Could accommodate maybe 25 persons comfortably. © Copyright 2021 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. “It took him a while to get over it,” Reiner said. Before it was the Viper, the building had a checkered past In fact, it was once the Melody Room -- a known gangster hangout, where Bugsy Seigel … Can anyone go to the Viper Room? Easy in and treated well. Now if you are going there "for the history" of celebrity overdose deaths on the sidewalks, this is your place. River Pheonix was a rising star when he overdosed outside of the Viper Room Nightclub in 1993. Stand by Me, based on the Stephen King novella The Body, is the story of four boys in small-town Oregon in 1959. He seemed to have this wisdom around him that was really difficult to quantify at that age.” He was smart, he was musically talented, and he was one of the kindest people Wheaton had ever met. “I could smell the pot coming all the way down the hallway,” Feldman said. Superman’s a real guy. River was relieved, having conflated Sutherland with his character:  “I didn’t know if he was going to pull out the switchblade and slit my throat.” Feldman and River checked out a local underage nightclub. Then we cut their throats, shred them and eat them! . River’s brother Joaquin is well known to the world as a superb actor; his sisters Rain, Liberty and Summer are actors and musicians. Now if you are going there "for the history" of celebrity overdose deaths on the sidewalks, this is your place. He collapsed on the sidewalk outside the popular West Hollywood nightspot The Viper Room, which was part-owned by actor Johnny Depp at the time. Your simple phrase, “the same road we used to walk back and forth, for years” becomes so vivid in my mind, I can picture the scene and feel the pain. Director Rob Reiner said, “He was a young James Dean and I had never seen anybody like that.”, Wil Wheaton, who played the 12-year-old Gordie, said that the movie worked, in large part, because the four young actors starring in it matched their characters so well: he was nerdy and uncomfortable in his own skin; Jerry O’Connell was funny and schlubby (looking nothing like the chiseled hunk he became as an adult); Corey Feldman was full of inchoate rage and had an awful relationship with his parents. In early 1995, Australian singer and actor Jason Donovansuffered a drug-induced seizure at the c… In blue jeans and a white T-shirt, sporting a short Fifties haircut, he looked like a screen star of the past – one in particular. And they threw the poolside chairs into the hotel pool – the closest four well-meaning young adolescents could get to acting like the Who. He was only 23 and was set to star in a few movies that could take his career to the next level. “Phoenix immerses himself so deeply inside his character you almost forget you’ve seen him before,” a film reviewer wrote of his performance in ‘My Own Private Idaho.’ “It’s a stunningly sensitive performance, poignant and comic at once.”. He came from a bad family, and everybody just knew he’d turn out bad – including Chris.” That was how Richard Dreyfuss, narrating as the adult Gordie Lachance, described the character in Stand by Me that made River Phoenix a star. Reiner led them in games drawn from Viola Spolin’s book Improvisations for the Theater: River and the other boys mimed each other’s gestures as if they were mirror images, told collaborative stories, and took turns guiding each other blindfolded through their hotel lobby. “Kids never got along with me,” River said. We were walking the same roads to go to school, and to return back home. Exclusive excerpt from new book by Rolling Stone contributor Gavin Edwards, 'Last Night at the Viper Room' by Gavin Edwards. River laughed it off, saying it was somebody else’s. You just saw that raw naturalism. The defining scene for Chris comes when, late at night by a campfire, he confesses his fear that no matter what he does, the town will always think of him as “one of those low-life Chambers kids.” On the night the scene was shot, River delivered the monologue, telling the story of how he stole milk money from his school and then had moral qualms and returned the cash to a teacher – only to have her keep the money for herself, letting him take the blame and a three-day suspension. Shared, Sir. IT’S INSANE.’, ”We take these animals and completely violate who they are. River Phoenix died after suffering a fatal overdose there on Oct. 31, 1993, the same year it first opened as the Viper Room with owners including Depp. He even wrote a letter to Explorers director Joe Dante, who knew about River’s unslaked teenage lust, with the caps-lock on his handwriting: “WELL IT HAPPENED. In other words: “He just seemed cool.”. “These kids, because this was Oregon and not L.A., and because we were actors and they admired us or whatever, they’d do anything to appease us. “I had this tragic air to me ’cause I was bummed out by the accident.”, River’s character was tough, sensitive, and just a little goofy. It didn’t change our state of mind in any way.”. When River explained he was the culprit behind the dirt-clod fusillade, Sutherland laughed and said, “Don’t worry about it. Perhaps he felt that by drawing on his wellspring of pain and betrayal, he had exposed his secrets to the world. You don’t have to tell me who it is. I heard the bad news while i was in US. Viper Room and h.wood Group Join Other Clubs and Restaurants ... Sunset Strip Staple The Viper Room Has a Clothing Line Now ... LA's famous Viper Room at risk of demolition - 9Finance. on his way to The Viper Room,” DiCaprio explained. ‘WE CUT THEIR THROATS AND EAT THEM! Just before junior high school begins, they hike 20 miles down the train tracks to the spot where they have heard the corpse of a missing kid lies, and come home older and wiser. Although the cast and crew remember the idyllic shoot of Stand by Me as the best summer ever, they were also making a quiet little movie that would turn out to be a masterpiece. The Viper Room: Questionably worth the effort - See 102 traveler reviews, 30 candid photos, and great deals for West Hollywood, CA, at Tripadvisor. Sign up for our newsletter. She became a wonderful philologist, a wonderful teacher. The injury gave him plenty of time to sit on the couch, thinking about life. His emotions may have been mixed, but he was outwardly overjoyed: the next day on the set, he was telling the news to anybody who would listen. He began his acting career at age 10 in television commercials. Production began on The Body (as it was then known) in June 1984. River Phoenix was one of the most influential actors of his generation at the time of his death of an accidental drug overdose. During his childhood, River travelled in South America with his “hippie” missionary parents, members of the Children of God cult. Feldman had known River a long time – they had become friendly on the L.A. audition circuit. At the hotel, the actors were testing their limits. Harry Morton also bought the Viper Room nightclub in West Hollywood in 2008. It’s been 20 years since River Phoenix died on October 31, 1993 at the Viper Room, where the 23-year-old Oscar nominee drank … India is among the countries most dramatically affected by snakebite and accounts for almost half the total number of annual deaths in the world. The only other thing I remember about that night was laying on the railroad tracks with everything spinning all around me.”, Feldman said that he and River also had their first significant marijuana experience together. “Kind of like a father figure to some of us.”, At first, Wheaton  was intimidated  by River, who was 14 to his 12. Before he was fully healed, he went on an audition for Stand by Me. The experiences that had made his life extraordinary had also made it impossible to find common ground with regular teenagers. “It’s not easy watching yourself so vulnerable.”. After wrapping Explorers, however, he was fooling around on a motorcycle, racing it in a dirt field, and he took a spill, tearing up a tendon in his left knee. “Theater games develop trust among people,” declared Reiner, who needed his four actors to become friends – quickly. You can listen to the 911 call in its entirety here. 14. It’s a rental car – they washed it off.”. That Night at the Viper Room. The other part owner was Sal Jenco who starred in 21 Jump Street with Depp. River had an epiphany: acting in movies was not just a fluke detour in his life, it was important to him, and he wanted to do it well. When i bring the image of the road in mind, and her image, collapsing, and the image of her poor mother, i collapse, also. Sutherland was almost four years older than River, and spent most of his time on set in character, so the two actors didn’t get to know each other very well. Nevertheless, on a day when River was in a destructive mood, he bombarded Sutherland’s car with large dirt clods until it was covered in muck. “A very strange experience,” River said. He collapsed on the sidewalk outside the popular West Hollywood nightspot, Died on the sidewalk outside The Viper Room, Americans starve while Bill Gates gets richer, Famous movie car chases: Bullitt vs. We want to hear from you! IT FINALLY HAPPENED.”. The Viper Room rose to Hollywood infamy after River Phoenix tragically overdosed there on Halloween night in 1993, and his brother's harrowing 911 call was broadcast on news channels around the world. Terrified, River blurted out, “Kiefer, I’m really sorry.”, Sutherland was confused; he was just saying hello. River had been treating acting as a lark – he enjoyed doing it, but music remained his first love. While there, Phoenix took … “I was going through puberty and I was hurting real bad,” he said of his emotional nakedness. It’s been 20 years since the death of River Phoenix at age 23. “It was a beautiful experience,” Arlyn said later. “They knew it was Kiefer’s car – I didn’t. 8800 Block of Sunset Blvd. 1. Another shot of The Viper Room. That was on Halloween night of 1993. The Revamped Viper Room … ... Now if you are going there "for the history" of celebrity overdose deaths on the sidewalks, this is your place. River turned 15 while shooting Stand by Me, and seemed determined to grow up just as decisively as the movie’s characters. “Personally, I didn’t think my work was up to my own standards,” he said. When the two kids spotted a bong in his closet and asked what it was, he not only explained its purpose and workings to them, he (with what seems an astonishing lack of adult responsibility) let them try it out. “Sex was nearly all that River could think about,” Feldman said. At the end of one outing, they found themselves at a clothing-optional hot springs that was hosting a hippie fair; some of the cast got to juggle with the Flying Karamazov Brothers. River and his friend went to his parents to get their blessing – Arlyn and John not only consented, they pitched a tent in the backyard of their rented house and decorated it to enhance the mood. There is a lot of mystery surrounding River’s death; it wasn’t just the overdose that took place that night. A few minutes later, he returned and told Reiner he was ready to try again. So they got me a forty-ouncer of beer, which I drank straight down just to show them. Ps : my apologies, Sir, for having to read this. Chick Corea, Jazz Pianist Who Expanded the Possibilities of the Genre, Dead at 79, New Details Emerge in Bruce Springsteen Arrest, How to Bone When You’re Alone: 17 Sex Toys for Self-Pleasure During Self-Quarantine, ‘Game of Thrones’ Actress Esmé Bianco Accuses Marilyn Manson of Physical Abuse, Judge Rules Against Britney Spears’ Father at Conservatorship Hearing, Pooh Shiesty’s New Video for ‘See Red’ Is All About Driving Fast, 500 Greatest Albums Podcast: How Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On’ Chronicled a Nation in Turmoil, Strippers, Drag Queens and Dancing Dogs: The Insane 1971 Party That Launched Alice Cooper. Upstairs was standing room only unless you were paying to reserve one of the few tables there. He collapsed on the sidewalk outside the popular West Hollywood nightspot The Viper Room, which was part-owned by actor Johnny Depp at the time.. Depp closed the Viper Room every year on October 31 until selling his share in the club in 2004. The Phoenix family fled Venezuela by stowing away in a cruise ship. The four young actors talked about sex all the time, despite (or because of) their lack of experience. We were neighbors. Kiefer Sutherland had a supporting role as the quartet’s nemesis, a juvenile delinquent named Ace Merrill. I just want you to think about it.”. . Shop Viper Room brings you the only officially licensed apparel from the legendary Viper Room in Hollywood, California. On Halloween night 20 years ago, actor River Phoenix, 23, collapsed and died outside the Viper Room nightclub in West Hollywood, Calif.Fans were … “The other guys dared me to do it,” River explained. “I got through that, thank God.” He wasn’t just relieving his teenage hormones: he was attempting to have a mature sex life uncolored by his experiences with the Children of God. This time his performance felt like an open wound: River wept while anger and pain roiled him. We use them, abuse them, and deprive them all their lives. This story, this incident, reminds me of a friend, a girlfriend. In Last Night at the Viper Room, out today, Rolling Stone contributor Gavin Edwards tells the story of the actor-musician’s brief life and tragic death. Fall/Winter 2016 collection. The downstairs lounge was small and limited. I’ve seen the movie a thousand times – and every time I see that scene, I cry.”, Although River always praised the finished film (which changed titles from The Body to Stand by Me when marketers at Columbia Pictures worried that audiences would think it was a bodybuilding movie or a horror flick), he wasn’t so happy with his own performance. Born on August 23, 1970 (Virgo), in Madras, Oregon, River Phoenix achieved fame at 15 in the 1986 film ‘Stand by Me,’ which was based on a novella by Stephen King. River had a major crush on a friend of the family, an older teenager; the feeling was apparently mutual, since she propositioned him. hotel and condo project is proposed. It became a hangout for young stars including Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire. Harry Morton was also a volunteer sheriff’s deputy at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s West Hollywood station. Feldman said, “There was no alcohol served there or anything, but of course, all the kids were drinking anyway.” The locals offered booze to the visiting Hollywood actors and, with the lightest touches of peer pressure, got them to take their first drinks. “And River was cool and really smart and passionate,” Wheaton said. I wish you are doing well (as well as it can be). The Joaquin Phoenix 911 phone call as his brother, Phoenix lay dying on the sidewalk outside the Viper Room. This exclusive excerpt from the chapter “If the Sky That We Look Upon Should Tumble and Fall” recounts Phoenix’s experience on the set of Stand by Me, the coming-of-age movie that made him a star, featuring interviews with co-star Corey Feldman, director Rob Reiner and more. Fox was scheduled to testify in court shortly after his disappearance. In his ending minutes, he said: "I don't feel so good. Morton’s half-sister, model Domino Harvey, died of a drug overdose in … Consequently, who has died at the Viper Room? On Oct. 30, 1993, Phoenix went with his girlfriend Samantha Mathis and siblings Joaquin and Rain to the Hollywood club the Viper Room. When I found out, I was scared for my life.”, Soon after, Sutherland spotted River at a local restaurant and called him over to his table. He was in the proces sof suing five people over financial problems at his business, a West Hollywood, California nightclub called The Viper Room, which he had co-founded with the actor Johnny Depp in 1993. The Pirates of the Caribbean star had turned the club into a rock venue where acts including Guns 'N' Roses and Johnny Cash performed. 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