River Phoenix (Part II)

Death

In late October 1993, Phoenix had returned to Los Angeles from Utah to complete the three weeks of interior shots left on his last project, Dark Blood, a film that was finally completed in 2012.

Musician (and future drug counselor) Bob Forrest, a good friend of Phoenix, in his 2013 memoir Running With Monsters, he gave one of the most detailed accounts of Phoenix's final days and the moments leading up to his death. Forrest said that in the days leading up to his death, Phoenix was staying with Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. The two would do large amounts of drugs together, embarking on huge binges, and barely if ever slept. He said the drug routine was consistent for all of them, as he was there doing drugs with them. First, they would smoke crack or inject cocaine intravenously, then inject heroin.

On the evening of October 30, 1993, Phoenix was to perform with the band P which featured his good friends Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, actor Johnny Depp, Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers along with Al Jourgensen of Ministry at The Viper Room, a Hollywood nightclub partly owned at the time by Depp.  Forrest claims that Phoenix and Frusciante arrived at the club together where they would meet up with Phoenix's girlfriend Samantha Mathis, Phoenix's brother Joaquin, and their sister Rain, along with Flea and Depp. After arriving, cocaine was immediately passed around. Forrest later said that Phoenix was obviously already high and was, as he put it, "unsteady as a boxer who had taken one too many head-shots during a fifteen-round bout."

During the performance by P, Forrest said that Phoenix tapped him on the shoulder to tell him he was not feeling well, and that he thought he had overdosed. Forrest said to Phoenix that he didn't think that he was overdosing because he could stand and talk. Nonetheless, he offered to take Phoenix home, but Phoenix declined, saying he was feeling better. A few moments later, Forrest said that a commotion erupted in the club and he went outside to find Mathis screaming as her boyfriend was lying on the sidewalk having convulsions. Joaquin called 9-1-1, but was unable to determine whether Phoenix was breathing. His sister Rain proceeded to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

When the ambulance arrived, Phoenix was still alive and Flea went with him to Cedars-Sinai Hospital. When Forrest arrived at the hospital he saw Mathis standing in the hallway crying.  Further attempts to resuscitate Phoenix at the hospital was unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 1:51 a.m. PST on the morning of October 31, 1993, at the age of 23.

In the 2013 book, Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind, Gavin Edwards points blame at Frusciante as being the one to give Phoenix the drugs that took his life. In an interview with director William Richert, Edwards discusses Phoenix's death stating that Samantha Mathis also accused Frusciante.

River didn’t want to go that night. She (Mathis) offered to take Joaquin (Leaf back then) and Rain for him since Joaquin was still underage. River changed his mind at the last minute and ran to meet them at the elevator. So River arrived with Samantha, Joaquin, and Rain, they got a booth in the back and he waited to be invited up to play. He stayed sober because he was planning on getting onstage with Flea. After he found out that there is not enough room on stage for him, he was going to take his guitar back to his table and play.” According to Richert, after reaching the club, Mathis said John Frusciante approached their table, offered River a little plastic blue cup and said, “drink this, Riv, it’ll make you feel fabulous.” River drank it down and suffered an immediate reaction. His neck bulged, his back twitched, and he complained, “Something’s wrong.” He then vomited at the table.

Richert said that Mathis would later change her story, no longer mentioning Frusciante by name. Richert also mentioned that following the death of Phoenix, Frusciante became paranoid, threatened to kill himself because he feared that he would be arrested. He said Frusciante locked himself away for a few days in the mansion where the Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded their 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Reichert said that Johnny Depp had to console Frusciante, assure him nobody was going to jail. At the time, Phoenix's father was also angry with Frusciante over his son's death and in an interview stated “Tell him if I find him I’m going to kill him. He’s very rich and very young, 23 like River, but he’s a terrible addict who has become a pusher….”. The family never pressed charges against anyone for their son's death.

In 2018, Samantha Mathis opened up about Phoenix's death. Mathis said that she and Phoenix had originally only intended to drop off Phoenix's siblings at the Viper Room on the way to her house, but Phoenix decided to stay for a while after he was asked to perform with the band. She insisted that during their time dating she had known him to be sober, but "In the days before he died, though, I knew something was going on ... I didn't see anyone doing drugs [that night] but he was high in a way that made me feel uncomfortable."  She added that "the heroin that killed him didn't happen until he was in the Viper Room. I have my suspicions about what was going on, but I didn't see anything." Mathis went to the bathroom, and on her way back to the table saw Phoenix apparently engaged in a scuffle with another person. The bouncers removed both men from the club. Mathis shouted at the other man "What have you done? What are you on?", only to be told by another person "Leave him alone, you're spoiling his high." By that point, according to her account, Phoenix had fallen to the ground and begun to convulse.

According to Gibby Haynes, the band was performing their song "Michael Stipe" while Phoenix was outside the venue having seizures on the sidewalk.  When the news filtered through the club, Flea left the stage and rushed outside. By that time, paramedics had arrived on the scene and found Phoenix turning cyanotic, in full cardiac arrest and in asystole. They administered medication in an attempt to restart his heart.

The following day, the club became a makeshift shrine, with fans and mourners leaving flowers, pictures, and candles on the sidewalk, as well as graffiti messages on the walls of the venue.  A sign was placed in the window that read, "With much respect and love to River and his family, The Viper Room is temporarily closed. Our heartfelt condolences to all his family, friends and loved ones. He will be missed."  The club remained closed for a week. Depp continued to close the club every year on October 31 until selling his share in 2004.

Before his death, Phoenix's image—one he bemoaned in interviews—had been squeaky-clean, owing in part to his public dedication to his various social, political, humanitarian, and dietary interests that were not always popular in the 1980s. As a result, his death elicited a vast amount of coverage from the media.  Phoenix was described by one writer as "the vegan James Dean," and comparisons were made regarding the youth and sudden deaths of both actors.

The November 15, 1993 autopsy found that "Toxicology studies showed high concentrations of morphine and cocaine in the blood, as well as other substances in smaller concentrations." The cause of death was "acute multiple drug intoxication", including cocaine and morphine.

On November 24, 1993, Arlyn (later changing her name to "Heart") Phoenix published an open letter in the Los Angeles Times on her son's life and death. It read, in part:

His friends, co-workers and the rest of our family know that River was not a regular drug user. He lived at home in Florida with us and was almost never a part of the "club scene" in Los Angeles. He had just arrived in L.A. from the pristine beauty and quietness of Utah where he was filming for six weeks. We feel that the excitement and energy of the Halloween nightclub and party scene were way beyond his usual experience and control. How many other beautiful young souls, who remain anonymous to us, have died by using drugs recreationally? It is my prayer that River's leaving in this way will focus the attention of the world on how painfully the spirits of his generation are being worn down.

River made such a big impression during his life on Earth. He found his voice and found his place. And even River, who had the whole world at his fingertips to listen, felt deep frustration that no one heard. What is it going to take? Chernobyl wasn't enough. Exxon Valdez wasn't enough. A bloody war over oil wasn't enough. If River's passing opens our global heart, then I say, thanks dear, beloved son, for yet another gift to all of us.

Phoenix was cremated and his ashes were scattered at his family ranch in Micanopy, Florida. Following his death, Aleka's Attic disbanded.

Unreleased and unfilmed projects

River's sudden death prevented him from playing various roles for which he had already been cast:

Phoenix was due to begin work on Neil Jordan's Interview with the Vampire (1994) two weeks after his death.   He was to play Daniel Molloy, the interviewer, which then went to Christian Slater, who donated his entire $250,000 salary to two of Phoenix's favorite charitable organizations: Earth Save and Earth Trust.  The film has a dedication to Phoenix after the end credits.

The Guardian suggested in 2003 "it was likely that Phoenix would have followed [Interview with the Vampire] by appearing as Susan Sarandon's son in Safe Passage (1994), a role that went to Sean Astin.

Phoenix had signed onto the lead role in Broken Dreams, a screenplay written by John Boorman and Neil Jordan (to be directed by Boorman), and co-starring Winona Ryder. The film was put on hold due to Phoenix's death. In June 2012, it was announced that Caleb Landry Jones had been cast in the role.

Gus Van Sant had gotten Phoenix to agree to play the role of Cleve Jones in Milk when he was originally planning on making the movie in the early 1990s. The role was eventually played by Emile Hirsch in 2008. When asked in Interview magazine, "You were going to do a movie with River about Andy Warhol, right?" Van Sant said, "Yeah. River kind of looked like Andy in his younger days. But that project never really went forward."

In 1988, Phoenix was reportedly carrying around a copy of the 1978 memoir The Basketball Diaries. He had heard a movie version was in the works and wanted to play the autobiographical role of Jim Carroll. The film was sent into hiatus on numerous occasions with Phoenix being cited as the main contender for the role each time. The Basketball Diaries was made in 1995 with Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead.

He had expressed interest in playing the 19th-century poet Arthur Rimbaud in Total Eclipse (1995) by Polish director Agnieszka Holland.  Phoenix died before the movie was cast, with the role eventually going to Leonardo DiCaprio.

Legacy

Every year on October 31, fans pay tribute to the life of the actor. His famous quote "Acting is like a Halloween mask that you put on." is frequently mentioned by fans on social media.  Other male actors who have credited Phoenix as a major influence as well as paving the way for them include Leonardo DiCaprio, Jared Leto, James Franco, and many more.

In culture and media

Phoenix's status as a teen idol and promising young actor, and his subsequent premature death, made him a frequent subject in popular culture media. He first gained references in music with Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento writing the song "River Phoenix: Letter to a Young Actor" about him after having seen Phoenix in The Mosquito Coast (1986). The song appears on the 1989 release Miltons.

Phoenix's friends, the Red Hot Chili Peppers wrote a few lines for him in their hit song "Give It Away" from the 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik: "There's a River born to be a giver, keep you warm won't let you shiver, his heart is never gonna wither ..." Phoenix also appears in the music video for their song, "Breaking the Girl" and following his death, the band paid tribute to him with the song "Transcending" (originally titled "River") on their 1995 album, One Hot Minute. Former Chili Peppers' guitarist, John Frusciante, dedicated the song "Smile from the Streets You Hold" to River Phoenix. Frusciante wrote the first part of the song about their friendship while Phoenix was still alive. After Phoenix's death, Frusciante wrote the second part in his memory.

Phoenix has been the subject of numerous other tributes in song and other media. The band R.E.M. dedicated their album Monster to Phoenix (as Michael Stipe and Phoenix were close friends), and their song "E-Bow the Letter" from 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi is said to have been written from a letter Michael Stipe wrote to Phoenix but never sent because of the actor's death. River Phoenix is referenced in the song "Sacred Life" from the eponymous album by the British band The Cult: "River Phoenix was so young, Don't you know your prince has gone?"

Ex-10000 Maniacs singer Natalie Merchant wrote and recorded a controversial song, simply named "River", featured on her 1995 solo album Tigerlily (Elektra). While she deplores this death of a "Young & strong Hollywood son" who was "one of ours", she criticizes strongly the excesses of the people's "vulture's candor" and the media's greedy attention to the event and adds: "Why don't you let him be ... /Give his father & his mother peace", as well as: "It's only a tragedy", ending with the real question behind it: "How could we save him / From himself?"

Musician Sam Phillips has the dedication "For River" on her album Martinis & Bikinis. Other songs inspired by Phoenix include Dana Lyons' "Song For River Phoenix (If I Had Known)", Grant Lee Buffalo's "Halloween", × Ellis Paul's song "River", found on his 1994 release Stories, Rufus Wainwright's "Matinee Idol", Nada Surf's "River Phoenix", Stereophonics's "Chris Chambers", Jux County's "River Phoenix", and Santa Cruz's "River Phoenix" and "River Phoenix (Part 2)".

In her 1996 album Woman & a Man, Belinda Carlisle referenced River in the song "California". The song opens and closes with the line "I remember I was in a tanning salon, when I heard that River Phoenix was gone." In Jay-Z's album, Kingdom Come, the lyrics of "Hollywood" list him as one of the many fatalities of the pressures of Hollywood. New York band Japanther featured a song on their album Skuffed up My Huffy (2008) entitled "River Phoenix", which is about certain events in his life and delivers the chorus "River Phoenix didn't mean it". In the song "The Viper Room", Wesley Willis takes an abrupt turn from an otherwise glowing account of the club by noting Phoenix's death, stating that he "...collapsed and died like a Doberman." On his 2013 album Not Thinking Straight, British recording artist Matt Fishel referenced Phoenix in the song "When Boy Meets Boy". Its lyrics portray a bedroom in which the walls are "covered in posters of idols and rock stars who had died too young" and the song's third verse contains the line "I paid tribute with a little wink to River Phoenix hanging on the wall".  In the song's accompanying music video, an animated poster of Phoenix hangs on a wall next to Jimi Hendrix, Freddie Mercury, and Kurt Cobain.

Gus Van Sant, with whom Phoenix worked in the film My Own Private Idaho, dedicated his 1994 movie Even Cowgirls Get the Blues as well as his 1997 novel Pink to him. Experimental Santa Cruz filmmaker Cam Archer also produced a documentary called Drowning River Phoenix as part of his American Fame series.  During performances on November 13 and November 15, 1993, and February 12, 1994, and one of Nirvana's last USA shows in Seattle on January 7, 1994, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana dedicated the song "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" to Phoenix (among other celebrities who died young), just a few months before Cobain's death. Tom Petty dedicated "Ballad of Easy Rider" to Phoenix when he played in his and Phoenix's hometown of Gainesville, Florida in November 1993.

The British band Manic Street Preachers mentions Phoenix in their song "Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayitsworldwouldfallapart" (from the album The Holy Bible, 1994) in the following line: "...I'm thinking right now of Hollywood tragedy; Big Mac; smack; Phoenix, R; please smile y'all ..." Phoenix was the subject of a controversial song by Australian group TISM titled "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River" the single originally featured a mock-up of Phoenix's tombstone as its cover art in 1995. The chorus features the line, "I'm on the drug that killed River Phoenix."  On the song "Love Me, Hate Me" by rapper Ja Rule, he numerates different ways he could die as a celebrity, and one of the lyrics says "I might OD in a club off drugs like River Phoenix". In the 1997 musical, The Fix, Phoenix is alluded to in the song "Mistress of Deception" in the lines, "Hot young actor died last night at an L.A. club/Ecstasy and booze/And too much NyQuil/Had the sweetest face/Warm and shy and innocent/Sexy in that careless kinda way/The newsman said his heart just stopped like that ..." The Hugh Cornwell song "Rain on the River" from his 2009 album Hooverdam is directly about the death of Phoenix, as his sister Rain sits over her dying brother on the sidewalk outside The Viper Room.

A lesser-known reference to River Phoenix was Final Fantasy VIII's main protagonist Squall Leonhart. Tetsuya Nomura, the lead character designer for the game, stated he modeled Squall on River's visage during development, and even gave Squall the same birthdate.  The 2015 TV series, Autopsy: The Last Hours of... featured River Phoenix as well as a number of other celebrities. The scene of Phoenix's death also merits several mentions in William Gibson's book Spook Country.

The song "River, Run" by the band Suddenly, Tammy! From their record, We Get There When We Do was written about him.

Rapper Tyler, the Creator references Phoenix in his 2017's Flower Boy, perceived by some critics as a kind of coming out album, as a sex symbol. In the song "I Ain't Got Time", he writes in the first verses "Boy, I need a Kleenex. How I got this far? Boy, I can't believe it. That I got this car, so I take the scenic. Passenger a white boy, look like River Phoenix".

Honors and rankings

Phoenix has been ranked numerous times on a number of lists recognizing his talent and career. He was listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1986" in "John Willis' Screen World" (2004). Phoenix was voted at No. 64 on a "Greatest Movie Stars of All Time" poll by Channel 4 television in the UK. The poll was made up wholly of votes from prominent figures of the acting and directing communities. He was ranked No. 86 in Empire magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list in 1997.

His life and death has been the subject of an E! True Hollywood Story, an A&E Biography and an episode of Final 24, which contains a dramatic reconstruction of his final hours and death. He was also referred to as "This century's James Dean" in episode 10 ("Mi Casa, Su Casa Loma") of the first season of Being Erica. His death was listed as No. 16 in the top 101 events in E! Television's "101 Most Shocking Moments in Entertainment". In 2010, Phoenix was voted by GQ Magazine as one of the "50 Most Stylish Men of the Past Half Century".

Filmography

Film

1985       Explorers             Wolfgang Müller              Nominated – Young Artist Award for Exceptional Performance by a Young Actor – Motion Picture

1986       Stand by Me      Chris Chambers                Jackie Coogan Award shared with Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman and Jerry O'Connell

1986       The Mosquito Coast       Charlie Fox          Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Male Superstar in Motion Pictures

1988       A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon       Jimmy Reardon                

1988       Little Nikita         Jeff Grant           

1988       Running on Empty           Danny Pope       National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor

Nominated – Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture

1989       Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade        Young Indiana Jones     

1990       I Love You to Death         Devo Nod           

1991       Dogfight              Eddie Birdlace   

1991       My Own Private Idaho Mikey Waters    Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead

National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor

Volpi Cup for Best Actor

Nominated – New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor (2nd place)

1992       Sneakers              Carl Arbogast   

1993       The Thing Called Love     James Wright   

1994       Silent Tongue     Talbot Roe          Posthumous release

2012       Dark Blood          Boy        (final film role) - Filmed in 1993

Television

1982–1983           Seven Brides for Seven Brothers                Guthrie McFadden          21 episodes

Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Drama Series 1984

Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a New Television Series 1982

1984       Celebrity              Jeffie Crawford (Age 11)               Miniseries

1984       ABC Afterschool Special                Brian Ellsworth Episode: "Backwards: The Riddle of Dyslexia"

Nominated – Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor in a Family Film Made for Television shared with Joaquin Phoenix

1984       It's Your Move   Brian     Episode: "Pilot"

1984       Hotel     Kevin     Episode: "Transitions"

1985       Robert Kennedy & His Times        Robert Kennedy, Jr. (Part 3)        Miniseries

1985       Family Ties          Eugene Forbes Episode: "My Tutor"

1985       Surviving: A Family in Crisis          Philip Brogan     Television film

Young Artist Award for Best Young Actor Starring in a Television Special or Mini-Series

1986       Circle of Violence: A Family Drama           Chris Benfield     Television film

Music videos

1986       "Stand by Me" Ben E. King          Himself

1991–1992           "Breaking the Girl"          Red Hot Chili Peppers     Himself

Notes

Rob Brunner of Entertainment Weekly reported that 11 days of interior shooting in Los Angeles remained on Dark Blood, which producer JoAnne Sellar said would take three weeks.  According to director George Sluizer, the cast had two days off while construction work on the interior sets was completed.  Sellar said Phoenix died the night of the first day of shooting.