If you’re not part of Generation X, you might have heard of the beautiful, talented, and authentic actor River Phoenix already had an Oscar nomination and unique potential in a cruel industry. In life, he was already compared to James Dean, another star who passed away before even understanding his dimension, at 24. Physically similar, both really feed the imagination of “what if”, something that we will not have an answer to. All of this took on a new dimension in 1993, when it was 30 years since River’s death from a drug overdose outside The Viper Room concert hall in Los Angeles.

Had he survived, River would have turned 53 in August. Joaquin Phoenix‘s older brother, Rive,r grew up in an itinerant family and was raised innovatively for the time, without formal schooling and early encouragement for the Arts. Music was his first option, but he began his acting career at just 10 years old, starring in television commercials until he was almost immediately identified by Hollywood. It was not difficult to be enchanted by her undeniable beauty, aligned with a rare charisma as well as a great talent for interpretation.

If the first steps were commercials, then came TV, where he began to grow at just 13 years old. His film debut was in 1985, with Explorers, alongside Ethan Hawke, but it was the following year, with the cult film Stand by Me, that he achieved international stardom. The film was based on a book by Stephen King, The Body, and became a reference in literature and cinema. Still unknown, River tested for another role, winning one of the main ones, Chris Chambers, who had his friend Ethan Hawke in consideration.

He then played the role of the son of Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren in The Mosquito Coast, directed by Peter Weir, and received one of the only unanimous reviews by critics about the production. The connection with Harrison Ford would later lead to a cameo in the Indiana Jones franchise, where he played a teenage Indy and was perfect in bringing Ford’s characteristics to the role in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

But before that, he tested his comic skills in The Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, which didn’t work out. In the same year, he starred in Little Nikita alongside Sidney Poitier, already one of the most famous actors of his generation. With this success, in 1988, he starred in Running on Empty, directed by Sidney Lumet, and his performance was so remarkable that even at just 18 years old, he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (he lost to Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda). Little did we know that we would have him for such a short time between us.

Entering the 1990s, the world seemed to be shaping up to be River Phoenix‘s. He was the ultimate reference of his generation (which included Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, and Ethan Hawke, to name a few), with a world in front of him. He starred in the Gap campaign and was photographed by Bruce Weber for Vogue. He amended the Oscar exposure in the comedy, I Love You to Death, alongside Kevin Kline and Keanu Reeves, his best friend. At this point, River’s younger brother, Joaquin, was trying to follow in his footsteps and had starred with Keanu in the film Parenthood. Imagine that during this period, he auditioned to work with Keanu in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, but was passed over by Alex Winter. Then came the classic My Own Private Idaho in 1991. His daring role as a gay prostitute is considered his best performance.

Hence, he remained in independent cinema, where they did not rely on his beauty but on his talent as an actor. In the romantic comedy Dogfight played a marine going to the Vietnam War, in Sneakers, he was equal to the big stars in the cast, which included Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier, in 1992.

Today, it is incredible to think that River Phoenix was passed over for Brad Pitt for the drama A River Runs Through It, and for that reason alone, he starred in Peter Bogdanovich‘s film The Thing Called Love, which would become the last film completed before his death. He was scheduled to star alongside Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire, which was scheduled to begin filming in two weeks, when he fell ill at the entrance to The Viper Room, dying on the sidewalk before help arrived.

Among the various projects associated with River before his death, three made the career of young Leonardo DiCaprio, who was just 19 years old at the time. The Basketball Diaries, Total Eclipse, and even Titanic. But although he had this dimension as an actor, it was in music that he found himself as a person. And he wasn’t the frontman, he was the guitarist in the band Aleka’s Attic, where his sister, Rain, was the vocalist. It was as a musician that River was in the famous Hollywood nightclub on the fateful night of October 1993.

A vegan, environmental activist in times when none of this was popular, River Phoenix represented a change in the profile of movie stars. He dated two co-stars, Martha Plimpton and Samantha Mathis (who was with him the night of his death), but his drug use and drinking, although unknown to the public, were problematic in his circle of friends. Martha and he broke up because of this, but many say that he was just an occasional drug user and that this was a tragic accident. He had just returned from recording Dark Blood and was with Samantha Mathis, his brother Joaquin, and his sister Rain, going to perform with the band P. He had convulsions in front of his friends and relatives, without being able to do anything. He still arrived at the hospital alive but did not survive, being declared dead at 1:51 am PST on the morning of October 31, 1993, at the age of 23.

For many years, recording 911 was one of the most memorable moments for Joaquin, whose career began in the shadow of an even greater weight when River was gone. Creating his own name, he was nominated for an Oscar four times and (finally) won in 2020, for Joker, where he emotionally paid homage to his brother (who is also the name of his son with actress Rooney Mara).

River Phoenix‘s short and impactful career is often compared to that of James Dean, and rightly so. Just like River, Dean had undeniable beauty, charisma, and a natural way of acting that influenced generations. His filmography was even shorter, although he died at (almost the same) 24 years old.

Dean lost his life in a car accident in 1955, and his legend is one of the strongest to date in world cinema (even greater than that of River Phoenix). In 2023, it was in the news again when rumors emerged that they would use Artificial Intelligence to revive it. It will be? An icon of rebellion would be a way of deciphering it. Will they do the same to River Phoenix one day?

Pesquisar

Pesquisar