Hollywood is filled to the brim with some of the greatest bromances ever.
Who could forget Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, who has one of the longest bromances ever? Or what about Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's long-time friendship, and Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson's? And of course, we couldn't forget Seth Rogan and James Franco's bromance either. There are so many more but we'll stop ourselves there.
In most bromances, the actors have worked together so many times it's become like second nature for them to star in more and more films together. If not, then you know without a shadow of a doubt that they are still as close as anyone can be to their best friend.
But there was once a bromance that could have outshined all the rest had it survived. River Phoenix met Keanu Reeves through Phoenix's brother Joaquin but the pair quickly formed a brotherhood of their own, going on to make two films together. Sadly, just when their bromance was starting to bloom, it was all tragically stolen from them when Phoenix died of an overdose in 1993.
Here's what Phoenix and Reeves' short-lived bromance was like.
They Met Through Joaquin
In 1989, Reeves starred in the film Parenthood with Phoenix's brother Joaquin, who was going by the name Leaf at the time. By then, Reeves was already a seasoned actor, having started his career back in 1984, and starring in films like Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and one of his most famous roles, Ted in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989).
Phoenix's girlfriend at the time, Martha Plimpton played Reeves' pregnant girlfriend in the film. They were bound to meet somehow and nearly did the year previous when Phoenix auditioned for Bill in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
"Leaf and Martha were his buddies before I was even a friend of his," River told Interview magazine. "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."
In 1990, they starred in I Love You to Death, and while on set they were both approached by Gus Van Sant to star in the controversial film My Own Private Idaho. Reeves said that they were really excited about it agreed that they were both in no matter what. Neither of them would do it if one didn't want to.
"We were excited,” Phoenix said. "It could have been like a bad dream—a dream that never follows through because no one commits, but we just forced ourselves into it."
During filming in 1991, they and the rest of the cast became extremely close and allegedly slept on futons in the director's house. In Van Sant's garage the pair, along with Phoenix's friend and Red Hot Chili Pepper's bassist, Flea, and other castmembers would jam late into the night. A lot of times they would just stay up to talk about the world.
"I think he's the best," Reeves said. "He asks questions that I don't normally think about sometimes. He works in a way that, at least for me, showed me how to get it more in my blood and more imaginative."
Reeves has also said that in between takes, Phoenix was always making him laugh, goofing off while making him feel comfortable about what they were doing. Interview magazine observed that they had an easy banter where they interrupted each other only to complete each other's sentences.
They even joked about doing Shakespeare together, maybe A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Romeo and Juliet. Phoenix joked he wanted to play Juliet.
In 2014, Reeves said, "To get the chance to play with him, to be a partner with him, in this world that Gus Van put together- just really a great togetherness, great energy, a great exploration, a great- people saying yes and you know at the core of this- at the center of this was River."
They Connected In So Many Ways
Reeves and Phoenix connected so well because they'd had similar experiences and also similar personalities. They had their own struggles with their childhoods and were both in the same stage in their careers. Neither of them knew how to operate around fame and they didn't want to. They weren't big into the glitzy glamorous life that fame brought.
They were also just as spiritual as each other and had a thirst for philanthropy. They wanted to change the world, and play characters that intrigued them, not characters that the mainstream wanted them to play.
Unfortunately, Reeves had to start taking on the burden of fame alone when Phoenix died. When the news came through, Reeves was on the set of Speed. After his best friend's death though, he took on the grief and continued his career, which went in a trajectory that would have rivaled Phoenix's. But they would have become great actors together, not against one another.
The only thing that they didn't have in common was the fact that Phoenix let his anger and the world's suffering get to him, whereas Reeves dealt with it in other ways.
In 2019, Phoenix's sister Rain released her first album, River, on the anniversary of his death. When it was released, Reeves commented on what Phoenix meant to him.
"Meeting River was a revelation," Reeves told People. "As a person and an artist. His generous heart and shining spirit along with an intelligence, curiosity, wit and humor inspired. He seemed to hold the sadness and what was wrong in a worldly or beyond worldly way and just wanted to make it better, actively make it better. Whether it was in a conversation, a song, the characters he played, the stories he told, his friendship, his family, his activism, his love. He was there. He tried. He was trying. A beautiful exceptional soul. Light."
That same year, Reeves told the Irish Times that Phoenix was, "definitely [one of] my closest friends from that era. We shared an artistic sensibility. River was just so down-to-earth, spiritual, and a unique artist. Yeah, I miss him."
Sadly, we didn't get any more collaborations between the friends, but we know that Phoenix has definitely shown through in every single one of Reeves' performances.
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