PART TWO
9. BACK IN THE U.S.A.
“companies paid people’s families”: Friend. “that he never really got its logic”: Friend. “When I was in first grade”: Glatt. “Ask your father”: Peters. “generic items you’d find”: Angeli. “We all look completely different”: Yakir (July 1989). “We never treated them like children”: MacDonald. “The youngest gets to yell the loudest”: MacDonald. “They were really trippy”: Lawrence. “They were the best clothes”: Glatt. Joaquin as X-Men fan: Snyder, who learned of Joaquin’s long-running appreciation of the mutant super-heroes when the actor was up for the role of Wolverine in the X-Men movie (Dougray Scott had to pull out due to his role in Mission: Impossible II, but Hugh Jackman hadn’t yet been cast). “We all wanted to be entertainers”: Angeli. “Those girls were moving”: Guthman (May 1, 1979). “Except a man be born again”: the line is from John 3:3. “independent missionaries,” “I hope to be famous,” “This was an 8-year-old talking”: Guthman (May 19, 1979). “They answered”: Angeli. “Things went wrong”: Glatt. “We’d roll into gas stations”: Glatt.
10. JOHNNY CAME FROM MIAMI F-L-A
All quotations from author interview with Johnny Depp (2007).
11. SHOW-BIZ BABIES
“I put a bowl of fruit”: Lawrence. “We were really naïve”: Glatt. “We schlepped forever”: Angeli. “When they went to L.A.”: Lawrence. “So what’s been the happiest day of your life?” (and ensuing dialogue): author interview with Heart Phoenix (1997). “I’m a groomer”: Stark. “Throw a white sheet”: Snyder. “Kids are pieces of meat”: Stark. “Commercials were too phony for me”: Glatt. The video of the Phoenix kids in yellow tank tops can be seen in the opening minutes of I’m Still Here, the fake Joaquin Phoenix documentary (2010) directed by Casey Affleck.
12. LET’S WORK
“What are your goals?”: Kozar. “I averaged about four hours”: Kozar. “Laser Head”: Morton.
13. THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
“He came in with that”: Glatt. “I just leaped”: Glatt. “He would burst out crying”: Glatt. The dinnertime scene is from the pilot episode of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. “a sad little child”: Lawrence.
14. TV EYE
“kind of dreary”: Peters. “River was very much part”: Glatt.
15. ECHO #1: SURVIVING
All dialogue from Surviving, also known as Surviving: A Family in Crisis and Tragedy.
16. UNMAPPED TERRITORY
“I got a thrill”: Glatt. “I saw him practicing”: Hawke. “River had to do the most acting”: Ritz and Ritz. “Although River liked to be cool”: Glatt. “It was the longest shoot”: Ritz and Ritz. “We competed”: Ritz and Ritz. “Getting laid was a major goal”: Glatt. “River had a very doctrinaire”: Glatt. “naïve pretentiousness”: Ritz and Ritz. “River didn’t have a lot of material knowledge”: Glatt. “Television wasn’t really”: author interview with Heart Phoenix (1997). Three Stooges: Lawrence. “We got along exceptionally”: Lawrence. “Are you going to be famous?” and ensuing conversation: Ritz and Ritz. “One day, John showed up”: Ritz and Ritz, relating a story from an anonymous source. “It’s charmingly odd”: Maslin (1985). “I believe it is profoundly negative”: Ritz and Ritz. “He would send me into fits of envy”: Udovitch (1994). “My biggest fear”: author interview with Ethan Hawke (2004). “I would have really liked”: Udovitch (1994). The Looney Tunes cartoon that Hawke remembered (mostly accurately) was “Show Biz Bugs,” starring Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Determined to outdo Bugs on a vaudeville stage, Daffy drinks “a generous portion of gasoline,” nitroglycerine, “a goodly amount of gunpowder,” uranium-238, and then swallows a match. He explodes, to massive applause. “They loved it! They want more!” Bugs tells him. As a ghostly Daffy floats off this mortal plane, he says, “I know, I know, but I can only do it once.”
17. IF THE SKY THAT WE LOOK UPON SHOULD TUMBLE AND FALL INTO THE SEA
“I kind of limped in”: Lawrence. “He was a young James Dean”: Larnick. “And River was cool”: Greene. “He was so professional”: Larnick. “Whenever we saw each other on auditions”: Larnick. “The other guys dared me to do it” and ensuing dialogue with Kiefer Sutherland: Yakir (July 1989). “There was no alcohol”: Lawrence. “Kids never got along with me”: Lawrence. “We both coughed a lot”: Nardwuar the Human Serviette (actually his legal name—he’s a Canadian music obsessive and oddball but effective celebrity interviewer). “Sex was nearly all”: Lawrence. “It was a beautiful experience”: Glatt. “A very strange experience”: Glatt. “WELL IT HAPPENED”: Glatt. “Is there a moment”: Lawrence. “it took him a while”: Glatt. “Personally, I didn’t think”: Glatt.
18. ECHO #2: STAND BY ME
“sad and weird and eerie”: from Rob Reiner’s commentary track on the DVD of Stand by Me (Special Edition), Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 1986.
19. YOUNG HOLLYWOOD 1985
“Yertle the Turtle”: Kiedis. “Michael Stipe / despite the hype”: Heller.
20. FAMILY AFFAIR
Financial details: Lawrence. All dialogue from “My Tutor,” the seventh episode of the fourth season of Family Ties.
21. TILT-A-WHIRL
“We partied all day”: Glatt. “River looked very unsure”: Glatt. “the devil’s dandruff”: Angeli.
PART THREE
22. SMALL-TOWN HOLLYWOOD
“Our neighborhood”: author interview with Ione Skye (2012).
23. WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
“There’s a boy on this tape”: Catalano. “I finally said to myself”: Catalano.
24. ECHO #3: THE MOSQUITO COAST
“I knew that character”: Glatt. “Paul Theroux didn’t steal”: Angeli.
25. JUNGLE BOY
“It was very hot”: Lawrence. “In a matter of months,” “But the more he stepped”: Rosefelt. “River Phoenix was born to movies”: Glatt. “In his position”: Lawrence. “There are a lot of people”: Rosefelt. “I wondered if there was something strange” Rosefelt. “I was a curious kid”: Rosefelt. “With a young person”: Glatt. “He’d stuff himself”: Glatt. “It was like living”: Blair (August 1988). “I’ve been so much more”: Boyd. “The character’s just so weird”: Harris. “But we couldn’t stand each other”: Reed. “I knew what it was like”: Harris. “Martha Plimpton was his first”: Ritz and Ritz. “I learned that even among”: Lawrence. “Half the conflict of the film”: Benson. “It just feels so good”: Glatt.
26. LAST YEAR AT THE VIPER ROOM
All quotations from Ebner.
27. HIS NAME IS RIO AND HE DANCES ON THE SAND
“one of the most exciting”: Reed. “Because he made such an impact”: Lawrence. “After Stand by Me came out”: Glatt. “That room was filled with kids”: Abramowitz et al. “They teach you how to pose”: Woods. “I like girls who are so natural,” “It’s a great feeling”: Glatt. “It’s like there’s a grandstand”: Voland. “He told me that he had to get up”: Rosefelt. “Yo, Mama-jama”: Reed. “That’s been a lot of fun”: Blair (August 1988). “His parents saw him”: Friend. “It was something like”: Glatt.
28. MARTHA MY DEAR
“River went off”: author interview with Ione Skye (2012). “I loved him for that”: Friend.
29. COMING OF AGE STORY
“and he was completely surrounded by light,” and following dialogue between River and Richert: author interview with William Richert (2013). “intelligent teenage comedy”: Lawrence. “In three months”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “I could get away with a lot”: Boyd. “How many blow jobs”: Author interview with William Richert (2013). “very party atmosphere”: author interview with Ione Skye (2012). “The most out-of-control thing”: Glatt. “Don’t tell anybody,” “Like, yeah, I’m going to call”: Glatt. “I’m the monogamous type”: Glatt. “You were listening to the ultimate makeout record,” “I remember thinking”: author interview with Ione Skye (2012). “She seemed to be in charge”: Glatt. “I wrote that bac
k”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “Where do I cry,” “Not in this one”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “He was very powerful”: author interview with Ione Skye (2012). “and his handwriting,” “Well, I really do want to say”: author interview with William Richert (2013).
30. RATTLESNAKE SPEEDWAY
“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 BOTTOMLE
SS 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.
Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind Page 26
