"I did get the sense that he was searching and confused about things, and insecure....He didn't have a lot of technique - you just turned on the camera and he would tell the truth" - Stand By Me director, Rob Reiner.
RUNNING
ON EMPTY
The Life of
River Phoenix
He was born River Jude Bottom on August 23rd 1970, named after the "river of life" in Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha, and his mother's favourite song Hey Jude by The Beatles. River was followed later by siblings Rain Joan of Arc, Libertad Mariposa (Liberty Butterfly), Summer Joy and Joaquin (who changed his name to Leaf and then back to Joaquin).
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Eventually the
family settled in Los Angeles where River found regular
T.V work before appearing in Joe Dante's Explorers,
Rob Reiner's Stand By Me, and The Mosquito
Coast. Having no formal training, River used a
technique of slowly dissolving his own personality and
becoming the character he was playing, a technique he
would call upon throughout his career. Although
critically acclaimed for his performance, River was his
own hardest critic. "I did get the sense that he was searching and confused about things, and insecure....He didn't have a lot of technique - you just turned on the camera and he would tell the truth" - Stand By Me director, Rob Reiner. |
Now much in demand, Phoenix appeared in Little Nikita and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, amongst others, even securing an Oscar� nomination for Best Supporting Actor in Running On Empty in 1989. Regular work was ensued, including the narcoleptic rent boy in My Own Private Idaho. By this time River was able to command several million dollars for his performance in Sneakers and the vanity project The Thing Called Love alonside girlfriend Samantha Mathis.