Hollywood is stuffed to the brim with one of the crucial biggest bromances ever.
Who could fail to remember Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, who has one of the longest bromances ever? Or what about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's long-time friendship, and Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson's? And in fact, we could not fail to remember Seth Rogan and James Franco's bromance either. There are so many extra but we will stop ourselves there.
In maximum bromances, the actors have worked together such a lot of instances it is transform like second nature for them to star in more and more movies collectively. If no longer, then you understand without a shadow of a doubt that they're still as close as any individual will also be to their best pal.
But there was once once a bromance that will have outshined all of the relaxation had it survived. River Phoenix met Keanu Reeves through Phoenix's brother Joaquin but the pair quickly formed a brotherhood of their own, occurring to make two movies together. Sadly, simply when their bromance used to be beginning to bloom, it was all tragically stolen from them when Phoenix died of an overdose in 1993.
Here's what Phoenix and Reeves' short-lived bromance was once like.
They Met Through Joaquin
In 1989, Reeves starred within the film Parenthood with Phoenix's brother Joaquin, who used to be going by way of the name Leaf at the time. By then, Reeves was once already a seasoned actor, having started his profession back in 1984, and starring in motion pictures like Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and one in every of his most famous roles, Ted in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).
Phoenix's girlfriend on the time, Martha Plimpton played Reeves' pregnant female friend within the movie. They were bound to satisfy come what may and just about did the 12 months previous when Phoenix auditioned for Bill in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
"Leaf and Martha were his buddies before I was even a friend of his," River told Interview magazine. "Then I met up with him on 'I Love You to Death.' And I liked the guy. I wanted to work with him. He's like my older brother. But shorter."
In 1990, they starred in I Love You to Death, and whilst on set they were each approached by way of Gus Van Sant to famous person in the debatable movie My Own Private Idaho. Reeves said that they have been really thinking about it agreed that they were both in no matter what. Neither of them would do it if one didn't need to.
"We were excited,” Phoenix said. "It may have been like a foul dream—a dream that never follows thru as a result of no one commits, but we simply compelled ourselves into it."
During filming in 1991, they and the rest of the cast became extremely close and allegedly slept on futons in the director's house. In Van Sant's garage the pair, along with Phoenix's friend and Red Hot Chili Pepper's bassist, Flea, and other castmembers would jam late into the night. A lot of times they would just stay up to talk about the world.
"I believe he is the best," Reeves said. "He asks questions that I don't most often take into consideration on occasion. He works in some way that, no less than for me, showed me learn how to get it extra in my blood and more imaginative."
Reeves has also said that in between takes, Phoenix was always making him laugh, goofing off while making him feel comfortable about what they were doing. Interview magazine observed that they had an easy banter where they interrupted each other only to complete each other's sentences.
They even joked about doing Shakespeare together, maybe A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Romeo and Juliet. Phoenix joked he wanted to play Juliet.
In 2014, Reeves said, "To get the danger to play with him, to be a spouse with him, on this world that Gus Van put together- just actually a great togetherness, great power, a superb exploration, a great- other folks pronouncing yes and you understand on the core of this- on the center of this was once River."
They Connected In So Many Ways
Reeves and Phoenix connected so well because they'd had similar experiences and also similar personalities. They had their own struggles with their childhoods and were both in the same stage in their careers. Neither of them knew how to operate around fame and they didn't want to. They weren't big into the glitzy glamorous life that fame brought.
They were also just as spiritual as each other and had a thirst for philanthropy. They wanted to change the world, and play characters that intrigued them, not characters that the mainstream wanted them to play.
Unfortunately, Reeves had to start taking on the burden of fame alone when Phoenix died. When the news came through, Reeves was on the set of Speed. After his best friend's death though, he took on the grief and continued his career, which went in a trajectory that would have rivaled Phoenix's. But they would have become great actors together, not against one another.
The only thing that they didn't have in common was the fact that Phoenix let his anger and the world's suffering get to him, whereas Reeves dealt with it in other ways.
In 2019, Phoenix's sister Rain released her first album, River, on the anniversary of his death. When it was released, Reeves commented on what Phoenix meant to him.
"Meeting River used to be a revelation," Reeves told People. "As an individual and an artist. His beneficiant middle and shining spirit along side an intelligence, interest, wit and humor inspired. He perceived to hang the disappointment and what was fallacious in a worldly or past worldly approach and simply sought after to make it higher, actively make it higher. Whether it was once in a dialog, a tune, the characters he played, the stories he advised, his friendship, his family, his activism, his love. He was there. He tried. He was once attempting. A good looking exceptional soul. Light."
That same year, Reeves told the Irish Times that Phoenix was, "definitely [one in all] my closest pals from that generation. We shared a creative sensibility. River was simply so down-to-earth, spiritual, and a singular artist. Yeah, I omit him."
Sadly, we didn't get any more collaborations between the friends, but we know that Phoenix has definitely shown through in every single one of Reeves' performances.
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