What ‘Stand by Me’ Star Wil Wheaton Shared About Rob Reiner Shortly Before His Death
- - What ‘Stand by Me’ Star Wil Wheaton Shared About Rob Reiner Shortly Before His Death
Nicole MooreDecember 15, 2025 at 12:36 AM
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Photo by John M. Heller/Getty Images
Acclaimed director and actor Rob Reinerhas died at the age of 78. On December 14, People magazine reported that sources have told the publication that Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, 68, died at the hands of their son, Nick Reiner.
Throughout his four-decade-long career as a filmmaker, Reiner directed popular movies, such as This Is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, and A Few Good Men, per IMDb.
Stand by Me stars Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, andJerry O'Connell have been going on tour together in honor of the beloved 1986 coming-of-age film's upcoming 40th anniversary. On December 6, 2025, Wheaton, Feldman, and O'Connell appeared on stage at Massachusetts' Lynn Memorial Auditorium for their Stand By Me: Live tour.
While speaking to the audience, Wheaton, who played Gordon "Gordie" Lachance, praised Reiner for his abilities as a director, especially when dealing with young actors.
"There are directors who talk at you and Rob always talked with me," recalled Wheaton. "Rob would always like helped me understand the foundational drama reasons behind doing things. Where a lesser director would have said 'Just do it this way.' Without talking about what it meant and why. It is another one of the reasons our performances are so honest in this film."
In addition, Wheaton shared that Reiner helped late actor River Phoenix, who died in 1993 at the age of 23, perform an emotional scene wherein his Stand By Me character, Chris Chambers, tearfully reveals that a teacher severely let him down.
"River was having a hard time finding where he was meant to be for the emotion of that scene. And he was getting very frustrated with himself. And it was just the two of us and Rob on the set. And I thought he was doing a great job. River, as actors do, knew, 'I can go deeper. I know that I can get there more. I just I need another take.' And he just was really struggling with it," said the Big Bang Theory actor.
According to Wheaton, he asked Reiner for "some help" with his performance.
"Rob said, 'Can you think of a time in your life where an adult really let you down? Where you needed an adult to be there for you and they really let you down.' And River's eyes filled with tears and he went, 'Uh-huh.' And Rob rolled the camera and the next take is the take that's in the movie," said Wheaton while on stage in front of Stand by Me fans. "That Rob trusted him at then 14 years old to be able to access that and that River could is remarkable to me."
Wil Wheaton Said The 'Stand By Me' Actors Shared Similarities With Their Characters
Wheaton said that he identified with his Stand By Me character in a September 2022 interview with Yahoo Entertainment. He said that he endured a "combination of incredible emotional abuse from [his] father" and "a lot of manipulation" from his mother.
"It turns out it put me in exactly the right place to play Gordie because Gordie's experience very much reflected my experience. We're both invisible in our homes. We both have a brother who is The Golden Child. We're both the scapegoat in the family. So when I watch Stand By Me now, I cannot ignore the unbelievable sadness in my eyes," said Wheaton in the interview.
Wheaton said that he thinks Reiner recognized he was similar to Gordie. In addition, he believed that "one of the reasons" Stand By Me, adapted from Stephen King's short story, "The Body," is such a beloved film is because Phoenix, Feldman, who played Teddy Duchamp, and O'Connell, who played Vern Tessio, all resembled their characters.
"Rob cast four young boys who were our characters. And Corey was just such a pain in the a-s and I said to Rob 'Why did you cast him?' And Rob said, 'There was no other actor who was as angry as Corey was.' And Teddy is filled with anger and rage and I went 'Oh my God that totally makes sense,'" said the Star Trek: The Next Generation star. "River is smarter than all of us and wiser beyond his years than any of us are and that's exactly who Chris is. And Jerry is unbelievably funny and really easy to get along with and his guileless. Oh my God that's Vern."
This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 15, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
