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KEANU
REEVES / RIVER PHOENIX
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| Magazine
& Date: |
Interview
Mag , Nov 91 |
| Written
by: |
Gini
Sikes & Paige Powell |
| Provided
by: |
Keanu Norweigan Wood |
 In
My Own Private Idaho, River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves portray
a pair of teenage prostitutes, each of them more victim
than vulture. Phoenix is a narcoleptic, Mike, who dozes
off at dangerously inopportune moments as he searches endlessly
for his long-lost mother; Reeves is a blue blooded runaway,
Scott, who turns tricks as an act of rebellion against his
father. "Idaho is the story of a rich boy who falls off
the hill and a kid on the street," says its writer-director,
Gus Van Sant. "I saw a bit of the hill in Keanu's personality
and a bit of the street in River's. They played off those
extensions of themselves."
It makes sense that Phoenix and Reeves,
briefly teamed in Lawrence Kasdan's I Love You to Death,
should resurface together in Van Sant's twilight America.
Although both have starred in mainstream hits -- Phoenix
in Stand by Me and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and
Reeves in the Bill and Ted adventures and Point Break, for
example -- they have specialized in playing outsiders. Alienation
has meant success. Reeves' Holden Caulfield-like pothead
in River's Edge brought him a flurry of acclaim that has
never abated; Phoenix's performance as the son of fugitive
radicals in Running on Empty earned him an Oscar nomination
at seventeen.
Reeves is the first to arrive for dinner
at Suite 55 in the Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard.
He looks a bit dazed from a run-in with the paparazzi at
a Hollywood screening. "I just stopped on my bike to ask
the guard, like, what movie was playing," he says. "And
suddenly all these guys around me are yelling, 'Keanu, look
up!'" Did he? "No way, man. I beat it out of there. It was
weird." He grins, and then offers to grate some Parmesan
cheese for the pasta, first asking what side of the grater
to use. Soon Phoenix shows up. Immediately, he's at Reeves's
side in the kitchen, peeling garlic. Within minutes, though,
the two escape to the balcony. Phoenix lights up a Camel.
He cocks an eyebrow: "Doesn't figure, huh?" Then he exhales.
"I know. I should quit."
Suddenly, he and Reeves are off, excitedly
exploring the possibility of doing Shakespeare together.
They stand nose to nose -- Phoenix newly bleached blond
as part of his bid to play the young Andy Warhol in a future
Van Sant biopic, Reeves dark haired and tanned -- like positive
and negative images of each other. They sustain the banter
throughout the meal, as one interrupts the other, but only
to complete his thought.
GINI SIKES: Keanu, you've said you accepted
a part in Idaho first, hoping River would do the film too
KEANU REEVES: No. We were always together.
RIVER PHOENIX: He was lying. We were doing
I Love You to Death, and we both got the Idaho script. We
were driving in a car on Santa Monica Boulevard, probably
on the way to a club, and were talking really fast about
the whole idea. We were excited. It could have been like
bad dream -- a dream that never follows through because
no one commits, but we just forced ourselves into it. We
said, "O.K., I'll do it if you do it. I won't do it if you
don't." We shook hands. That was it.
PAIGE POWELL: River, what were the challenges
you faced portraying a character who suffers from narcolepsy?
When I first saw your narcoleptic attacks on film, for one
tenth of a second they could have been perceived as comic.
Then they seemed painful. It' s clear that they come out
of nowhere. How'd you know how to do that?
RP: Mainly from Gus's descriptions of what
Jake would do. Jake was a narcoleptic in Portland who worked
with me [on this aspect of the part]. I spent a lot of time
talking to him about why narcolepsy happens. I understood
it completely from the medical and scientific standpoint,
though they don't know exactly what it is. But when I was
with Jake he never had a narcoleptic attack in front of
me. After I'd done a few of the fits, Gus said they were
exactly the way Jake had them.
KR: Do you think this film will cause narcolepsy?
I mean, should parents watch out for their children?
RP: I would definitely stress that viewers
should all be very aware of the catching nature of narcolepsy.
KR: Should viewers wear special glasses?
RP: It's like the eclipse. If you look at
it too long, you might get it.
PP: While we're on the subject of research,
did the two of you hang out with the street kids in Portland?
RP: Totally. KR: Yeah, a little bit.
GS: Were there ever times that you felt
that asking street hustlers for information was somehow
exploiting them?
RP: I think they were flattered that their
story would be told.
KR: No, man. I don't feel that this story
is a contemporary tale of the street. It's not current in
the places or the language. The only way this story is contemporary
is in a larger sense, in its emotions and perhaps what goes
on inside of some people ...
PP: Aren't emotions timeless?
KR: Exactly. But I'm talking about how they're
manifested in language, or, you know, in anything that people
are doing. I'm just saying this film is not representative
of the street scene in Portland.
RP: That's very true. If a kid from Portland
saw this movie, he wouldn't think it was Portland street
life. But it's our responsibility to go as deep as we can
and to explore all the directions that might even be suggested
in a script. Just so we have all the bases covered. Our
research was extracurricular; it wasn't necessarily needed.
GS: Describe how you went about researching
the lifestyle of street hustlers. RP: I entered it through
friends of Gus's who were already on the street, Scott and
Gary. Gary died in a car wreck recently, from what I heard;
God bless his soul. Being anonymous also helped us, I think.
GS: They had no idea you two were actors
researching a role?
RP: No, no. It was all in character. We
were just hangin'. If anything, they thought, This is another
cat who's trying to take my spot on the street. There was
maybe a little curiosity but never any animosity or jealousy.
Because it's a brotherhood on the street, man. You all watch
for each other's backs. Because no one wants to see anyone
get stabbed.
GS: So nothing was set up?
RP: Some street kids came over to Gus's
house and we met different people at different places. It
was staged in that sense. But the actual street stuff was
just us working on our own time. Like guerrillas. [laughs]
It was very sensational for us. I thought our main problem
was to find out if we could be the real guys. Gus's choice
was to use real street guys or us, so Keanu and I felt a
great burden. We wanted to believe in this script and work
out the problems.
GS: Both of you are very popular among adolescents.
In particular, teenagers seem to relate to you, Keanu, because
of your Bill and Ted persona. Was there any concern in your
camp, from, say, your agent or manager, that playing a male
prostitute would hurt your "image"?
KR: Hurt my image? Who am I -- a politician?
[laughs softly] No. I'm an actor. That wasn't a problem.
But shooting was a very intense experience. I had just finished
Point Break and was still into my character. I felt a bit
of anxiety about Idaho. I was overwhelmed at what I had
to do -- it was a little like, Oh no! Can I do this? I was
afraid. But Gus and River made me fit in. Said, Let's do
one bitchin' movie. I don't know about you, River, man --
but I was introduced to so many elements through the guy
I was playing. Real people. My imagination. Gus's interpretation.
Shakespeare. It was rich! And it was just bottomless, man.
You could go as far as you could go, you know?
GS: I remember reading an interview with
Robert Downey, Jr. after Less Than Zero, where he said he
was afraid people would harass him because of his character.
Has anyone reacted strongly to your roles?
RP: Fuck them. That's all I can say. A big
capital F and a U-C-K and then THEM. T-H-E-M.
KR: Get a clue, man.
GS: So you haven't had any negative --
RP: No. I get negative shit all the time.
I don't care.
PP: Do you think anyone would have taken
this script ten years ago?
RP: Porno stars maybe. Like maybe one of
Warhol's crowd.
PP: Joe Dallesandro?
RP: Possibly one of those cats.
GS: One of your co-stars is a Warhol actor
-- Udo Kier from Dracula and Frankenstein. Which brings
me to a prurient question ...
KR: It's your job!
GS: How comfortable were you guys filming
your three-way sex scene with Udo?
RP: Well, I really didn't help matters.
While we were doing our scene I said, "Just think, Keanu.
Five hundred million of your fans will be watching this
one day." Like a stupid idiot. I made him feel completely
self-conscious. But Keanu rose above it. Gus scolded me
endlessly the night after.
KR: Did he really?
RP: Yeah. He scolded the shit out of me.
I almost cried. That was terrible of me. I was just trying
to break the ice. You know I thought it was humorous --
I was trying to save Keanu from being freeze-framed by twelve-year-olds
at home!
KR: Thanks, brother.
RP: Later on Keanu was filmed naked with
the beautiful Chiara [Caselli, who plays Scott's Italian
girlfriend Carmella]. That scene was really a drag. He was
having a great time with this girl, but it was freezing
cold and they were dying. So I think they were more worried
about the temperature than the nudity. That took five hours.
GS: The scene with Udo must have been easier
simply because you two were already good friends. How did
you meet?
RP: Actually I met Keanu through my ex-girlfriend
Martha [Plimpton] while they were doing Parenthood -- they
were sucking face regularly. My brother Wakim, otherwise
known as Leaf, was also in it. So Leaf and Martha were his
buddies before I was even a friend of his. 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.
PP: Keanu, Scott is a rich kid who wallows
in the gutters to rebel against his father who's the mayor
of Portland. Gus based Scott on Prince Hal in Shakespeare's
Henry IV plays ...
KR: Yeah, but in the Shakespeare world Prince
Hal turned out to be a good king. To avoid internal strife
he gets into these wars. All the dukes and lords were pretty
happy because men were going off to die for a noble cause
and people were being fed. But in Idaho, Scott is not connected
to the people. He's got his own agenda. He just dogs everybody
and goes his own way. So he doesn't have, like, the noble
aspect. In the end his father was very compassionate and
concerned. Perhaps that's what makes it a modern tale.
GS: Were you concerned at all that Mike
speaks in street vernacular throughout the film whereas
Scott goes in and out of Shakespearean verse? Did you think
your switch in speech might seem jarring, Keanu?
KR: The Shakespeare stuff was an aspect
of the script. Gus said it was something to do and to think
about it. So that was my game. I wasn't worried. It just
seemed challenging and interesting to me.
RP: I was afraid of it not working.
KR: For me?
RP: No, for the entire film. I felt we needed
to be very clear on how we set up the transitional scenes
between the mock Shakespeare stuff and the docudrama street
stuff. There needed to be stepping stones to those scenes
-- so it wouldn't be like jumping from black and white to
Technicolor. It was important to organize our thoughts and
to support Gus stylistically.
KR: I wasn't aware of all the different
styles going on in the film initially, though. You were
looking through the camera a lot more than me.
RP: It was more of my duty in the character
of Mike to be concerned with the directorial perspective.
I was aware of how my narcolepsy would affect the narrative,
how the random narcolepsy fits would affect the viewer.
I'm glad that it didn't turn out to be a tale through my
narcoleptic vision. But it was something I had to take full
responsibility for and it made me ask all these questions.
Even when I wasn't involved with the scene, I had to be
aware of it to some degree so that I could make myself match
up to everything.
PP: The thing I like so much about Gus and
his work is his compassion. Mala Noche just ripped my heart
out. In My Own Private Idaho, he's dealing with the search
for home and family. Was that theme important to you in
deciding to do this film?
KR: Oh, not for me.
RP: I have really strong feelings about
the search for home and mother. I thought it was very, very
touching. You just knew that someone who could come up with
this premise would have something to back it with in terms
of knowledge and experience. Which Gus has.
PP: What was it like working with Gus as
a person -- living in his house, on location, and so on?
RP: Gus just has those qualities that we
all need to get back. Open eyes, open ears, a kid's stream
of consciousness. You know the things kids do -- like putting
their fingers up strange pipings in the house or acting
all soft because they've screwed up and Mom's mad at them.
That's Gus just being a kid. He was very collaborative,
completely wide open. It was like a family operation --
co-op style. GS: How did you two manage on the set?
RP: Every morning Matt [Ebert, production
assistant] woke us up by singing show tunes. He'd drag us
by our ears down to the van.
KR: No, man. I was always there, prompt
and ready.
RP: But he had to drag me by the ear down
to the van. I'm very stubborn about getting up in the morning.
KR: Yeah, man. But I knew that Matt would
grab me by the ear, too, so I'd just hang out.
RP: Yeah. Keanu would wait downstairs with
his script in hand, ready to get in the van and I would
be upstairs fumbling for my clothes, although I usually
sleep with my clothes on.
PP: Gus was pretty spontaneous about what
scenes you shot each day, wasn't he?
RP: I have no clue. I don't know when he
fuckin' decided to shoot what or where or when or why, man.
PP: Well, when you woke in the morning,
didn't you know what scene you were going to shoot?
KR: Generally, yeah. I'm sure that was other
people telling Gus, "You need to know what you're going
to do tomorrow." I don't know if that was necessarily his
personal impetus, but I think the machine was asking him
what we were going to do so that we cou ld be ready.
PP: The movie starts in Portland, moves
to Idaho, then to Italy. While filming sequentially, did
anything develop that you couldn't have anticipated at the
beginning?
RP: The campfire scene was definitely a
combination of Keanu and me working together off-set, fucking
around with improv, talking about our characters. Getting
deeper into it, we discovered a lot about our relationship
within the film and by the time we were ready to shoot the
last scene in the States, we had enough insight to go a
hell of a lot deeper than the script ever told us it would.
GS: That's the scene where Mike tells Scott
that he loves him.
RP: There was a lot of deep love [in the
film]. You don't know until you see the dailies whether
it comes across or not. But because we shot in sequence,
we were watching the film unfold before us and when that
scene came around we could just like ad-lib it.
PP: That campfire scene is very similar
to the one you did in Stand by Me --
RP: The confession scene. It's also similar
to a scene in Running on Empty. Gus did see both movies,
so maybe he sampled them.
PP: When I visited the set in Italy, I noticed
that you were both always really sweet. You'd have gone
without sleep and be really tired, yet were always considerate
to the hotel clerks, limo drivers. Everyone.
RP: Oh yeah. We're great guys. We really
are wonderful people. I think Keanu and I are the nicest
guys on the planet -- with the exception of George Bush
and Ronald Reagan.
KR: They are the sweetest guys! They're
good to their clan. We should say thank you now that we
have the opportunity. "Thanks, guys!"
RP: [laughs] I'm sorry. You gave us a compliment.
PP: O.K. But it's true -- you did seem to
demonstrate a genuine consideration for anyone you worked
with on the set.
RP: But, seriously, we know what it's like
to be on the bottom. The Lord Jesus Christ has given us
a chance to be on top. So we're not going to abuse it. We
re going to be very thankful for it and gracious about the
luck that we have in our positions. We're very lucky young
men. We do what we want, we get to be creative and make
money.
KR: Right on, brother. Right on. GS: So
what else are you guys doing now?
RP: I want to buy a 16mm camera. I'm not
committed to the idea of being a filmmaker, but I'd like
to try some shorts. I really like documentaries. And I want
to drive through the mountains where I used to live when
I was doing this TV series [Seven Bride's for Seven Brothers]
when I was twelve. I m going with my girlfriend.
KR: Every moment is precious. I'm trying
to travel. I want to go to Paris. It's probably just a pipe
dream. I'd like to read some books. Take some voice lessons.
GS: To do more Shakespeare, perhaps?
KR: Um, who knows? I really would like to
do Shakespeare with River. I think we'd have a hoot. We
could do A Midsummer Night's Dream or Romeo and Juliet.
RP: I'll be Juliet.
END OF INTERVIEW
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