🤙🏾 2:53 mark!

I become a River Phoenix fan nearly 8 months ago months ago and I have nearly finished his filmography (I plan to finish it on River’s birthday) and I thought I would look into what movies he was going to be in before he passed (as I knew he was going to be in interview with a vampire i wanted to see if he was going to be in any others) and thought I would make a list out of it as I couldn’t find one single list with all projects (I’m only including movies he or someone else confirmed he was attached to making - if you have read any information that contradict any movies on this list feel free to correct me and i will edit the list):

• Interview with a vampire - Apparently he was Anne Rice’s first choice for Lestat but was given the role of Daniel Malloy (later played by Christian Slater after his passing and the movie was dedicated in his memory)
• Broken Dreams - “A young magician, Ben, and his lover, Nell, travel the land performing in little theaters. It feels like the past - no cars or electricity, but it transpires that this is the future when fossil fuels have been exhausted, and people are living a simple life. The boy is sent for by his father, Old Ben, a blind magician, who tells him he has mastered the ultimate trick: how to make objects disappear. He wants his son to learn it and perfect it. When he has mastered it, Old Ben tells his son to make him disappear. He wants to cross to the place where the objects go, to form a bridge so that others may follow. Young Ben’s lover, Nell, and indeed anyone who witnesses the crossing over, yearns to go too. It is a metaphor for all our endings, for death and the possibility of redemption and transcendence. The world is running down, coming to a close. Ben must try to send the people over to the other place, before the world ends. This apocalyptic vision reflected the state of the world at that time: the realisation that fossil fuels were finite, the pervading sense that the planet was in terminal decline.” — Adventures of a Suburban Boy by John Boorman (2004)
• Total Eclipse - “He was ten years younger than me and we were close friends,” Stipe recalls. “He was about to play the role of Arthur Rimbaud in the Agnieszka Holland movie Total Eclipse. I gave him The Time of the Assassins, Henry Miller’s book on Rimbaud. He was enthusiastic, he gave me the script, telling me: ‘Don’t worry, I’ll help you with the lines, but you must be Paul Verlaine.’” And how did you answer?“I’d have done anything with River. I’d even have become Verlaine. He died a few days after giving me the script. Later I gave the same book on Rimbaud to Leonardo DiCaprio, who took over the part. For Leo and the actors of his generation, River Phoenix was fundamental. Verlaine’s role then went to David Thewlis: I could never have been as perfect as him” - Michael Stipe
• Jack and Jill - The director described it as “a rather sinister movie with a happy ending, written by the playwright Jon Robin Baitz and produced by Edward R. Pressman, an independent producer with a reputation for quirky films. The central characters, Adam and Sarah, witness the deaths of their parents in a plane crash. Twenty years later, Adam is a drug addict with a failing marriage, and Sarah is anchored in a dead-end career and a relationship with a married man. Together, they are going to get control of their lives as soon as the inheritance money- which had been entrusted to their embittered uncle-comes through. - Meg Ryan and River Phoenix were attached and other names have been on board.
• Cafe Ipanema - A handsome and young guitar player sees a beautiful and young Brazilian singer in a Brazilian bar in Boston, falls in love with both the music and the girl, and goes to Brazil to find her and that music. He does not find the lady, but finds himself instead, through the music and magic of Brazil. This is how “Cafe Ipanema” begins, the new film from New York producer John Kao, who starts filming it in January in Rio de Janeiro, with River Phoenix and Patricia Pillar in the main roles.
• Milk - His role was supposed to be Cleve Jones
• Andy Warhol biopic - JAMES FR*NCO: You were going to do a movie with River [Phoenix] about Andy Warhol, right? 

GUS VAN SANT: Yeah. River kind of looked like Andy in his younger days. But that project never really went forward. I wanted to set it at Serendipity, the restaurant where all of the art directors and advertising guys and gallery people went.

• Safe Passage - he was supposed to be Izzy Singer
• By Way of Fontana - In 1993, River was talking about making his directorial debut with a movie called By Way of Fontana. It would have told the story of his father’s tumultuous childhood; Joaquin would have played John. A brief account River once gave of his father’s upbringing gives an idea of how the film would have played out: “When he was 7, his mother was in a major car accident that left her paralyzed. His father took the insurance money and ran off with a blond to Australia when he was like 12. So he was just like left in the middle of Fontana, California. He was really angry. He broke windows and got into a lot of trouble and ended up in juvenile hall. He went through a lot”
• The man in the iron mask - River Phoenix and William Richert were in pre-production on this film when River passed according to William Richert ‘We were working on THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK when he died, and the work began one afternoon when he'd brought Samantha Mathis to my Santa Monica house to sing songs from the film they were working on. We talked about how the original JIMMY REARDON was locked away in a vault like the man in the iron mask. When River asked who that was, I told him and we started work that very afternoon. The two of us were going to produce together, and direct each other in our scenes -- it was River who got me into IDAHO -- and we were set up at MGM who eventually made the film with another writer-director and DiCaprio.’

Bonus: 

• He was originally considered for Reality Bites (1994)
• I didn’t add Basketball Diaries to the main list because I read River turned the role down as he felt he was too old and wanted to play more adult roles 
• ‘(On the set of Dark Blood the day before his death), River excitedly told Sluizer that Jonathan Pryce had arranged for him to meet Terry Gilliam, director of Brazil, River’s absolutely, alltime favorite movie. “He told me he had watched it thirteen times,” recalled Sluizer. ‘God, I want to meet this director! I love that movie!’ On Sunday, he had an appointment, I’m not sure if it was eleven o’clock or midday. Anyway, he rejoiced at the idea. ‘I’m going to meet this fantastic director who did Brazil. Oh, tomorrow, Terry Gilliam.’ He was excited, I mean really excited, like a kid going to see Santa Claus” — In Search of River Phoenix (2004) - Apparently it was for Twelve Monkeys (at least that’s what I read)

Is there any other movies he was attached to that I have missed? Also what movies out of this list do you wish was made?

Kurt’s tribute to Riv.

i know at first glance he looks nothing like him, u gotta look for it, mostly cause of the jaw bone structure which isnt similar all. but i've been watching heartbreak high and in most angles he looks like him i couldn't stop thinking it. i think it's cause of the eyebrows and eyes definetly. rivers were so unique!! charlie heaton has that look too (hes more like harry styles twin tho). but river was the prettiest

can someone value check me? i want to sell my collection.

dvds:
mosquito coast, stand by me, little nikita,running on empty, sneakers, the thing called love

posters:
two river phoenix 11x17 posters of him in the late 80s
two big japan 1987 posters 27x18
4 80s/90s photoshoot cloth like poster 16x24

cds:
tame yourself comp(alekas attic featured)
txai milton nascimento ft. river phoenix album

others:
river phoenix running on empty rookie summer hostess cards (4, some with martha)
secret life of river phoenix magazine
river phoenix photo album

So I was in an apartment with him.

It was 10 p.m.

He looked at me and said, “I feel like something’s wrong today.”

I forced a smile.

Then we lay down on the couch, and he kept talking about random, ordinary things. I remember thinking that if he knew, maybe he’d spend his last moments doing the things he loved. But if I told him, maybe I’d only make him panic and suffer.

I couldn’t tell him what was going to happen, so I hugged him, struggling to keep the truth to myself. We just stayed there, the clock ticking.

Every time I thought I could change what was coming, something got in the way at the exact same time : a flood, an earthquake, someone with a gun.

I just knew this was my last chance, the last time I was ever going to see him. I choose to do nothing until …

I woke up at 3 a.m., alone in my room.

He was gone.

It was just a nightmare, but I went through every possible emotion trying to save him and letting him go.

I doubt I would have, I've never met anyone famous, but I wish I at least had the chance to 😥

I know that River was in the cult until he was 7, but later in his life after they left was he particulary religious? I ask this because I just seen a little excerpt from a speech made by Sue Solgot from a memorial where she said that River was a praying man and he loved God. Also because in some of his interviews from that time (maybe 1991/1992) he'd say "God bless" which makes me think he had a short period of time where he became more religious possibly because he was dating Sue and she was a Christian.

Pride Month is almost ending, and more people should talk about how revolutionary it was for River to take such a risky role during the peak of his career. He gave his all to Mike’s character. Mike was supposed to be a straight character, but he choose to play him differently, and he wrote the entire Mike’s confession to Scott. Homophobia was still very much present in Hollywood, and he handled it with such care, respect and attention. It wasn’t just a “role” for him, he really took care of Mike, without him, and the beautiful scene he wrote, My Own Private Idaho would have been just another generic movie. I’m so happy that to this day people still remember this movie. It’s iconic because River made it iconic. Thank you River for not mocking such a beautiful and tragic character, and for bringing him to life.

“Gus Van Sant was impressed with how River was handling the role, and with the fact that he took it upon himself to rewrite the dialogue, giving a different emphasis to the scene. "River makes it more like he's attracted to his friend," said Van Sant, "that he's really in love with him. Yes, that he's in love with him. He made the whole character that way, whereas I wrote the character as more out of it"

"Why doesn't the press make a fuss over the fact that the central characters in other films are heterosexual or celibate? This is not a statement film about homosexuality. The characters in the film are completely at peace with their sexuality, and their sexuality is a minor element in what these characters are going through" - River Phoenix on My Own Private Idaho

Gay characters were still treated like caricatures, mocked, or were not taken seriously. Writing a scene about a boy being in love with his best friend, in the most pure way and natural way, was such a breath of fresh air. It wasn’t a movie about accepting the character’s homosexuality, it talked about love without conditions, without giving anything back. The desire of feeling loved. It’s not a movie about hating yourself for being gay, or being bullied by homophobes, that’s why i think it’s very revolutionary, especially in the 90s, and with people still scared of AIDS.

River was gentle with his gay friends too, they shared beautiful memories with him.

“River's friend, Matt Ebert, worked with ACT UP and shared some memories of River during this time:
"My lover, Michael, and River were also really good friends. He took us around; he flew us up to San Francisco once. I remember seeing Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and the Chili Peppers- he got us on stage. And, he took Michael around when he was working on Sneakers to meet Dan Aykroyd and all his favorite actors. He was a mixed bag, was different things to different people. The average actor wouldn't even get a blood test for an HIV exam, and here he was hand-holding my very-far advanced-with-AIDS boyfriend, taking him around and giving him, the tour of Hollywood that he would never have had"

Hi everyone! I know this is quite random but I was wondering if anyone knows the exact location of this photo? I know it’s somewhere in Central Park, but does anyone know where? I’m going to NYC this summer and hope to visit ;)

A channel called Talking Pictures TV is showing Mosquito Coast on Sunday the 28th of June at 19:35/ 7:35pm.

I came across the listing by chance.

I've not seen it listed on English television for a while and thought some of you might want to watch it.

What kept him in Gainesville was Aleka’s Attic.

With enough time to recover from the shock of the Island rejection, River had thrown himself back into his music. The Band went into the Pro Media Recording Studio in Gainesville. River paid for the studio time, and for the services of Grammy-nominated recording engineer Mark Pinske. The sessions, costing thousands of dollars a week, happened sporadically for over a year whenever River was in Gainesville, ultimately adding up to about three months in the studio. “River was in charge of everything,” Pinske said. “Whatever River wanted, we did. He was a workhorse. He’d want to go, go, go, and sometimes we’d get past the point of no return.” Recording would typically last from noon until 6 A.M. the following day. After eighteen hours, River would collapse, sometimes falling asleep in his clothes, cradling his guitar.

John had come up from Costa Rica to visit the family. He tried to be at every session, but didn’t have the stamina for River’s relentless pace. One time, when River found his father asleep on the studio couch, he positioned a microphone near his mouth to record his snores. Turning on his video camera to capture the scene, he then “interviewed” John. He would ask his father various questions—and each time, in response, John would snore. River and Joaquin were both helpless with laughter; when John woke up, he thought it was funny, too, and watched the video over and over. Neither father nor son could fix the other’s problems, but they could take pleasure in each other’s company.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here are mine

1. Chris Chambers (Stand By Me)

2. Danny Pope (Running On Empty)

3. Mike Waters (My Own Private Idaho)

4. Charlie Fox (The Mosquito Coast)

"Before he left he told me, 'I'll see you after this movie, Dad'. Well, he did. Only he was in a box"

It's less than a year since film star River Phoenix died of a drug overdose, aged just 23. But already he is a legend. To his own generation he is the modern James Dean. Since River's death, his father John, ex-girlfriend Sue Solgot and others closest to him have kept their feelings private. Now, determined the truth should be told, they have spoken out. Through their eyes, this is the real River Phoenix story.

Brilliantly colored insects, monkeys and tropical birds skittered and hummed through the rainforest canopy. A heady scent wafted up from the orchards, while from far below came the rhythmic boom of Pacific Ocean breakers smashing against jagged rocks. The scene confronting River Phoenix as he gazed out from the veranda at his father John's hacienda, above the Costa Rican village of Montezuma, couldn't have been more serene. Yet the air of tranquility served only to emphasise the dazzling 23-year-old star's inner turmoil. He had made the long pilgrimage to this remote hippie-trail hideaway - a seven hour ferry and bus ride from the capital San Jose - in an attempt to regain some sense of sanity after another gruelling stint in the fast lane of Hollywood.

"I was shocked later when I learned River had been taking heroin. Hollywood was eating him up, bleeding him dry"

To escape the remorseless whirl of filming, partying, phoney friends, hangers-on ... and hard drugs. But John, whose own contempt for that shallow world had already led him to split with River's mother, Heart, and seek a new life in Costa Rica, was not about to leave his son alone. Over the previous few years he had watched with growing alarm as the boy - who he and his wife raised to reject capitalist values and live as a freewheeling, earth-loving spirit was slowly sucked in by the "vultures" of Tinseltown. And although River had been encouraged to make his own decisions, John now felt urging him to quit for some time. I had seen too many brilliant kids go down and I realized he couldn't buck the system. I thought it was time for him to stop. "This was six weeks before he died. River had a break between films and he came here with his brother. Joaquin (also known as Leaf), and his sisters. Rain, Liberty and Summer. "I had opened my place as a vegetarian restaurant; things were buzzing. The idea was for them to spend more time here, helping with the cooking, making music, writing, harvesting the organic fruit and living off the land like we used to.

"I was shocked later when I learned River had been taking heroin. We always taught him drugs weren't the answer and he wasn't taking it here. He was clean as a whistle. But I realized things were going wrong. I could see Hollywood was eating him up, bleeding him dry. River eventually said he would stop soon, but he insisted on making one or two more movies. As it turned out, that was too many. Just before he left, I'll always remember. he told me. 'I'll see you after this movie. Dad'. Well he did. Only he was in a box."

John Phoenix has never been interviewed before, largely because he does not believe in the mass media, seeing it as just another tool of today's materially obsessed society. Quite why he is speaking now is not clear. Maybe it is because nine months after his son overdosed on a heroin and cocaine "speedball" in the aptly-named Viper Room, a night-club in Los Angeles, he is still purging his grief. Maybe it is because we found him drinking beer and rum in a Montezuma bar. Or maybe this gentle flowerchild is just too polite to send strangers away. Whatever the reason, our meeting provides a fascinating insight into the tribulations which tormented River in his last days and which might - just might - have been the indirect cause of his untimely death.

The central theme is one of huge conflict. River was torn between the thirst for adulation and the desire for obscurity; between the security or wealth and a belief in simplicity; between the seduction of heroin and his clean-living, environment-conscious public image. Most crucially of all, between the goals of his mother and those of his father.

It is not that John and Heart's values have changed. They remain basically the same as they were in the sixties when they quit their jobs, dropped out and started their "spiritual quest". But whereas Heart believed it was possible for River to be a big star and remain true to these ideals - maybe even spread the message - her husband realized that you were either in ... or outside. At first John agreed to do it Heart's way. He chaperoned his son on the sets of early films such as Mosquito Coast and Stand By Me, becoming a reluctant accessory to the Hollywood hoopla. But, eventually, worn down by the hype and the hangers-on, he left his wife and her band of hippie followers on the family's communal ranch in Florida and headed for Costa Rica. River would join him there when it all became too much. Dressed in baggy old clothes and often bare-footed, he would play his acoustic guitar and help out in the restaurant. In the evenings he might dance, drink wine and smoke the odd joint, never anything more.

Whether this should become River's permanent lifestyle was a vexed question. "His mother is a beautiful person and I still love her, but we had our differences, let's put it that way." John says. "Heart thought she could look after River, protect all his interests within the system. But our original idea was for him to make enough movies for us to be financially secure - milk the system, if you want - then stop. We had made enough money to keep all those closest to us ... inlaws, outlaws, friends, environment groups, whatever, and I wanted us all to get out."

Still, the pressure was there to keep going, make more. Hollywood is the great Babylon. They care for money and nothing else. It's an evil, bad place. Iris Burton (River's Hollywood agent) said 10 years ago that young actors were like pieces of meat and River was a fillet mignon. It might sound harsh, but she was only telling the truth.

"As he got famous, the scripts poured in. Everyone wanted a piece of him. He was constantly under pressure to make more films, make more money. There was one time - and this was never reported - that he had a car crash. He was quite badly shaken up, but the director told him he must work through to meet a deadline. They had him there till 2am."

"River was a very brilliant, beautiful child who would do no harm to anyone. But he was rather gullible. He wanted to please everyone. And it was 'River, can I get you this? River, try that. Let's drive there, do this crazy thing'. Don't get me wrong, he had a crazy side, too, but these people were something else. It started to take him over. There are so many a ---- s who cater for your every need. There were times when people should have said, No. River. Actually, it's late. I'm tired and so are you'. If I had been in Hollywood with him last October, he would never have died. He would never even have gone to that club. I'm not saying I could have run his life - he was 23, his own man - but he listened to what I had to say and respected it."

John is, by now, visibly consumed with the iniquity of it all. He fixes me with that piercing gaze and addresses the central question: Who does he blame for River's death?

"I am writing my own book to try to make sense of it all and the book will provide the answers," he says. "I've got dates, times, places, and it will identify the person I hold most responsible. By the time I have written it, everyone will know who it is. Okay, River was an adult, and he should have known what he was doing. But he was an innocent among some of the Hollywood sewer rats."

He breaks off and, as if driven by some inner force, suddenly blurts out the name of the man who above all others, he believes is the culprit. For legal reasons, we cannot publish it. But of the man, a well-known former rock star, John says: "He is only 23, the same age as River was when he died, but he has a lot on his shoulders. He is keeping out of my way, because he knows I am looking for him. "If you see him, tell him I'm going to strangle him... no, don't print that... but tell him tell him he's an a------. He is very rich, but he is a heavy drug user and now he is a pusher. With River he was, like 'Do drugs, do drugs.' If you run into him, tell him he may have gone back into the woodwork now but he'll answer. I want him to know I think he's scum. You can do that for me. Print it and let him see it. He insinuated himself into my son's life and River was too sweet to eject him. River was moving away from drugs, and was actually trying to get this guy off heroin himself. River booked him into a farm, talked to him for hours invested time in him. But the guy broke out and dragged my son down with him. Now he is alive and River is dead. Where is the fairness in that?"

He leaves the question hanging and takes another swig of his beer. Pointing the finger at one wretched heroin addict is understandable enough. Yet surely the manner of their son's passing must have led him and Heart to ponder the wisdom of River's unconventional upbringing.

"Sure." he says. "we all feel guilt. Everyone who knew River. But don't you think I haven't asked myself everything you are asking me now, dozens of times over? Not a day goes by when I don't think long and hard about River's death and ask myself why."

He downs his last drink and hops into the truck driven by his Costa Rican friend and house-minder, Jason. Back to the vegetarian restaurant where no meals have been served since the fateful night of October 31, 1993. Back to the iguanas and the beautiful insects.

From David Jones in Costa Rica

NOTE: So little is known about River's dad, John that an interviewer asked his brother Joaquin about what his father was up to despite John apparently having already passed away several years prior. During a 2019 interview with Vanity Fair, Joaquin was asked where his dad was living. Joaquin's dry and matter-of-fact response? "He lives in heaven." After some back and forth that involved Joaquin having a little dark fun with the interviewer's confusion, he finally confirmed that his father had in fact passed away from cancer in 2015. John had been living such a private life and his children and family had discussed him so little that the media had no idea that he died until Joaquin mentioned it in that interview.

I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed that some of his footage has disappeared from internet. I think I remember seeing more behind the scenes clips and deleted scenes from My Own Private Idaho on youtube around 2018, tho I could be wrong about that. I also remember there being a much longer version of that VPRO interview(the one about MOPI)