MovieChat Forums > Dark Blood (2014) Discussion > What would River have become

What would River have become

posted 17 years ago by gossec
8 replies | jump to latest

It is easy to look back at the fourteen years since River's death and wonder what he might have become had he lived. A troubled young actor but a talent
performer. We might look at those actors who he would have called his rivals, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves to name a few and wonder where he would have featured in the mix. River was due to star in An Interview With A Vampire in 1994 but due to his untimly death, Christian Slater replaced him. Four actors from that film would later go on to great success, Pitt, Dunst, Banderas and Thandie Newman. Even the likes of younger actors who had not reached the breakthrough role including Leo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon
have eclipsed him in star status and it makes you wonder in the grand scheme of things which big roles he would have got ahead of others.
Even his brother Joaquin has stepped out of his brothers shadow and as now eclipsed him and it is a wonder that if River had not died would Joaquin have got his break. He was an actor, but so are alot of other actors who never reach the highs of stardom. Few Actor brothers both make it big, Emilio & Charlie and Beau & Jeff spring to mind although their father's were famous too so that might not count. Mark & Donnie Wahlberg comes to mind, although Donnie is still finding his place amongst the big stars unlike his brother.
I think it is safe to say the River could have been as big as Tom, Keanu, Pitt or Johnny and if you look at those four actors careers I think it would have been Johnny Depp's roles that River would have been more interested in.
I think a lot of other actors benifited career-wise from River's death and I also think it is a shame that he is probably more famous for how he died rather than his work.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] GoLuongo 17 years ago

But Joaquin was very careful about not discussing River with the media. Although I'm sure River's death gave Joaquin more attention and made people watch him a bit more closely, it was his friends who persueded him to start acting after River's death.

I can't imagine River in any of Joaquin's roles. I honestly believe that Joaquin has gotten where he is because of talent and hard work and he'd be where he is regardless of whether River was alive.

My 2 cents.

[–] vooosh2k 17 years ago

In response to the first post of the thread. It's Thandie Newton, not "Newman" otherwise good reading. RP knowledge will forever be extremely interesting.

[–] highschoolkiller 9 years ago

so sad we will never know :(

I hated Jaws, it had too much shark, and dont get me started about King Kong, waaay too much gorilla

[–] lexyladyjax 7 years ago

For longer than I care to admit, I earnestly struggled to match your signature to a comment within this article. How embarrassing for me. 

Bored now.

[–] terrywatt69 9 years ago

I dunno if River Phoenix would have necessarily have become as big as Brad Pitt, Keanu Reeves or Johnny Depp in commercial terms. Mostly because the types of films River Phoenix was accepting weren't movies that ended up making a huge splash at the box office.
I mean, you look at his roles in films like Dogfight, Silent Tongue and Dark Blood, and you don't immediately think here's someone trying to make big box office films. The biggest box office film Phoenix ever participated in was the intro to the 3rd Indiana Jones movie, and it'd be a hard sell for even the most ardent Phoenix fan to claim that River's participation was the crucial factor in the film grossing roughly $125-150 million. Sneakers did well at the box office, but River was one of 6 actors in the ensemble (and not even close to top-billed).
Now, I can easily see River doing the role of the interviewer in Interview With A Vampire. I can't really see River as the male lead in Titanic. Or in The Matrix movies. It's not so much a question of River's acting ability but rather that River was clearly drawn to roles for reasons other than how well the movies did at the ticket booth. Obviously, he wanted to get paid, but you look at the way his career was going in the last 5 years of his life (the types of roles he took in the types of films he was in), it seems clear that Phoenix was attracted to projects with the overriding goal being to make the most interesting film possible and marketability a distant second.

[–] spasticfreakshow 8 years ago

More important than whether or not he would have become A-List (and he would have been) is the true answer to 'What would River have become'? I imagine a passionate outspoken environmentalist, like Josh Lucas or Leo DeCaprio, but with great concern too for the current plight of American Indians, like Robert Redford. That is to say, I believe River Phoenix would have become a great activist for causes he believed in - and this is part of the tragedy of his loss as much as what films he might have made - or moreso.

[–] lexyladyjax 7 years ago

Grosse, had River Phoenix survived, IMHO he would have become someone wonderful, more wonderful than we could possibly have imagined. He surely would have amazed us in the roles he would have played but alas, it was not to be.

We shall all regret the waste of youth and talent. That's how it goes with the disease of addiction. According to those around him for his last day, River Phoenix wasn't sober in his last days. He always smoked pot. He didn't drink but there was always marijuana in his system at the end of the day.

Bored now.