PHOENIX RISING

RIVER PHOENIX WOULD HAVE TURNED 50 THIS YEAR. STEP BACK IN TIME 1988 WITH THIS CANDID INTERVIEW FROM OUR EXCLUSIVE MOVIE ARCHIVES AS AN 18-YESR-OLD RIVER DISCUSSES HIS BURGEONING CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD...

On 23 September 1988, River Phoenix sat down in Los Angeles to discuss his latest feature film, Running On Empty. The Sidney Lumet-directed movie marked the start of the teenage star’s transition into more adult-oriented roles and would also land him his first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, both for Best Supporting Actor.

In 2020, River Phoenix would have celebrated the milestone of turning 50. His impressive movie career encompassed critically-acclaimed indies, including My Own Private Idaho, as well as coming-of-age classics, such as Stand By Me. He played a young Indy with charismatic gusto in Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, and more than held his own against Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier in crime thriller Sneakers. But what promised to be a glittering career was cut tragically short when he passed away on the pavement outside the famed Los Angeles club The Viper Room in the early hours of 31 October 1993, just five years after this interview took place.

To celebrate the life of a true Hollywood icon, Total Film revisits this searingly-honest conversation where the reluctant heartthrob discusses his unconventional past and his high hopes for the future…

When did you realise you had a gift for acting?

I’ve always felt comfortable with acting and I’ve always enjoyed it – but I didn’t fully understand both the technical and the emotional elements of acting until I worked on Stand By Me. That was the first time I knew how to tie these two