You just saw that raw naturalism. Now if you are going there "for the history" of celebrity overdose deaths on the sidewalks, this is your place. River turned 15 while shooting Stand by Me, and seemed determined to grow up just as decisively as the movie’s characters. Reiner led them in games drawn from Viola Spolin’s book Improvisations for the Theater: River and the other boys mimed each other’s gestures as if they were mirror images, told collaborative stories, and took turns guiding each other blindfolded through their hotel lobby. Stand by Me, based on the Stephen King novella The Body, is the story of four boys in small-town Oregon in 1959. It’s been 20 years since the death of River Phoenix at age 23. “These kids, because this was Oregon and not L.A., and because we were actors and they admired us or whatever, they’d do anything to appease us. Harry Morton was also a volunteer sheriff’s deputy at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s West Hollywood station. She collapsed on the road, the same road we used to walk back and forth, for years- while she was walking back home. Feldman had known River a long time – they had become friendly on the L.A. audition circuit. “It’s not easy watching yourself so vulnerable.”. At the end of one outing, they found themselves at a clothing-optional hot springs that was hosting a hippie fair; some of the cast got to juggle with the Flying Karamazov Brothers. He explained, “He was so professional and so intense, he just seemed a lot older than he was. The Revamped Viper Room … Superman’s a real guy. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Can anyone go to the Viper Room? The thought of meat-eating makes me shudder.”, ‘My Own Private Idaho’ — five deleted scenes. The Pirates of the Caribbean star had turned the club into a rock venue where acts including Guns 'N' Roses and Johnny Cash performed. The experiences that had made his life extraordinary had also made it impossible to find common ground with regular teenagers. Kiefer Sutherland had a supporting role as the quartet’s nemesis, a juvenile delinquent named Ace Merrill. More importantly, he summoned his four young leads one week early to Brownsville, Oregon (about a hundred miles west of where River was born, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains). Fall/Winter 2016 collection. River was an outspoken animal rights activist and environmentalist. 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. He followed it up with Sidney Lumet’s ‘Running on Empty’ in 1988, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He even wrote a letter to Explorers director Joe Dante, who knew about River’s unslaked teenage lust, with the caps-lock on his handwriting: “WELL IT HAPPENED. “Kind of like a father figure to some of us.”, At first, Wheaton  was intimidated  by River, who was 14 to his 12. Feldman said, “There was no alcohol served there or anything, but of course, all the kids were drinking anyway.” The locals offered booze to the visiting Hollywood actors and, with the lightest touches of peer pressure, got them to take their first drinks. When the two kids spotted a bong in his closet and asked what it was, he not only explained its purpose and workings to them, he (with what seems an astonishing lack of adult responsibility) let them try it out. Then we cut their throats, shred them and eat them! Perhaps he felt that by drawing on his wellspring of pain and betrayal, he had exposed his secrets to the world. Nevertheless, on a day when River was in a destructive mood, he bombarded Sutherland’s car with large dirt clods until it was covered in muck. Reiner gave his stars tapes of late-Fifties music and made sure they learned the slang of the era. lifebuzz It’s been 20 years since the death of River Phoenix at age 23. on his way to The Viper Room,” DiCaprio explained. The Viper Room is on the property where the 8550 Sunset Blvd. The coda: Some months later, when the Stand by Me cast stayed in a New York City hotel for the movie’s press junket, a distinctive aroma was wafting from River’s room. When River explained he was the culprit behind the dirt-clod fusillade, Sutherland laughed and said, “Don’t worry about it. Harry Morton also bought the Viper Room nightclub in West Hollywood in 2008. Shared, Sir. Depp closed the Viper Room every year on October 31 until selling his share in the club in 2004. The movie is saturated with issues of mortality – even if the boys treat their journey like an impromptu camping jamboree, they are looking for a dead body – but the flip side is that it has an unusually warm, generous sense of what it means to be alive. This story, this incident, reminds me of a friend, a girlfriend. He seemed to have this wisdom around him that was really difficult to quantify at that age.” He was smart, he was musically talented, and he was one of the kindest people Wheaton had ever met. It’s insane. ARCHIVE NEWS FOOTAGE OF HIS LIFE AND DEATH. During his childhood, River travelled in South America with his “hippie” missionary parents, members of the Children of God cult. According to the so-called specialists. © Copyright 2021 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Reiner wasn’t satisfied with River’s performance – it seemed emotionally flat. Johnny Depp owned The Viper Room when Phoenix died outside (Image: Alcon Entertainment) Depp, who bought The Viper Room in the early 1990s, was deeply impacted by the death of his close friend. He collapsed on the sidewalk outside the popular West Hollywood nightspot The Viper Room, which was part-owned by actor Johnny Depp at the time.. Depp closed the Viper Room every year on October 31 until selling his share in the club in 2004. The downstairs lounge was small and limited. “Chris Chambers was the leader of our gang, and my best friend. He collapsed on the sidewalk outside the popular West Hollywood nightspot The Viper Room, which was part-owned by actor Johnny Depp at the time. India is among the countries most dramatically affected by snakebite and accounts for almost half the total number of annual deaths in the world. In blue jeans and a white T-shirt, sporting a short Fifties haircut, he looked like a screen star of the past – one in particular. The Viper Room’s dark past would continue to haunt the actor, and in 2000, his business partner Anthony Fox filed a lawsuit against Depp alleging that he defrauded him of millions of dollars in club profits. And they threw the poolside chairs into the hotel pool – the closest four well-meaning young adolescents could get to acting like the Who. “He decided it was time to end his self-imposed ‘second virginity’ and get on with his first teen sexual encounter,” Feldman said. Could accommodate maybe 25 persons comfortably. The incident happened in The Viper Room. He didn’t think a coming-of-age period piece had much commercial potential, but it was the sort of movie he wanted to make. You can listen to the 911 call in its entirety here. The defining scene for Chris comes when, late at night by a campfire, he confesses his fear that no matter what he does, the town will always think of him as “one of those low-life Chambers kids.” On the night the scene was shot, River delivered the monologue, telling the story of how he stole milk money from his school and then had moral qualms and returned the cash to a teacher – only to have her keep the money for herself, letting him take the blame and a three-day suspension. The Viper Room is a nightclub located on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California, United States. “Phoenix immerses himself so deeply inside his character you almost forget you’ve seen him before,” a film reviewer wrote of his performance in ‘My Own Private Idaho.’ “It’s a stunningly sensitive performance, poignant and comic at once.”. At the hotel, the actors were testing their limits. In early 1995, Australian singer and actor Jason Donovansuffered a drug-induced seizure at the c… In Last Night at the Viper Room, out today, Rolling Stone contributor Gavin Edwards tells the story of the actor-musician’s brief life and tragic death. Although the cast and crew remember the idyllic shoot of Stand by Me as the best summer ever, they were also making a quiet little movie that would turn out to be a masterpiece. Now if you are going there "for the history" of celebrity overdose deaths on the sidewalks, this is your place. “Whenever we saw each other on auditions,” Feldman remembered, “we would hang out or play outside while everyone else was sitting in the room waiting for their shot.”. Production began on The Body (as it was then known) in June 1984. On Halloween night 20 years ago, actor River Phoenix, 23, collapsed and died outside the Viper Room nightclub in West Hollywood, Calif.Fans were … River had a major crush on a friend of the family, an older teenager; the feeling was apparently mutual, since she propositioned him. “Sex was nearly all that River could think about,” Feldman said. “It was a beautiful experience,” Arlyn said later. “I could smell the pot coming all the way down the hallway,” Feldman said. River’s brother Joaquin is well known to the world as a superb actor; his sisters Rain, Liberty and Summer are actors and musicians. She was a divorced mom, a single parent. Ps : my apologies, Sir, for having to read this. I heard the bad news while i was in US. Sometimes he would act out dialogue himself so his young performers could hear what he was looking for, but this time Reiner had a quiet word with River, asking him, “Is there a moment in your life where you can recall an adult letting you down, and betraying you in some way? On Halloween night 1993, the 23-year-old took too many illegal substances and died at the entrance to a well-known California club, in front of the eyes of his brother Joaquin and sister Rain. Your simple phrase, “the same road we used to walk back and forth, for years” becomes so vivid in my mind, I can picture the scene and feel the pain. That Night at the Viper Room. Upstairs was standing room only unless you were paying to reserve one of the few tables there. River Pheonix was a rising star when he overdosed outside of the Viper Room Nightclub in 1993. Before he was fully healed, he went on an audition for Stand by Me. ... Now if you are going there "for the history" of celebrity overdose deaths on the sidewalks, this is your place. The downstairs lounge was small and limited. We use them, abuse them, and deprive them all their lives. The Viper Room rose to Hollywood infamy after River Phoenix tragically overdosed there on Halloween night in 1993, and his brother's harrowing 911 call was broadcast on news channels around the world. You don’t have to tell me who it is. . No one under 21 allowed. “Obviously, there was something very hurtful to him in his life that he connected with to make that scene work. Fox was scheduled to testify in court shortly after his disappearance. Before it was the Viper, the building had a checkered past In fact, it was once the Melody Room -- a known gangster hangout, where Bugsy Seigel … In other words: “He just seemed cool.”. Want more Rolling Stone? Stand by Me is full of quotable lines (“Mickey Mouse is a cartoon. On Oct. 30, 1993, Phoenix went with his girlfriend Samantha Mathis and siblings Joaquin and Rain to the Hollywood club the Viper Room. After the scene, Reiner went to River, who was still crying, gave him a big hug, and told him he loved him. Chick Corea, Jazz Pianist Who Expanded the Possibilities of the Genre, Dead at 79, New Details Emerge in Bruce Springsteen Arrest, How to Bone When You’re Alone: 17 Sex Toys for Self-Pleasure During Self-Quarantine, ‘Game of Thrones’ Actress Esmé Bianco Accuses Marilyn Manson of Physical Abuse, Judge Rules Against Britney Spears’ Father at Conservatorship Hearing, Pooh Shiesty’s New Video for ‘See Red’ Is All About Driving Fast, 500 Greatest Albums Podcast: How Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ Chronicled a Nation in Turmoil, Strippers, Drag Queens and Dancing Dogs: The Insane 1971 Party That Launched Alice Cooper.