Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind
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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).
72. YOUNG HOLLYWOOD 1993
Van Sant on River’s cameo in Even Cowgirls Get the Blues: Lawrence. “the breakthrough performance of the decade”: Thompson. “I knew it was awful”: Thompson. “Johnny was pretty unhappy”: Thompson. “spelled u-r-i-n-e”: Meikle. “career-making”: Turan. “I can’t do this anymore,” “I don’t know if it was a combination”: Kiedis.
73. TONIGHT’S THE NIGHT
“I’m here because my manager”: Glatt. “was wearing those flared-out hippie pants”: Schindehette et al. “Earl Grey”: Schindehette et al., password confirmed by Snyder. “Hey, is anyone there?”: Schindehette et al. “When you do blow”: Ritz and Ritz. “That’s what they’ll take you out in”: Schindehette et al. “People say it’s an amino acid”: Hubler and Hochman. “I tried it once”: Hubler and Hochman. “The real drug of choice”: Schindehette et al. “a really cute boy”: interview segment in the “River Phoenix” episode of the Final 24 television show, first broadcast in 2006. “I’d rather you just point a gun,” “That’s the end of the drugs”: Glatt. “When my next two films are released”: Snyder. “a bizarre, meandering and finally, maddening mystical oater”: McCarthy. (Oater is Variety argot for “western.”) “You’ve had that script for a month,” “Samantha said it was great,” “I think Samantha wants”: Snyder. “Do you have any idea,” “I don’t want to work,” and subsequent conversation: Snyder. “You know, Bill, I’m working”: author interview with William Richert (2103). “He was sweating, drunk, tired, very beautiful”: Cowie. Safe Passage: Snyder. Noah: author interview with William Richert (2013). By Way of Fontana: Friend. “River didn’t ask the waiter”: author interview with George Sluizer (2013). “I told the director”: Snyder.
74. I’M IN A TRANSITIONAL PERIOD, SO I DON’T WANT TO KILL YOU
“Basically, that whole Touchstone formula”: Udovitch (1996).
75. IF I HAD A HI-FI
“I don’t think their relationship”: Glatt (quoting William Richert). “started crying and trying”: Glatt, quoting Rachel Guinan. “River was in charge”: Glatt. “It’s brilliant”: Glatt. “We were in overdrive”: Lawrence. “He was being so creative”: Glatt.
76. FIRST NIGHT AT THE VIPER ROOM
Early Viper Room history: Meikle. “On nights when a hired band”: Rogan. That bartender, James E. Rogan, later became a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms and. as of 2013, is serving as a judge on the Superior Court of California. “It was a dive”: Ebner. “When the Central was closing down”: Ebner. “a group of musicians,” “The place became a scene”: Meikle. “Just tell Stan,” “God, it would have been cool”: from Runnin’ Down a Dream, the 2007 documentary on Tom Petty directed by Peter Bogdanovich. “People who had never walked”: Ebner. “There used to be graffiti”: Rollins. “We just walked in”: Ebner. “a very bizarre night”: Ebner. “Johnny lost interest”: author interview with anonymous Viper Room employee (2012).
77. GIVE BLOOD
“The idea was for them”: Glatt. “I’ll see you after”: Glatt. “Well, he did”: Glatt. “I knew of his drug habit”: author interview with George Sluizer (2013). “That’s the only time”: Glatt. “Maybe twenty miles”: author interview with George Sluizer (2013). “Since David Lean”: Lawrence. “We were not the best of friends”: Sluizer. “What is this, Frat Boy’s question time?”: Glatt. “I thought he was doing”: Abramowitz et al. “He did not use anything”: Abramowitz et al. “He had difficulty with certain lines”: author interview with George
Sluizer (2013). “In my opinion, that was made”: Abramowitz et al. Artichokes and corn: author interview with William Richert (2013). “Thanks be to UFO Godmother,” “Take me”: Friend. “You’re in this picture”: Glatt. “I had to sometimes say”: author interview with George Sluizer (2013). “We were on this kind of inexorable journey,” “Somebody’s going to die”: Abramowitz et al. “Iris, they’re killing snakes,” “I’m not a pet coroner”: Snyder. “I’m having a hard time”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “I’m going back”: Glatt.
PART SIX
78. THE BAD, BAD TOWN
“He looked like a corpse”: Snyder. “Chris . . . I can’t”: Snyder. “This can’t go on”: Snyder. “He was not one hundred percent”: Glatt. All Dark Blood dialogue is quoted from shooting script by James Barton (“Fifth Draft B,” dated September 16, 1993). “He came up to the camera”: Lawrence.
79. VIPER HEROIN X
“Can someone help me,” “I came to help you,” and following dialogue: Abramowitz et al. “I’m coming”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “It was dark”: Thompson. “When I was eighteen”: Fussman (2010). “I wanted to reach out”: Thompson. “He was beyond pale”: Fussman (2010). “I’ll sing at the table”: author interview with William Richert (2013). Vodka and bourbon: Lawrence, quoting Pleasant Gehman. “Hey, Riv, drink this”: author interview with William Richert (2013). “What did you give me?”: Glatt. “Sam called and said”: Glatt. “figured some guys,” “Hey, Sam, what’s up?” : Abramowitz et al. “No one was doing anything”: Lawrence. “Oh, God. Gross”: Glatt. “You need to call,” “He’s fine”: Lawrence. “It looked like a normal occurrence”: Levitt. “Michael Stipe” appeared two years later on P’s eponymous album. “It’s my brother” and other 911 conversation: public record transcribed by multiple sources, including Weinraub. “Outside there was a crowd”: Abramowitz et al. “We found him pulseless”: Lawrence. “speedballing”: Glatt. “However, his heart”: Lawrence. “It was a terrifying shock”: interview segment in the “River Phoenix” episode of the Final 24 television show, first broadcast in 2006. “It was the classic cocaine overreaction”: Lawrence. “If there’s anything we can do”: Van Buskirk. “Come on, River”: Lawrence. Time of death: River’s autopsy report. Some times are precise in this chapter; for example, the ones logged by medical professionals. Some of them are the best approximations available, especially given the chaos at the Viper Room that night. The people closest to River that night have never spoken publicly about what happened on the evening of his death, but in the immediate aftermath, William Richert discussed it with Samantha Mathis, and his information proved invaluable when sorting through conflicting versions of events.
80. R.I.P. RJP
Events at the emergency room: Snyder. “The bottom line was”: Glatt. “I didn’t want to hold hands”: Lawrence. “When the sun shines”: Friend. “He was my brother”: Friend. “River’s in heaven, blah blah blah”: Friend. “River didn’t have to”: Friend. “You would have thought”: Friend. “Peter and I adopted”: Snyder. “Is there anybody,” “River was a sensitive”: Friend.
81. BROKEN DREAMS
“For me, the most respectful thing”: Brunner. “taking illegal drugs”: Shedden. “I call it saving”: Gettell.
82. NEVER GONNA WITHER
“When I finally worked”: Rinzler. “His heart went a little more to music”: author interview with George Sluizer (2013). Two lesser-known but moving musical tributes to River are “River” by Versus and “River Phoenix” by Japanther.
83. ECHO #5: MONTGOMERY CLIFT
Part of the reason for Clift’s enduring mythic power may be his friendship with Taylor; after he died, she kept talking about him in interviews (in striking contrast to River’s family and friends). “hyperenergetic, hyper-sincere”: Hoskyns. “Nobody ever lies about being lonely”: frequently misquoted as “lied.” “The Right Profile”: found on the Clash’s album London Calling (1979 [UK]/ 1980 ([USA]). The song’s chorus features the line “That’s Montgomery Clift, honey,” and the lyrics are rife with biographical details, including a verse on his car crash. The “roll of pills” lyrics appears to come from Patricia Bosworth’s biography and refers to a thousand Seconals. The title refers to the undamaged side of Clift’s face.
84. CLOSING TIME AT THE VIPER ROOM
“I’m grateful to be able”: Lawrence. “ultimately not a joyous experience”: Ebner. “the hillside manor”: Ebner. “We were all just twenty-three”: Ebner. “It was kind of a given”: Ebner. “a real hot, heavy kiss”: Andersen. “Maybe it’s the curse”: Meikle. “The facts establish”: Meikle. “bad memories”: Meikle.
85. BLOOD ON THE TRACKS
“I had the Dark Blood material”: author interview with George Sluizer (2013). “Normally, within five minutes”: Brunner. “He had contrasts”: author interview with George Sluizer (2013).
EPILOGUE
“I don’t know of a movie”: Junod. “Shit, man,” “Theater is not a stepping- stone”: author interview with Ethan Hawke (2004). “I’ve always held on to the idea”: Mohan. “I love everything that I felt on drugs”: author interview with John Frusciante (2000). “It’s a crazy thing”: Harris. “Nah, it’s not about that now”: Vernon. “Of course there is a sadness”: Corner. “I think it’s total, utter bullshit”: Mitchell. “I don’t need to pull from my experience”: Smith. “I don’t think anybody’s necessarily ready”: Fussman (2008).
PHOTOGRAPHIC INSERT
River Phoenix in 1987, at age sixteen.
© by Steve Schapiro/Corbis
The Phoenix children in a backyard pyramid in 1985, with River and Rain serving as the foundation.
Dianna Whitley_Shooting Star™
The Phoenix family in 1986 (from left): Summer, River, Rain (aka Rainbow), John, Liberty, Joaquin (aka Leaf), and Arlyn (aka Heart).
Stephen Ellison_Shooting Star™
The young stars of Stand by Me in 1985 (from left): Jerry O’Connell, River, Wil Wheaton, and Corey Feldman.
© by Columbia Pictures/courtesy of Everett Collection
Martha Plimpton with River in 1987: “He was just a boy, a very good-hearted boy who was very fucked up and had no idea how to implement his good intentions.”
© by Warner Bros./courtesy of Everett Collection
River in 1986, in Belize, on the set of The Mosquito Coast.
Nancy Ellison/Polaris
Making Running on Empty in 1987 with director Sidney Lumet.
Photofest
Walking the red carpet at the 1989 Academy Awards with Martha Plimpton (who had recently shaved her head for a role).
Ron Galella/Getty Images
On the set of Dogfight with Lili Taylor in 1990. “He was such a hippie, and here he was playing this marine,” Taylor said of River. “It actually caused him a lot of discomfort.”
Photograph by Moviestore Collection/Rex/Rex USA
River in the arms of Keanu Reeves in My Own Private Idaho (filmed in 1990), simulating a narcoleptic episode and reenacting the Pietà.
Photograph by Moviestore Collection/Rex/Rex USA
River in 1991: onstage at Wetlands in New York City, playing guitar with Aleka’s Attic.
Steve Eichner/WireImage
River in The Thing Called Love with Samantha Mathis. They met during the 1992 shoot; a year later, she was with him at the Viper Room when he died.
© by Paramount/courtesy of Everett Collection
River in 1991.
© by MR Photo/Corbis Outline
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GAVIN EDWARDS is a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and has written for Details, Spin, and the New York Times Magazine. He is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller VJ, which he cowrote with the original MTV VJs. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their two sons.
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CREDITS
Cover design by Amanda Kain
Cover photographs © by Lance Staedler/Corbis Outline
COPYRIGHT
LAST NIGHT AT THE VIPER ROOM. Copyright © 2013 by Gavin Edwards. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Photo research by Laura Wyss and Wyssphoto, Inc.
ISBN 978-0-06-227315-4
EPUB Edition November 2013 ISBN 9780062273192
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