Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind (29 page)

“Yeah, very funny, kid”: Boyd.

31. I AM AN ISLAND

“The bigger labels are supermarkets”: from the Chris Blackwell biography at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Web site (he was inducted in 2001). “He seems like a really cool kid,” “My God, he just stood out”: author interview with Kim Buie (2012). “progressive ethereal folk-rock”: multiple sources, including Blair (August 1988) and Yakir (July 1989).

32. YOUNG HOLLYWOOD 1987

Stealing car keys with a fishing rod: Kiedis.

33. I HOPE THE RUSSIANS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN, TOO

“I felt so out of place”: Boyd. “Is River Phoenix a star?”: Hinson. “I feel River Phoenix”: from the Columbia Pictures press kit for
Little Nikita
. “He gave me tips about life”: Glatt.

34. DINNERTIME FOR THE PHOENIX FAMILY, SPRING 1987

“Tofu cheesecake,” I get to lick the bowl,” etc.: Peters.
The Cookbook for the People Who Love Animals
is by Michael A. Klaper.

35. PARTY AT THE ZAPPA HOUSE

“big crush”: author interview with Ione Skye (2012). “It was a really wild, eclectic mix,” etc.: author interview with Frank Meyer (2012). In 1990, Nelson had a number one single with a catchy pop-metal slice of cheese, “(Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection.”

36. ECHO #4:
RUNNING ON EMPTY

“People think the Popes”: MacDonald. “There’s a connection there”: Voland.

37. RUNNING INTO THE SUN BUT I’M RUNNING BEHIND

“He’s never studied formally”: Glatt. “pianomanship”: Lumet. “This feels fake to me,” “River doesn’t have a false bone”: MacDonald. “Who’s General Patton?”: Abramowitz et al. “He could read and write”: Abramowitz et al. Lahti’s competing urges: described by her at River’s memorial service, as found in Snyder. “As I got closer”: Abramowitz et al. “He was leaping and jumping”: Abramowitz et al.
Running on Empty
actually contains footage of River executing one of those leaps, awkwardly but joyfully, roughly fifty-eight minutes into the movie: it’s a shot in the sequence where River and Plimpton are walking by the shore.

38. EXT. PHILLIPS HOUSE

“I think of the roles I’ve played lately,” River said to John Voland of the
Los Angeles Times, “
the one in
Running on Empty
shows the direction I want to head in: on the leading edge
out
of the teen years.”

PART FOUR

39. MAKING PLANS FOR RIVER

“My father is worried”: Blair (August 1988). “I’m against the nuclear arms race”: Yakir (July 1989). “the gods of the oceans”: McFarland.

40. FOOD FOR LIFE

“I like to pretend,” etc.: Boyd.

41. CAMP PHOENIX

“River had his own way”: Glatt. Details on mortgage: Lawrence.

42. SONGS IN THE ATTIC

“Gainesville is your basic college town”: Angeli. “He came in one day”: Glatt. “I don’t know if the superior being”: Peters. “I’m usually wary”: Glatt. “worst song”: Boyd. “Needed: bass guitarist”: Lawrence. “It wasn’t just the music”: Glatt. “I’ve got more of a musician’s build”: Yakir (July 1989). “I’ve been doing that”: Glatt. “I thought these tight”: Glatt. “Aleka is a poet-philosopher”: Glatt.

43. ORANGES AND LEMONS

“airplane crash”: Boyd. “the great Babylon”: Glatt. “The Devil is so pretty and tempting”: Boyd. “We had five million talks”: Friend. “You have to remember”: Glatt. “He really liked”: Friend.

44. A NIGHT IN THE LIFE

Editing of
Jimmy Reardon:
author interview with William Richert (2013). “a painful, enormously moving drama”: Ebert (1988). “outstandingly well”: Maslin (1988). “While the film”: a review and synopsis from
Time Out London,
credited to “EP” and archived on the timeout.com Web site. “I’m not sure I was even”: Blair (March 1988). “I chose the role”: Lawrence. “It didn’t turn out”: Blair (March 1988). “Let’s not even think”: Boyd.

45. WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SNAKES?

Campanaro’s house: Glatt. “Harrison came out”: Lawrence. “It would have been lying”: Yakir (October 1989).

46. BOTH OF THEM ARE BONY

All quotations from author interview with Ione Skye (2012).

47. OUR BAND COULD BE YOUR LIFE

“I thought they were a little amateurish”: Glatt. “Three years ago”: Froom. “Oh, my baby,” “Holy shit”: Glatt.

48. ROLLING ON THE RIVER

“It’s an official bonus”: from the press conference at the 1989 Oscar nominees’ lunch (as found on YouTube). Wanting to hug Kline: Glatt.

49. WE ARE ALL MADE OF STARS

“If you really want to kick my ass”: Glatt, quoting tutor Dirk Drake.

50. ALONE WE ELOPE

“It was kind of a private thing”: Lawrence. “When we split up”: Friend.

51. YOUNG HOLLYWOOD 1989

“It makes you realize”: Levitt. “I was still the jealous”: Kiedis. “I went out and bought”: Goodall. “I fuck animals,” etc.: Heath (1993).

52. WHIP IT

“We’d practice for six or eight months,” “We were all kind of at the mercy”: Lawrence. “Tracey and I clicked”: Banner. “He’s like my older brother”: Sikes and Powell. “You could have gotten ten times”: Lawrence, quoting Danette Staatz. “strangely timid”: Kehr. “You can’t just wake up,” “Devo is bouncing”: Yakir (October 1989). “He said the best actors”: Rensin. “He is a wonderful actor”: Lawrence.

53. HOW DO YOU SAY GOOD NIGHT TO AN ANSWERING MACHINE?

“Hello, Bill”: as found in Lawrence.

54. SENSES WORKING OVERTIME

“Hey, Riv!”: Woods. “number 89, Tofu Yum-Woon-Sen”: Lawrence. “The nicest, most unassuming guy”: author interview with Gus Brandt (2013). “They came back eight times”: Angeli. “humorous noise,” “When you’re a Mutley Chick”: Nordlie. “I’m not that guy,” “He was very private”: Friend. “Mrs. Phoenix, she’ll take care of it”: Lawrence, from an interview with landlady Melanie Barr. “River had a little too much”: Glatt. “People look at you”: Woods. “Klingons,” “the tofu mafia”: Friend. “We cut down an area”: Woods.

55. SEMPER FI

“I had one foot out the back door”: Coburn. “When we first got to Seattle”: Abramowitz et al. “twigs and bark”: Coburn. “River was the head”: Abramowitz et al. “I like the character”: Glatt. “Hug a tree”: Abramowitz et al. “Okay, it’s 2.
A.M.
,” “Yeah. We felt good,” and subsequent conversation: Coburn. “I realized, the way he’s playing that character”: from the commentary track on the 2003
Dogfight
DVD. “By trying to be”: Black. “What could have been”: Travers. “I anticipated River”: Lawrence. Surprisingly,
Dogfight
was adapted as an off-Broadway musical, which received good notices and played at the Second Stage Theater in New York City for two months in 2012. If you’re curious, the show has an original cast album, with songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul such as “Come to a Party.”

56. INT. STILL LIFE CAFÉ

For an excellent in-depth discussion of
Dogfight
and close readings of the performances in it, check out the conversation between Sheila O’Malley and Matt Zoller Seitz at http://www.sheilaomalley.com/?p=33135.

57. THE FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST

“a combination of a dog”: author interview with Johnny Depp (2003). “auteur hag”: Schickel. “If it’s something that I do”: author interview with Johnny Depp (2003). “I’m a dumbass and I poisoned myself”: author interview with Johnny Depp (2007).

58. THE GOLDEN AGE

“After
Dogfight
”: Glatt. “One day, you just wake up”: Angeli.

PART FIVE

59. THE BOTTOM OF THE BOTTOMLESS BLUE BLUE BLUE POOL

“The camera was this little machine”: Handelman. “We were excited”: Sikes and Powell. “They probably felt the risk”: Parish. “This will get me off the cover”: Glatt. “I think maybe he had feelings”: Glatt. “If he loved somebody”: Friend. “It’s a big fat pederast,” “No no no, Bill,” and ensuing story of Richert taking the role: author interview with William Richert (2013). “sort of a fusion-funk,” “River would just start playing”: Glatt. “a definite pick-up”: Glatt. “But after we agreed”: Glatt. “I’m so lonely!”: Parish. “I remember thinking”: Lawrence. “Imagine, I had to find out”: Snyder. “I’m River Phoenix”: Glatt. “Quite honestly”: Scardapane. “It’s as much about gays”: Rensin. “I didn’t have to suck dick”: Parish. “Just think, Keanu,” “He scolded”: Sikes and Powell. “This is the best part”: Lawrence. “I love you, and you don’t have to pay me’—I’m so glad I wrote that line”: Lawrence.
Pink:
River was recast as the gregarious storyteller “Felix Arroyo, a young and talented spokesman and informmercial [sic] presenter.”
Arroyo
is Spanish for a dry creek, a type of river, while “Felix” is a consonant away from Phoenix. “I was hoping,” “Okay, then”: Parish.

60. YOUNG HOLLYWOOD 1991

“your average, no-depth, standard kid”: Harmetz. “It got to the point”: Kiedis. “I figured that was as far”: Rabin. “an evil version of Tracy and Hepburn”: Goodall. “biggest cock in Hollywood,” “Eggs, hash browns”: Meikle.

61. PSIONIC PSUNSPOT

“research”: Glatt. “You’re my best friend”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “The hardest drink”: from an unbylined essay (“River Phoenix: Talent, Looks, a Bright Future—and a Fatal Drug Cocktail”) in
Gone Too Soon,
a special edition of
People
published in December 2007. “He liked red wine”: author interview with Ione Skye (2012). “We had the same heroin dealer”: author interview with anonymous source (2012). “Here’s a kid”: Lawrence.

62. YOU’RE WHERE YOU SHOULD BE ALL THE TIME

“Having a movie star”: Glatt. “I just have to tell you”: author interview with Kim Buie (2012). “She has a very flat stomach,” Kelly (1991). “I’m kinda like Gainesville’s godfather”: Bernhard. Canaries and other household details: Angeli. “It sucks and it kinda doesn’t suck”: Angeli. “River and Sue never took baths”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “the same threadbare print shirt,” “Jesus, River,” “No, man”: Angeli. “that never came to fruition”: Glatt. “River loved nothing better”: Ritz and Ritz, quoting an anonymous “music-business friend.” “During one of our conversations”: Glatt.

63. THE REFRIGERATOR PARABLE

“I want to make $1 million”: Friend. “River realized that his family’s ideas”: Friend, quoting “one close friend.” “all sorts of homeless kids”: MacDonald. “I’ve lost a lot of checks” and following conversation between River and Richert: author interview with William Richert (2013). “I get offered a lot of stuff”: Glatt. “me and about a thousand other guys”: Angeli. “He knew ways to get in”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “Phoenix’s slightly anonymous quality”: Glieberman. (He gave the movie an A-minus.) “I have lied and changed”: Levitt, quoting an interview with French journalist Jean-Paul Chaillet. “River walked into the room,” “How are you,” “Not too bad”: Glatt.

64. ACROSS THE WAY

“I’m not against gays,” “I thought you liked that,” “Shut up”: Lawrence, quoting the January 23–30, 1982, issue of
City Limits
(London). “God, the physical sensation”: Cooney. The best introduction to the history of homosexuality in Hollywood is probably
The Celluloid Closet,
either the 1981 book by Vito Russo or the 1995 documentary film directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.

65. THAT NIGHT AT THE VIPER ROOM

“I like to masturbate”: author interview with Richmond Arquette (2013).

66. SATIATE LACK

“I just did not feel”: Glatt. “It sounded like a bad teen comedy”: Tobolowsky. “We’d think”: Lawrence. “Just complete, absolute, total irreverence”: Abramowitz et al. “He makes very quirky choices”: Glatt. “It turned out that my voice”: Glatt. “In hindsight, I’m not sure”: author interview with Kim Buie (2012). “furious about the glamour,” “Don’t worry, I have the fear”: Glatt. “He was 100% different”: Glatt. “River had a strong passion”: Glatt. “entertaining time-waster”: Kempley. “I play this cyberpunk nerd”: Lawrence.

67. THE MOVIES OF RIVER PHOENIX, RANKED BY AMERICAN BOX OFFICE

All data from boxofficemojo.com.

68. COWBOY MOUTH

“Imagine me being the one”: Abramowitz et al. “He looked upon me”: Abramowitz et al. “You know, I think,” “No, I’m his real”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “Sam was, in my opinion”: Abramowitz et al. “I’d never had an actor say”: Abramowitz et al.

69. BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN

The 1992 riots in Hollywood: Higgins. “Joaquin had drawn Satan”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “I’m a minor, stupid talent”: Johnson. “River would just bullshit”: Glatt. “Nobody knew it was him”: author interview with William Richert (2013).

70. MANY RIVERS TO CROSS

“I met with River a few times”: Gilbey. “Conditioned to ecstasy”: Miller. Making of
Total Eclipse:
Hampton. “He didn’t want me nagging him”: Friend. “He was hanging around with people”: Lawrence. “It was a formal affair”: Kennedy. “his language had become”: Friend.
“
What would those twelve-year-old girls”: Friend. “He fooled a lot of people”: Friend. “a frantic phone call,” “I don’t even eat meat,” and ensuing conversation: Ritz and Ritz.

71. THE LAST PICTURE

“This script really isn’t ready,” “the guy who directed that picture”: Bogdanovich. “Iris had called in”: Snyder. “Silence”: Bogdanovich. “It’s one thing to be the star”: Abramowitz. “Well, be sure and cast me”: Bogdanovich. “The first take was River”: Snyder. “River was wandering around,” “been into drugs,” “didn’t cause me another problem”: Bogdanovich. “What am I supposed to do?”: Snyder. (Bogdanovich claimed that Burton stayed in Nashville “a day or two.”) “Samantha managed a pretty impassive”: Bogdanovich. “River was determined.” “River’s face was contorted”: Glatt. “I knew maybe there were problems”: Abramowitz et al. “No one wanted to confront him”: Snyder. “a painful experience”: Ebert (1994).