One summer day more than 30 years ago, director Rob Reiner was sitting in the same auditorium as writer Stephen King, watching his film "Walk with Me," based on the latter's short story.
At that time, Reiner was just a small coffee who had made two feature films, but Stephen King was already the hottest best-selling author on the market.
When the end credits fell, Kim left the auditorium without a word.
Reiner waited in the auditorium for three long minutes.
He didn't know if King would come back, or what he would say about his films if he did.
Finally, Kim returned to the cinema hall, and there were imperceptible tears in his eyes.
"This is by far the best adaptation of my work." He said to Reiner.
Today, I will give you this my favorite youth film -
"Walk with Me"
One
More than three decades later, "Walk with Me" has become one of the most profound memories of the 1980s for movie fans, and this film with a weak plot but a focus on characterization seems to have a more enduring vitality than those adaptations of Stephen King's novels that are known for their plot.
The film tells the story of four 12-year-old boys who travel more than 40 kilometers along the tracks to find the body of a boy of the same age;
Their original intention was to achieve a "great deed" that would allow them to appear on TV, but in the end the great deed did not come true, but the journey itself allowed them to know more about themselves.
This experience indirectly affected their lives.
However, when director Rob Reiner first took over the film, he had no clue about his work.
He knew that Stephen King's original novel, Corpse, had a lot of characters with distinct personalities, but the plot lines were too loose for Reiner to know where to start.
Reiner had to drive aimlessly around Los Angeles, and five days later, he was enlightened.
In Stephen's novel, the four boys are the protagonists, but if you want to make it into a movie, it can only be The story of Gordy. Gordy is a child who humbles himself due to a lack of paternal love, but in the journey to find the corpse, he gradually finds self-confidence and becomes a successful writer in the future. Basically, Gordy is Stephen himself. ”
In the film, Gordy (Will Wheaton) is almost a transparent person in the eyes of his parents, who have been sad about the death of their eldest son (John Cusack) and have paid no attention to the second son, Gordy.
This feeling of being ignored and alienated by his family, although it made Gordy feel inferior, but it also made him work hard and prove himself in the end.
That's why director Rob Reiner resonates with Goddy, because he's always lived in the shadow of his director's father, Carl Reiner (represented as Detective to Star).
"Walk with Me" is the first time he has stepped out of his father's comedy field and tried something that his father has not done; and the answer he handed over is obviously a success, as evidenced by the box office results of six times the production cost and the nomination for the Directors Guild Award.
It's not just director Rob Reiner who resonates with the character, but Corey Feldman, who plays Teddy in the film, who was abused by his father like Teddy as a child.
Reiner still remembers the interview with Feldman: "When he walked into my office, I saw pain and anger in his eyes. He had clearly experienced a lot of extraordinary suffering. Feldman perfectly interprets the most crazy and confused of the four protagonists. Later, referring to the significance of "Walk with Me" to him, he said that he was "like a caged bird that was released, and after making the film, he was reborn."
Indeed, "Walk with Me" has had an important impact on the lives of several creators.
This film opened the golden period of her career for Reiner, represented by "The Princess Bride", "When Harry Meets Sally" and "Ten Days in Danger";
Will Wheaton, who plays the main character, Wentdy, has also become a writer, although not as successful as Stephen King.
As for Jerry O'Connell, who plays the little fat Man Wayne, as an adult, he transformed into a winner in life, not only rose sharply in appearance, but also got a hot wife for himself: Rebecca Romeyn, the actress who played the magic woman in the "X-Men" canon.
Two
Director Rob Reiner has always been very good at shooting children's scenes, and "Heartbeat" more than two decades later once again confirms this.
In "Walk With Me", the way he tweaks these little guys is to gather them together before filming starts and let them live together for a while.
This approach did indeed unguard the little ones and put them into a natural state of mutual trust: when the four boys walked side by side in the film, Vane suddenly sang "have gun, will travel", and then the other three boys joined the chorus.
This shot is completely free play by the actors and has nothing to do with the script.
When the boys are freed from Papa Reiner's supervision and live together freely in private, a series of crazy and stupid adventures take place.
During the summer of filming, Feldman was exposed to alcohol for the first time and smoked his first marijuana with River Phoenix, who plays Chris.
But what impressed Feldman the most was another "first" experience of River: one night, River did not return home, and when he came to the set the next day, he could not hide his face full of pride.
River told Feldman that he had a relationship with a little girl under the stars. Feldman still remembers his envy and jealousy at the time.
On set, director Reiner, although most of the time is an amiable child king, can really scare people to death when he throws a tantrum.
One of the most important action scenes in the film takes place on a bridge more than sixty meters long, where four boys meet a train coming from behind them.
Chris and Teddy quickly fled to the other side of the bridge, but the already timid Vane was so frightened by the train that Gordy had to jump to the grass under the bridge with his pig teammates.
This scene, which seems to be extremely exciting, is not so dangerous at all when it is actually filmed.
"We used a 700mm telephoto lens to compress the depth of field and got the visual effect that the train was following their butts," Reiner said, "but actually, the train had just hit the bridge when Gordy and Vane jumped off the bridge." ”
This technique ensured the safety of the young actors, but it also had side effects: O'Connell and Wheaton did not take the play seriously.
As the shots passed, they just couldn't play the look of fear reiner wanted, and the crew running around the bridge were exhausted.
Finally, Reiner finally had enough.
He started rushing at Wheaton and O'Connell, telling them that if they couldn't perform the effect they wanted, he would let the train really go full speed and crush them.
Sure enough, in the next shot, Wheaton and O'Connell perfectly fulfill Reiner's requirements. I probably really scared them out of. Reiner recalled with a smile.
Three
"Walk With Me" is an excellent coming-of-age movie.
It delicately depicts the pains of growing up, the curiosity and fear of leaving home for the first time, and the vagaries of friendship.
However, the reason why it stands out in the coming-of-age movies and becomes an irreplaceable youth memorial book in the hearts of generations of people is only one -
River Phoenix.
River isn't playing the number one character, but as long as he's on the screen, people can't take their eyes off him.
He plays Chris as the eldest of the four boys, taking good care of the other three and coordinating conflicts between his friends at all times;
He is also the biggest motivation to motivate the protagonist, Gordy, to get rid of inferiority and actively prove himself.
The warmth revealed in River's performance is enough to melt the hearts of all the audience, and his appearance at that time was still a bit of a tiger's brain, which was far from the brilliant and beautiful teenager we are most familiar with, but this can only make us more amazed by his superb and multi-faceted acting skills.
River's personality outside the play is not much different from his role in the play.
When the three companion actors recalled River as adults, they all felt that although he was a child of the same age, he was like a father to them, which is why he was able to absorb the audience's attention like a magnet.
The sophistication and pain lurking under his sincere and warm eyes are really too incompatible with his age.
Like Chris, River has been tasked with caring for family and friends since childhood.
Since his parents were homeless hippies, River began selling street art at the age of four, subsidizing the family;
After stepping into the film world, As the eldest son, River became the source of livelihood for his parents and three younger siblings.
As an advocate of environmental protection and pacifism, he has always been enthusiastic about others, but he also has hidden pain in his heart.
In the film, River has a crying scene that collapses because he thinks he is useless, but he is slow to grasp the state of the character, and director Rob Reiner has to ask River to think back to the adults who once made him sad and disappointed like Chris in the film.
In the next shot, River captures the character's emotions precisely, but the problem is that once River starts crying, he can't stop the car at all.
Reiner had to give him a comforting hug and calm him down. "But to this day, I don't know what Riffer had in mind when he was acting out the scene." Reiner said.
Like his name ("river", River) he has a gentle face, but like his last name ("phoenix", phoenix), he yearns for the fiery flames.
Rob Reiner saw this trait in River's eyes, allowing him to play the most intelligent boy in the film who died first, not expecting his unique vision, but it was a slur.
Seven years later, River collapsed in front of a bar due to heart failure caused by an overdose, at the age of 23.
From the moment of his death, "Walk with Me" is no longer just a growth movie, it will be remembered forever as a memorial to a genius who died early.