Actor River Phoenix’s story has lengthy haunted Hollywood: A rising star with uncommon expertise and a tragic ending that got here far too quickly. Now, greater than three a long time after his loss of life outdoors The Viper Room on Sundown Boulevard, his profession is being reexamined in Season 2 of “Variety Confidential,” the acclaimed podcast collection from Selection and iHeart Podcasts.
Season 2, titled “The Life and Legend of River Phoenix,” debuts right this moment with a gripping first episode that revisits the actor’s unconventional childhood, his meteoric rise and the emotional scars fame left behind. The episode opens with the chilling 911 name made on the evening of Phoenix’s loss of life, immediately setting the tone for a deep and emotional journey into the younger actor’s life.
Hosted by Tatiana Siegel, Selection’s govt editor of movie and media, the collection options never-before-heard reflections from those that knew Phoenix finest, together with co-stars Corey Feldman and Samantha Mathis in addition to his buddy and collaborator Matt Ebert. Feldman, who co-starred with River within the 1986 coming-of-age traditional “Stand by Me,” recollects their time collectively each on and off the set, together with formative experiences like their first style of teenage revolt and shared desires of working collectively once more.
“River was just like the James Dean of our era,” Feldman says within the premiere episode. “Everyone knew he was going to be an Academy Award winner. That’s what made his loss so devastating — we have been simply scratching the floor of what he might do.”
The podcast dives into Phoenix’s genesis, rising up in Florida in a free-spirited household that after belonged to the controversial Kids of God cult. Born in 1970, River and his siblings, together with Oscar-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix, skilled a nomadic life earlier than touchdown in Hollywood.
Combining unique interviews with archival materials, “Selection Confidential” paints a portrait of a gifted artist whose performances in “My Personal Non-public Idaho,” “Working on Empty” and “The Mosquito Coast” nonetheless resonate. Specialists, together with Selection’s chief movie critic Owen Gleiberman, mirror on how Phoenix redefined what it meant to be a teen idol within the Nineteen Eighties — one who carried emotional gravitas nicely past his years. But, because the podcast makes clear, the pressures of fame and the burden of being his household’s main breadwinner took a toll.
Phoenix’s struggles with dependancy and fame culminated in his sudden loss of life at simply 23, sending shockwaves by the leisure trade that also reverberate right this moment. Future episodes study Phoenix’s artistry, his activism and the demons he might by no means fairly outrun. “Selection Confidential: The Life and Legend of River Phoenix” is accessible now on all main podcast platforms.
“Selection Confidential,” distributed by iHeart Podcasts, is accessible on the iHeartRadio app, Selection.com, in addition to different main podcast platforms. “Selection Confidential” was created by Dea Lawrence, Selection’s COO and CMO, and Steve Gaydos. Season 2 is govt produced by Dea Lawrence and Tatiana Siegel.
Sources and Citations
Selection
‘Stand by Me’ Oral Historical past: Rob Reiner and Solid on River Phoenix and How Coming-of-Age Traditional Nearly Didn’t Occur, Selection, July 28, 2016
Extra Sources
30 Years On: The Demise of River Phoenix | DARK SIDE OF THE 90s, VICE TV, Oct. 31, 2023
Stand by Me, Columbia Footage, August 1986
My Personal Non-public Idaho, New Line Cinema, September 1993
River Phoenix Interview, E!, 1988
River Phoenix and Martha Plimpton Interview, At the moment Present, NBC, 1988
Joaquin Phoenix Interview, This Previous Weekend w/ Theo Von #598, July 18, 2025
1989 Oscars, Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2Scvtm0MwE
River Phoenix Interview, Toronto’s CFTO Information, September 16, 1988
Martha Plimpton — on nearly going broke pre ‘Elevating Hope’ and lacking River Phoenix, Dinner’s on Me with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Sony Music Leisure & A Child Named Beckett, June 17, 2025
