview With The Vampire, of journalist. Anne Rice wanted Daniel Day Lewis for Lestat and I think borh would have been good in their respective roles.

Anne Rice wanted Rutger Hauer for Lestat and opposed Tom, but after seeing it she said he proved her wrong.

I have no idea why anybody would think River Phoenix would have been "perfect" as Lestat. Because he was blonde? Anyway, he didn't have the chops for that kind of role. He was supposed to have played the boy who was interviewing the vampire, wasn't he? Now that he would have been right for. Anyway, the novel "Interview with the Vampire" was boring and the movie version of it was ridiculous. Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas were ridiculous in their roles, nothing at all like the characters depicted in the novel. And Tom Cruise in long, flowing, blonde curls? So funny.

Christian Slater donated his entire salary from the part to two ecological nonprofits in River’s name. An incredible stand up thing to do and very forward thinking for the time period the movie was made.

"Anne Rice wanted Rutger Hauer for Lestat and opposed Tom, but after seeing it she said he proved her wrong."

Oh, she was full of shit. She just wanted the movie to be a hit, which is why she gushed about Cruise's silly performance.

R88 Anne Rice had Hauer in mind when she penned the novel. When casting for the film she wanted Daniel Day Lewis or Jeremy Irons for Lestat.

The novel was not boring, it was a very entertaining read. Anne Rice totally redefined the vampire lore.

[quote] Anne Rice wanted Rutger Hauer for Lestat and opposed Tom, but after seeing it she said he proved her wrong.

Hauer would have been perfect if the film were made in 1981.

Sometimes when I come on here and I read the posts you can glimpse the unpleasantness of the people making them. This thread is an example of that for me. People with a very ugly view of life.

R80 Me,too!

What in this thread makes you think that r95?

He was losing his looks, he was over rated, he was a dick, he was molested, Jacquin is ugly, he was angry....just off the top of my head. I know someone will post its DL, its gossip, its true what i said- but there is a lack of compassion.

Why was River a dick, R98?

if you had grown up in that family, you'd have a bad attitude too.

many suddenly-too-famous actors develop bad attitudes. it's understandable. they go from being a somewhat normal person doing a job, to hounded and scrutinized.

they are just normal people. even the most well-adjusted among us would fall apart under that microscope, much less someone with a deficient upbringing.

Daniel Day Lewis would have looked ridiculous in a blonde wig. If he were to have played a role in "Interview With The Vampire" I think he would have been good as Louis. I always pictured Julian Sands as Lestat. He really WAS a blonde and I think he would have done very well in the role. Antonio Banderas was pitifully miscast in his role as Armand. In the novel Armand was a red haired, very young looking vampire (I think he was teenaged when he became a vampire). Banderas played him as Latin lover type. Jesus, that movie was a piece of shit;

I thought Pitt was good as Louis. Cruise was totally miscast. And Christian Slater has always been a smug, annoying piece of shit in everything he's ever done.

Although he and Keanu were very different actors, it would've been hot to imagine River bulked up for a tentpole action flick à la Point Break or Speed.

In the 90s I went to college in Gainesville, FL, where River used to hang out to get away from LA. My buddy and roommate had a band and was part of the local music scene, and he and his bandmates recorded at the same local studio where Aleka's Attic, River's band, laid down some tracks. I was hanging out watching them record, and I asked the sound technician, who had worked with AA, if anybody in the band was talented. He smirked and said, "Anybody in the band who wasn't named Phoenix."

(R104) yeah I listened to that record. He was a better actor than singer. Which is kind of sad because he really loved music. He just wasn't a very good singer.

I think Joaquin has a more memorable, interesting face. He has/had more sex appeal too. (To Die For, Walk the Line). River was pretty, maybe too pretty. I never really found him hot.

R15 He came close in Idaho but for some reason, we were denied the goods. Keanu appears naked if I remember.

I really liked him in Sneakers with Robert Redford. I think that was the last movie I enjoyed watching him. He started looking really bad towards the end.

I remember that ghastly photo of River Phoenix in his coffin. I think it was published in the National Enquirer. His hair was dark and quite short (I think that was for a movie role) and his skin was a weird color, kind of an orangey grey shade. His forehead was darker than the rest of his face. His mouth looked weird, too. I remember thinking "couldn't he have been made to look better than THAT?" He really did look like somebody who had died a horrible death.

The death photo is online. I'm not going to find a link and post it, but it's out there if you do a search.

River Phoenix and Rodney Harvey. Pretty drug addicts.

River & Rodney

Rodney Harvey was also gorgeous. He OD'ed in 1998.

Wow this photo is grim

(R109) it was like they didn't even put any makeup on him or anything. It's like they just put him in the casket. Especially you have an open casket and not try to fix him up for poor loved ones. Really sad.

R25 I heard River say in a TV interview that the first time he had sex he was four years old. He didn't say who it was with.

The four year old River Phoenix no doubt had sex with one of the Children of Gold cult members. They initiated children that young into sex play. And his parents put their children into harm's way by joining that crazy cult! I'm surprised he didn't hate them both with a passion.

This board is fucking obsessed with the "River had sex at 4 yeard old" rumor.

years*

R118 It's not a rumor. I heard River say those exact words when the TV interviewer asked him "How old were you the first time you had sex?" And River said four years old. Then he quickly changed the subject and didn't go into the details but he said it. It was a talk show, I believe it was CBS This Morning in 1990. I saw it and saw him and heard him say that. That was the only time I heard him say that.

Was this the interview?

Why does everybody keep talking about him being molested? Of course it was horrible. But I think it was more horrible him putting a speedball in his body. And having seizures on the sidewalk in front of a club. While people walked around him and did nothing. And dying before even made it to the hospital.

Physically, River seemed a prettier Kevin Bacon type. I don't think Leo got the roles River would have had. Leo would have been a star anyway.

River probably wouldn't have been cast in the films Leo did for the remainder of the 90s. Gilbert Grape, Romeo and Juliet and Marvin's Room required someone who could still pass for a teenager and Titanic required someone who could pass for no older than 21ish. River would've been just a bit too old to have read as the proper age in all of those movies.

I wonder how he would have been in The Basketball Diaries. Unlike Leo, I can see River being a school athlete because he had a muscular body and much more graceful. Leo's NY accent also wasn't good, kept slipping back into his Southern California accent.

Funny how many teen idols end up playing male hookers or strippers. River in MOPI, JTT in Speedway Junky, Leo in Basketball Diaries, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Mysterious Skin, Alex Pettyfer in Magic Mike and Christopher Atkins in A Night in Heaven.

River would've been too old to play a teenager in Basketball Diaries.

River probably would have had a career like Johnny Depp's or even Brad Pitt's rather than Leo's.

I could River doing something like Kalifornia, Se7en, 12 Monkeys, Donnie Brasco and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

*I could see

River would have been about 25-26 when Titanic was filming. He could have passed for early 20s, especially considering how mature Kate Winslet's character looked. I know she was supposed to be 17, but she looked far older than that.

River would have actually deserved the career Depp had

Yes, Kate was 20/21 at the time but she looked like she was pushing 30 and she was supposed to be 17.

Heart is as corrupt as any politician. River followed Keanuint o heroin.

You guys are so stupid. River declared his love for Keanu in My Own Private Idaho. Gus lied and covered it up but it was right there for all the world to see. Maybe Keanu was notvwhite enough for you idiot assholes?

Over was an alcoholic along with a drug addict...how could you not know that?

I wonder if Leo had a crush on River and if River would have let Leo have his way with him

It's kind of interesting: he had Harrison Ford's eyes.

River would have not gotten those big roles. He was a drug addict. Unreliable. His manager was having to beg and use favors to get him roles. He probably would have gone to rehab and sold out just like Robert Downey Jr.

Everyone in Hollywood knew River was a junky. Keanu had been in hospital for cotton arm. River lost his life, Keanu almost lost his career...Geffen probably saved him..

River was a performing seal that brought home the bacon for his family. If his career ended due to his unreliability and drug use and he ended up in rehab rather than died then maybe his parents would have actually worked and supported the youngest kids. Unless they would have still forced Rain and Joaquin to be providers (which they did after River died)

I think imagining his career had he not died so young also includes imagining if his drug use were not out of control. Otherwise we're just talking about how many more films he might have squeezed in before the inevitable overdose.

I don't see him doing a film like Titanic. I do think he would have had a career trajectory like Johnny Depp's, or even Phillip Seymour Hoffman's, doing indie fare that occasionally found a wide audience mixed with some heavy dramas opposite big names with prestige directors. I wonder if he would have ended up starring in Joker instead of Joaquin.

If River had lived you cunts would cunting about how awful he looks now.

I feel like River May have died five or ten years later. He seemed really damaged and who knows if he would have gotten help

Wasn't River molested?

River had no guidance or role models. He was forced to perform on the streets at an early age and he raised all of his siblings basically. He had no identity of his own or freedom to find himself.

He was not molested. You guys always on the EVERYBODY WAS MOLESTED, side of the street, get over it.

R146 His family was in a cult (The Children of God) that not only approved of child sex abuse but ritualized it.

River was gay and trying to be straight. Ask Sam.

River was mad about Keanu.

But Heart and John did not go for that.. Heart always had things her way, John was weak.

The parents were two of the worst people to ever have children. They were beyond unfit.

Keanu had a gf I think.

River was inconsistent. He said in the behind the scenes footage of MOPI, that the idea of doing it with a guy grosses him out. But then there are other anecdotes of him being super bicurious and asking this one gay man in the industry a ton of questions about gay sex.

I see a strong resemblance between River and a young Clint Eastwood. I imagine with the understandable desire to throw away the manacles of a pretty-boy image, the LA sun, and his penchant for frowning, he would've aged similarly. Corinthian leather skin and glabellar lines like cracked sandstone.

That picture of his dead body is terrifying. I had no idea he looked like that at the time of his death. I guess the marks on his face are from CPR and his unhealthy lifestyle. I was also in junior high school at the time and River's and Cobain's death were really huge events for my age group. Really sad to read all the "what could have been" comments here. Did Leo D ever mention his death in one of his interviews? Did they know each other?

Leo saw River the night he died. This is a quote from a People magazine article (the link is too long to post here):

[Quote] “And one night, at a party in Silver Lake, I saw him walk up a flight of stairs. It was almost like something you would see in Vertigo, because I saw there was something in his face, and I’d never met him — always wanted to meet him, always wanted to just have an encounter with him — and he was walking toward me and I kind of froze. And then the crowd got in my way, and I looked back and he was gone.” After Phoenix vanished in the crowd, DiCaprio didn’t give up on trying to meet the beloved actor. “I walked back up the stairs and back down, and I was like, ‘Where did he go?’ And he was . . . on his way to The Viper Room,” DiCaprio explained. The Stand By Me actor died from a drug overdose at 23 years old in October of 1993 outside of the iconic Los Angeles landmark.

There's a great alterna-history in that story. Suppose that Leo hadn't frozen, but instead he'd talked to River. And they'd had a great conversation and River never made it to the Viper Room. And then he managed to sober up and got the lead in Titanic and Leo ended up doing indie movies forever. I wonder if Leo ever thinks about THAT?

R154 Leo seemed a bit infatuated with him. I don't see the similarity behind River and Leo besides them both being blond pretty boys with slender features. Their personalities could not be more different.

The experience definitely stayed with him, R156. Here is the rest of the story:

[Quote]“It was almost as if — I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s this existential thing where I felt like . . . he disappeared in front of my very eyes, and the tragedy that I felt afterward of having lost this great influence for me and all of my friends,” the Revenant star continued. “The actor we all talked about. Just to be able to have that, always wanting to just—and I remember extending my hand out, and then . . . Two people came in front and then I looked back, and then he wasn’t there.” To make the story even more full circle, DiCaprio said that he ended up flying to New Orleans “to meet about Interview with the Vampire to play the part Christian Slater ended up playing.” Phoenix had originally been cast in the role.

DiCaprio in 1993. He's 19 but looks about 12.

R158 He looks 16 there. He looked 16 in Titanic too. He looked 12 on Growing Pains.

Leo looks like Greta Thurnberg in that pic.

Too bad River didn't get to do Interview With the Vampire and instead we got that smug, smarmy no-talent Christian Slater.

And you just know that Tommy wouldn't have left River alone during that shoot!

Leo should have tried harder to climb on River's dick at that party. He might have saved a life!

River had a shy, twitchy quality that would have worked really well for the Interviewer in the film. In an alternate universe where he wasn't a junkie, he also would have made a very interesting Louis.

River and Leo would have been a cute couple. Keanu had a girlfriend and was sleeping with Sofia Coppola. Leo has odd taste like Tobey Maguire, Kevin Connolly and Lukas Haas.

River couldn't have played Louis unless they recast Lestat. River would have looked like a child next to Tom Cruise. Pitt and Cruise are only a year apart in age, but Leo is a good 12 years younger than Cruise and looked it in the mid-90s. Of course, now he's wizened to the point that he and Pitt could play contemporaries in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and nobody blinked.

Sorry, got mixed up there. River is 8 years younger than Cruise, but looked even younger in the early 90s. Leo WOULD have looked even younger, of course.

River and Leo would have been an interesting Louis and Lestat, and much closer to the actual ages of the characters when they became vampires.

Yes, Lestat was only around 20 when he became a vampire.

I think Interview With the Vampire would make a great limited series on Netflix or HBO. There's a lot of material in the book that wasn't included in the film. LOTS of homoerotic kink, too.

River was beautiful, and talented. I had the biggest crush on him. Thanks R79 for posting the funeral story, Samantha Mathis tried her best in answering that question.

If you think how many celebs do genuinely terrible things to hurt others, I won’t ever judge River for using when the kid was really hurting himself most of all. I did find the efforts to paint River as “clean” to be over-the-top, but I think in the last 25 years people have become more open about losses to drugs.

River wouldn’t have been competing with Leo di C until they both got slightly older but they could be up for the same roles in later years. Leo is on record saying he several times competed with the same two other kids for roles when young, before he got very famous: one ODed (people assume this was Brad Renfro) and the other committed suicide (thought to be Jonathan Brandis).

Yes, River was four years older than Leo, and Leo looked younger than his actual age in the 90s so they wouldn't have been competing for the same roles.

I'm really surprised they have not tried to do a movie about him.

^I would appreciate a good documentary like "Amy" about Any Winehouse from 2015. I think it even won an Oscar or was nominated. People still talk about him even almost 30 years later while many other actors are long forgotten. So I guess he was special.

^^I wonder if the family is blocking any movies or documentaries about him. Joaquin still doesn't really want to talk about him or that night.

I blame the mother.

The only thing he had going for him was a gorgeous headful of hair. If he was balding by his 20’s, none of you bitches would’ve looked twice at him.

Keanu is gay. He loved River but he preferred older men. Michael Stipe seemed to love River but I do not know where that went. Keanu is 55 and never been married, he has never had a real girlfriend. The press just believes the bullshit that his agent puts out...all of it a complete lie.

River later admitted he was lying about sex at 4. You guys need to do some research.

River wanted to play Rimbaud, not Titanic. All the guys of thatvage wanted it...even if they were too old. I'm sorry I spelled it wrong. None of you seem to know Hollywood gossip.

r175 Keanu once did father a child with his girlfriend. But then they both perished.

R178 He had them killed?

Just a random person on the internet but I don’t actually think Keanu is gay R175, and I normally like to believe any such rumors. Bi, perhaps, but his choices of girlfriend have seemed fairly legit and not for publicity. He did lose a baby with one girlfriend years ago who then herself died, and that no doubt affected him.

River took drugs because of his shitty upbringing, growing up in a cult, being sexually abused, no schooling, having to support his entire family financially and the pressures of Hollywood.

People act like if they were in River's life situation, they would have been normal and not mentally broken inside. River was damaged beyond comprehension, it wouldn't even be surprising if he was growing suicidal. His siblings had it easier compared to him.

(R178) she was killed in a car accident.

He would have looked horrible today. Probably horrible for most of his 30s and beyond. He had a wide face and odd nose. He died at 23, easy to be cute that early into your 20s. By 26 you all would have tossed him overboard. By 30, he would have matured into the cursed child star to adult star face.

He had talent, be he and Brad Pitt weren't on the same hotness scale. Brad would still be raking in massive paychecks while River would possible be a character actor and indie film actor.

His brother stole the best type of career he would have had. But his brother (was) more traditionally attractive so if one goes down the tubes in the looks department I'm going to assume the other awkward one would go down as well.

r155 naw, Leo would still have the role because he was more fuckable in Titanic than River would have been. River is an addict while Leo was not. That alone would have been an issue for a film as demanding as Titanic. James C doesn't seem like the type to take crap from actors needed head to their trailer for another line of coke. They also spent a long time in that cold water pool. If your high your body's temperature controls are working properly. Would have made the shoot even harder. Leo was the perfect choice for the film because you wanted boyish charm. River was already turning into that grungy-edgy guy from the other side of the tracks.

There was such an otherwordly quality about him that it's hard to imagine him ever maturing past 23. I mean, it can be done, but you know it wasn't meant to be. He fits the 'DOOMED YOUTH' cliché to a T.

DL is really a GenX board at its core. Nice to see so many respectful and also knowledgeable and interesting contributions from posters.

I never thought that Joaquin was better looking than River. But I think Joaquin is a really good actor. I loved him in the Joker and Gladiator.

James Cameron said he was interested in River for Titanic in the early stages of the film, so either he didn't know about the drugs or didn't care.

River's drug habits would have aged him prematurely but it also depends, Whitney was still beautiful despite her drug problems. Genes can sometimes trump addiction.

Leo's drinking aged him prematurely too. James Dean's insomnia and smoking was already aging him prematurely. Brad Renfro aged completely poorly due to his drug use before his death.

^ Forgot to add, I don't see River accepting the role, though. Drugs or otherwise.

Does anyone know where you can get a copy of his last movie? Dark Moon. Know the director tried to finish it. Narrated the parts that weren't finished. Was filmed in Utah where I live.

Re aging, good bone structure carries a long time, and River had that top spare. Look at Depp with his decades of alcohol and drug use-- his looks didn't fall off the cliff until this past decade. So in theory River could have gotten to at least his 50s still looking quite beautiful.

River's face was just as unique and gorgeous in profile, which is pretty rare even among movie stars.

Also Heath Ledger and aging.

He was a Virgo with Moon in Taurus and Scorpio rising.

What sayeth ye, resident DL astrologers?

Keanu is the gayest man in Hollywood. He loves being gay and he does not fuck woman. He has women friends but he has never had a girlfriend that he fucked. Robert Mailhouse was a boyfriend, then Tiger Chen. Keanu is gay and firmly in the closet.

Joaquin is a much better actor from a child to the present.

Little known fact, his name was actually spelled Rivere Pheniques

Ethan Hawke's first film was Explorers where he co-starred with River. He voiced his admiration for River's performance in My Own Private Idaho too.

River seemed into girls for the most part. But he seemed open-minded or curious about the same sex and may or may not have experimented. He was young when he died and still figuring himself out. He gets props for being supportive of gay rights and marriage equality.

River was ahead of his time in many ways.

Riv6er declared his love for Keanu in My Own Private Idaho and his costars would admit it, if you ever ask them.

I always liked this casual picture of him:

Sorry, I meant the second pic from the top at the following link:

He had the most amazing hair. He looked hot with long and short hair. Not a lot of actors can pull that off. Brad Pitt also has this amazing hair and looked hot as fuck with long hair in Legends of the Fall. Taylor Kitsch also looks much hotter with long hair.

I think Keanu is bi because of his relationship with Jennifer Syme and Sofia Coppola. Bi people exist and usually will have a preference for one gender over the other. Keanu also doesn't do the fake relationships to present as straight thing which I respect.

Keanu also when asked about his sexuality in the early 90s said, "there's nothing wrong with being gay, so to deny it is to make a judgment.”

Judah Lewis from the The Babysitter movies could be just the right young actor to star in a River biopic.

The best photos are of River and keanu together by Wagner.

Gus made it perfectly clear that he had an affair with keanu. If you knew anything about this group of people...you knew that Gus was spilling his guts. As for Sophie? Keanu would sleep with anyone if he could work with Coppola or any big name director.

I just wish someone knew as much as I do about River and Keanu...maybe Flea would know?

I think Michael Shannon and River share a resemblance.

He could’ve played Lucien Carr.

He looks like Harry Styles

Wow, Joaquin and Rooney named their son River, what a nice tribute.

R213 I just hope they raise that child right. Both of them seem like hot messes though.

It seems like yesterday he was still around. I can’t believe he’d be 50.

Joaquin and Rooney have named their new son River.

I wouldn't have saddled a kid with that kind of legacy. As a middle name, sure, but not as a first name.

It may have been good that Martha Plimpton aborted River's baby. She was probably aware of how crazy that family was and while she loved River, she knew he would never know how to be a proper father due to his shitty parent's poor example.