|
WHY
I STILL GRIEVE FOR RIVER
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| Magazine
& Date: |
OK!
Weekly, June 96 |
| Written
by: |
Garth
Pearche |
| Provided
by: |
S Mathis Website |
 Samantha
Mathis followed her boyfriend River Phoenix as he staggered
out of a Hollywood nightclub and crouched on the cold pavement.
She held his head as he slipped into unconsciousness. Actor
River, just 23, never recovered. He died within an hour
of being taken to Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Los Angeles. Despite
a supposedly clean-living lifestyle, he died from a lethal
drug overdose.
Since then, Samantha has remained silent
about the harrowing events of that fateful Halloween night
of October 1993 and the effect it has had on her life. She
has simply got on with her acting career, with appearances
in films like Little Women, Jack and Sarah and The American
President, while keeping a low personal profile and steering
clear of interviews. She is rarely seen out socialising
and has never been back to The Viper Rooms, the trendy nightclub
owned by Johnny Depp on Sunset Boulevard where River Phoenix
was taken ill.
But at 25, as her film career takes another
leap forward, with a major role in Broken Arrow with John
Travolta and Christian Slater, Samantha has at last decided
to talk about her memories of the night River died and the
emotions that rememberance provokes. ‘I certainly look back
on the night he died as a nightmare,' she says frankly.
‘It is a nightmare that will never end. He had gone to the
club simply to play his guitar and enjoy himself, but his
life at the time seemed under so much pressure.
‘He had a lot of work and it seemed to get
to him. He took the problems of the world on his shoulders
and could not seem to shake off blacks moods of depression.
‘But he never wanted to die. It was so far from his mind
and, together, we shared a loving, caring life. Sadly, there
is a feeling among some people in Hollywood that they are
somehow invincible. Like them, River began to think that
nothing could touch him. ‘To a certain extent, his sudden
illness and death that night will always be surreal for
me. I still can't believe it. I spent a year thinking about
it -- a terrible year, and the loss is one of those things
which, even now, is very hard to accept.'
Samantha sits, speaking calmly and clearly,
in a suite at the Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills, just
three miles from the site of that night's dramatic events.
Her slight frame, with brown hair cut neatly to shoulder
length, looks so diffferent from her on-screen image in
Broken Arrow. She plays action girl Terry Carmichael, who
befriends stealth bomber pilot Riley Hale (Christian Slater)
in his attemps to expose rogue pilot Vic Deakins (John Travolta).
We see her character shooting, fighting and scheming to
beat Deakins, who has stolen nuclear weapons in an attempt
to blackmail the American governement.
But Samantha's fighting in the last to years
has been of an altogether different kind. ‘River's death
was a life changing experience for me,' she says. ‘We all
know that when anyone dies, it makes us look at life diffferently.
Seeing someone so young and loving and full of life crumble
and dies changed all my priorities. You know, it made me
see what is really important and what isn't. Ultimately,
I have really had to learn to laugh at life, too. Otherwise,
it can all become too much.'
Samantha, who co-starred with River in The
Thing Called Love in 1993, knew that his performances in
films like Stand by Me and My Own Private Idaho had set
him up to earn recognition as ‘the new James Dean'. Dean
died in 1955 in a car crash after starring in just three
films and is still remembered as a tragic genius whose promise
was never fulfilled. But of River, who was set to star alongside
Tom Cruise in Interview with the Vampire, Samantha has more
pragmatic memories.
‘He had time for every problem and every
possibility,' she says, ‘but I have learned to be much more
selfish in my outlook. I am selfish about my time and who
I spend it with. I am also selfish about my work and which
films I choose to work on. ‘And if I don't want to do something,
I never criticise myself for not doing it. I take care of
myself and my needs, because life is too short. I do not
do anything because I have to.'
Since River's death, Samantha has spent
time backpacking with her friend, actress Sandra Bullock
-- who is now one of Hollywood's hottest actresses, earning
$5 million for her latest film, A Time to Kill -- and she
has been very cautious about starting a new romance.
‘Working as I do makes things complicated.
I can leave town for four months at a time, and it is impossible
to keep a male friendship moving forward with such long
gaps. So I have decided to leave things alone. ‘I have recently
started seeing someone a little, though,' Samantha admits,
showing signs that she is gradually getting over losing
River. ‘He is from New York. It is really very new and it's
not anywhere near a relationship yet. But it's a start.'
It's obvious that, although the words flow
surprisingly freely for someone who has chosen not to say
anything on the subject until now, Samantha is still bruised
and fragile over River's sudden death. ‘I think of him every
day,' she says simply. ‘It's strange to see him through
his films, still living and breathing. I put on the television
at the weekend and I Love You to Death was on, and there
he was. I'm grateful to be able to see him like that, but
at the same time it is very odd and I'm never quite sure
how to explain my emotions.'
Broken Arrow offered her a valuable chance
to forget the past. ‘I needed to do an action film, where
I could put my emotions to one side,' she confesses. I enjoyed
learning how to shoot a gun, and it was very confidence-building
to be able to pull off a few stunts. There was an element
of fear and exhilaration.
It also gave her an opportunity to work
with 26-year-old Christian Slater again, who was her co-star
six years ago in Pump up the Volume and, ironically, the
man who replaced River on Interview with the Vampire. ‘It
is hard to remember where I was at 19,' she says, rather
sadly. ‘I have had a ton of experience since then and gained
more confidence -- at a terrible price, of course. ‘I am
pretty much at peace about River now. But it is still strange.
I have a feeling it always will be.'
END OF INTERVIEW
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