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RIVER PHOENIX

by Timothy White 1988

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Dogfight is entering the Criterion Collection on April 30!

Director Nancy Savoca recalls the night she was prepared to remove her name from the film — and then River Phoenix called. 

[River] was in Florida at the time I was up in the Bronx, and we talked for several hours on the phone, and it was just this great conversation,” said Savoca. “He really was talking about trying to explore different characters and push against the roles he’d been playing. He was very interested in playing someone who he couldn’t understand.” [...] “That got me very excited because that meant that the discoveries he was going to make, I was going to be able to catch on film, so it was a very good, juicy conversation,” said Bronx native Savoca, who remembered how Phoenix ended the call. “He said, ‘By the way, your voice sounds just like my mom She’s from the Bronx too.’ I was like, ‘OK, I’m really in. I’m like his mom.’”

[...] In essence, the film Savoca had made was not for the young market at the test screenings, and that Warners intended to reach. The studio believed the problem could be solved by making the ending less ambiguous, supplying a clearer resolution for the conflicted characters. [...] The director recalled the painful last few days aimlessly tinkering away on the film with editor John Tintori, knowing the studio was in the process of revamping her movie, but being out of the loop of those plans.

And next thing I know, River calls me, and he goes, ‘Are you going to be there?’” said Savoca, who remembers the fateful call like it was yesterday. “And I said, ‘Where?’ And he goes, ‘Well, we’re doing a shoot next week.’ And I said, ‘No, I didn’t know about it.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, OK, I’m not going.’”

The now-20-year-old star refused to participate in the reshoots when he learned Savoca hadn’t written the new pages and that she wouldn’t be there to direct. Savoca remains in awe of how gutsy the young actor was in standing up to the studio.

“He totally supported me,” said Savoca. “I am incredibly indebted to him. If he would’ve gone, I would not have that film, I wouldn’t have made that film.”

IndieWire, April 2024

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Stand by Me 1986, dir. Rob Reiner

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Eddie Birdlace | James Wright

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Stand by Me 1986, dir. Rob Reiner

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River Phoenix & Gus Van Sant  - On-Set, My Own Private Idaho.

(Coloured/B&W)

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Stand By Me (1986)

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Running On Empty (1988)

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What the hell, another “smiling moment”.

He suffered so much at movies (and more) than I love seeing him smiling :´)

Oscar luncheon speech is pure gold!

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r u n n i n g o n e m p t y, 1988 🎬 dir. sidney lumet

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River in 1989. Shared by Bradley Gregg 

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River Phoenix as James Wright | The Thing Called Love (1993)

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You all now I ship Danny/Lorna, but I’m starting shipping Danny/apples too xD

(I really need an apple… NOW!)

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