| The FABlife

River Phoenix Was Our Robert Pattinson: Discuss

Perhaps some of you are too young to remember the beauty and heartbreaking talent of River Phoenix. Back in the day, he was like Robert Pattinson x10,000 to some of us. And when I heard that he died of drug-induced heart failure in 1993 — it was on Channel One News in homeroom — I broke down and cried like I never have for a celebrity. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the director of Dark Blood, the movie he was making when he died, has for some reason decided to finish the movie, 18 years later. Director George Sluizer said he’s going to hire River’s younger brother Joaquin Phoenix to do voice over to complete some scenes. River stars as a man who lives by himself on a nuclear testing site, waiting for the end of the world, when a “Hollywood jet-set couple” intrude on his solitude.

I’m not sure if I need my memory of River messed with, though. Depends on how well it’s done. And here is where I could run a poll asking for your favorite River Phoenix movie. Instead, I’m just going to say this: No argument, it’s Running on Empty. He plays a piano prodigy who’s grown up in a family that’s been on the lam since his hippie parents bombed a napalm lab. But when he falls in love with Martha Plimpton, he starts to think about a different kind of life for himself. Netflix it now. Or argue with me in the comments. /nostalgia off.

[Photos: WENN]

#68: River Phoenix Overdoses

River Phoenix‘s 1993 overdose was not the first tragic death of a young actor nor the last, but you wouldn’t know it from the number of songs that have been written to honor and mourn the 23-year-old Hollywood casualty. Kurt Cobain, REM, Beyoncé, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rufus Wainwright, Tom Petty, and many others have paid musical respect to the handsome young star, whose death from a mix of heroin and cocaine helped highlight the rise of heroin chic.

River didn’t live long enough to become a true matinee idol (how many people have actually seen Running On Empty, which got him his Academy Award nom at 18?). But prominent roles in films ranging from My Own Private Idaho to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade promised a fascinating career for the Phoenix, who enamored many with his political activism. He had no previous drug history, and many were shocked when River died on the sidewalk outside of Johnny Depp‘s club, the Viper Room, following a night of hard partying. Brother Joaquin, who would eventually be nominated for an Oscar himself, almost quit acting after his desperate 911 call was played on TV.

Despite claims that River’s last words were “No paparazzi, I want anonymity,” a photographer broke into the funeral home, and sold a snap of his corpse to the National Enquirer for $5,000.