一開始River的新系列，馬上就有一點後悔。原因是要說的太多，反而很難決定該怎麼說。又因為最初的資訊來源都來自歐美雜誌文章，所以更加難上加難。如何讓人了解另一個人，第一手資料一定好過第二手。而我自己的詮釋，又怕流於自溺。
考慮太多的結果，就是很難下筆。
後來《MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO》的短鏡頭系列又從中發展成小系列，但是另一個難題是，如果真要這般介紹下去，恐怕就像增殖分裂的細胞一樣，永遠也結束不了。
人畢竟對自己所愛的，很難取捨。
所以最終，還是覺得自溺也好，就以自溺的文章做個結束吧！
River Jude Phoenix，一個很特別的名字，一個很特別的演員。常常讓我覺得很驚奇。
說到歐美男演員，演技精準的魅力演員很多，變色龍型的角色演員也不少：勞勃狄尼洛、艾爾帕西諾、提姆羅斯、丹尼爾戴路易斯、約翰馬可維奇、丹尼爾奧圖、雷夫范恩斯、愛德華諾頓.......等等。
江山代有才人出，甚至是River自己的小弟Joaquin，演技也不容小覷。
但是River Phoenix仍舊讓我驚訝。從我第一次看《STAND BY ME》，根本還不知道那個小毛頭是誰的時候，他就讓我覺得驚異不已。我想他的天賦之一，就是有能耐將配角演成主角，而成為觀眾情感投射的中心。
《站在我這邊》的導演，也就是後來因《當哈利碰上莎莉》而聲名大噪的導演羅伯萊納，談到River時說到：“He didn’t have a lot of technique-you just saw this kind of raw naturalism. You just turned the camera on, and he would tell the truth. ”他邊回憶邊微笑著說:“每次這孩子一上場，周圍的演員就頓時相形失色。”他在訪問的結束最後，非常惋惜地說：“真是令人難過，想到電影結束時，Chris就這樣消失在路的彼端，跟現實有著某種巧合。”
是的。悲劇性的浪費。
悲劇性的浪費。
因為悲劇突如其來，因而成為傳奇。
但是我寧可他.不要.成為.天才早逝.的傳奇。
我想看他繼續跟Gus合作，想看他繼續獻身獨立製片，我想看他跟約翰馬可維奇合演的《全蝕狂愛》，我想看他說他想要拍的16mm的短片，還有他未來將和小弟合寫的劇本。
RP: I want to buy a 16mm camera. I’m not committed to the idea of being a filmmaker, but I’d like to try some shorts. I really like documentaries. ………
( 《Boy meets boy》Interview Magazine, November 1991 )
每次看到這段話，就會覺得，真惋惜。
至少，至少，我想看到他活到人們喜歡將他並比的James Dean去世的年紀。
23歲，a short life。tooooooooooooo short。
老實說，當我1992年看《MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO》時 ，其實並不知道演Mike的演員就是《站在我這邊》裡那個把頭髮理得幾乎是光頭的、還有小蜜蜂肚的小男孩。當時心想：這到底是那裡冒出來的演員ㄚ？後來查看相關資料，發覺他以這個角色獲得了全美影評人及獨立製片的最佳男演員，還成為當時最年輕的威尼斯影帝。臺灣的報導上寫著小小的幾個字：以《站在我這邊》崛起影壇的少年演員瑞凡菲尼克斯.....。
我趕緊把錄影帶找出來看，對，就是他。那個嘴唇及眼神，自然純真卻不刻意做作甜美的孩子氣，的確是。只是像被拉長了好幾倍的樣子，ㄚ，原來他有著一頭柔軟蓬鬆的金髮，雖然在《MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO 》影片裡是一團十分可怕的糟。
之後，我刻意地找了他幾乎所有的影片來看，《蚊子海岸》、《流亡人生》、《吉米雷頓的一夜》(另譯：《熱夜狂歡》)、《沉默之舌》、《神鬼尖兵》、《春色一籮筐》、《愛情有什麼道理》、《我真的愛死你》、《衝出天外天》(14歲)、《聖戰奇兵》、《小尼基塔》(另譯：《美蘇間諜戰》《沉睡者》)….等。其中有些片子編導都不好，但是River在裡面，仍然是光芒四溢，自然真實。
《春風化雨》的澳洲導演彼得威爾曾說：就算是勞倫斯奧立佛，恐怕也沒有River所俱有的天才。
我看《蚊子海岸》時，當然是再度被驚嚇到。十六歲的演員，共演的演員是後來的英國影后海倫米勒及好萊塢巨星哈里遜福特。在影片裡，River所飾演的查理是個十分崇拜爸爸的小男孩(片中設定是14歲)，家中的長子，卻被爸爸偏執而不切實際的理想折磨得不成人形，他想逃離父親，而逃離的那一刻，卻是父親的死亡所達成的。角色內在衝突很高，即使是經驗豐富的成人演員，也很難詮演得恰如其分。然而他還是這麼緊扣人心地、十分內斂、層次豐富而不著鑿痕地，將查理演得讓人打從心底憐惜。
River Phoenix is seventeen years old, and a phenomenon. In Stand By Me he p1ayed a bright working-class kid so well that people often remember the character’s name, Chris Chambers. In The Mosquito Coast he upstaged an overacting Harrison Ford and an overambitious Peter Weir to become the emotional core of the film. ”It’s his eyes,” a friend of mine says. ”All the lights are on, and somebody’s home.”… (《AHEAD OF THE PACK》PREMIERE April 1988 )
當時導演彼得威爾在選角時，並不太想用River，原因之一是他的年紀比設定大了一些，其二是他太有名。彼得想找個新鮮面孔。但試鏡後，彼得就捨不得不用他了。除了無限的天才，還有全然投入的專注與專業，這是劇組及記者當時的評語。我忘不了當劇中的查理被父親要求爬上高塔，將火把放入高塔裡的眼神。他知道這樣將致人於死。他滿懷恐懼，罪惡感，但最後對父親的愛戰勝一切。
而當整個高塔爆炸延伸至整個原始部落時，他看著父親在火光中的臉宛如撒旦。他的眼睛特寫。千種情緒最後而成悲憫與愛情。真難想像一個十六歲的孩子，如何將多種對立矛盾的情感表現且融合，在那非常短暫的幾秒間。就像灰燼裡的鑽石般那樣折射出多種光芒。令人永誌難忘。這部影片雖然沒獲得大眾的迴響，但是，River的演技則大受影評讚揚。而我喜歡他的自覺。他說這是他演過最好的角色之一，即使說話當時他還是個青少年，影片也才上映不久。
沒有如其他年輕演員成為好萊塢巨星的企圖心，相反地，他對於選片相當具有藝術家直覺般的敏銳度。他選片精準，除卻一些不得已或客串玩票性質的角色。對影片裡的意旨也總能比其他演員清楚地掌握，因此，深得導演的信賴。天才加上熱情奉獻，有很高的身為演員的良好信譽。
在為《MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO 》宣傳時，有 一段雜誌訪問很有趣：
GS: Were you concerned at all that Mike speaks in street vernacular throughout the film, whereas Scott goes in and out of Shakespearean verse? Did you think you switch in speech might seem jarring, Keanu?
KR: The Shakespeare stuff was an aspect of the script. Gus said it was something to do and to think about it. So that was my game. I wasn’t worried. It just seemed challenging and interesting to me.
RP: I was afraid of it not working.
KR: For me?
RP: No, for the entire film. I felt we needed to very clear on how we set up the transition scenes between the mock Shakespeare stuff and the docudrama street stuff. There needed to be stepping stones to those scenes - so it wouldn’t be like jumping from black and white to Technicolor. It was important to organize our thoughts and to support Gus stylistically.
KR: I wasn’t aware of all the different styles going on in the film initially, though. You were looking through the camera a lot more than me.
RP: It was more of my duty in the character of Mike to be concerned with the directorial perspective. I was aware of how my narcolepsy would affect the narrative, how the random narcolepsy fits would affect the viewer. I’m glad that it didn’t turn out to be a tale through my narcoleptic vision. But it was something I had to take full responsibility for, and it made me ask all these questions. Even when I wasn’t involved with the scene, I had to be aware of it to some degree so that I could make myself match up to everything.
………( 《Boy meets boy》Interview Magazine, November 1991 )
從這段談話中，對比於Keanu，River的早慧甚至睿智，超乎尋常。
從小就是個相當嚴肅的演員，一直跟一些年長的演員合作。有趣的是，他演過的角色中，最深植人心的形象，就是理想兒子的形象。父親跟兒子的關係，自由與歸屬的關係，人生裡的終極命題。很難想像的，一直到死，他演得大都是青少年的角色。一則是他的娃娃臉看起來年紀小(他常降齡演出)，二則是他常演人家的兒子。演過哈里遜的兒子、扮演過哈里遜的少年時期、演過薛尼鮑迪所保護的小朋友…..。他將鄰家男孩與兒子的角色賦予新意義，詮演得足以成為新經典。
最難得的是，私底下的他純真幽默卻不無知。熱衷於政治議題與環保運動。在十八歲接受某雜誌的訪問中，他直言希望看到更多的黑人演員能夠擠上一線演員的地位，同時清楚表達支持同志運動的態度。1990年在一篇青少雜誌上，他寫了長長的一篇關於如何減少地球污染與保護動物的文章，我每次一看那篇文章，就會覺得很想微笑，因為從字裡行間，可以想像出來他那種很嚴肅認真的信念。2000年的時候，在《VOUGE》雜誌上看到一篇Joaquin的專訪，不過在文章裡有一大段是這位記者對於1990年訪問River的回憶。文中鉅細靡遺地描述如何在小鎮上與這位19歲的演員相約見面，如何驚訝地發現從《流亡人生》這部影片在螢幕上演以後，這個男孩長高到近六英呎，非常苗條，續著一點點像慕絲一樣的鬍子。他們如何在街上遊蕩，他們一起去看river的媽媽，一起享用素食餐飲。還有River看見他寫的便條紙下面及背後都有空白時，很認真地提醒他那些空白處還可以寫字。我很喜歡他的那篇文章，如果也看過1990的那篇文章的話，就會明白River如何讓訪問過他的記者深深懷念。而我喜歡看見過他的人那樣寫他，感覺像是和老朋友談起某個美麗的人。
我對他的一種很特別的感情，仔細想想，可能源自於他的童星身份。感覺上，他是在電影螢幕上長大的(或是，雖然是同個世代，然而因為影片在台灣與歐美的時間差，卻好像看著電影裡頭的他，等著他慢慢長大......)，對於我最熟悉的他的部分。他是我們這代的青春回憶錄，是X世代喜歡看電影的人的共同記憶之一。就像薇若娜瑞德一樣。他是X世代的電影標記之一。
很依戀比他年長的男性朋友。對待朋友真誠而熱情。或許是因為家庭的關係。他其實不僅在銀幕上尋找父親，在現實的生活中也一樣。有時候看他的照片，如果沒有標示，有時候我很容易搞混他拍照時的年紀。有時候看起來如此早熟，有時候看起來如此年幼。對於喜歡的人表現相當直接。他說他一看到Keanu馬上就非常喜愛他。他把他當成自己的哥哥。訪問中會展現俏皮的親暱。
GS: To do more Shakespeare, perhaps?
KR: Um, who knows? I really would like to do Shakespeare with River. I think we’d have a hoot. We could do A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Romeo and Juliet.
RP: I’ll be Juliet
……(
《Boy meets boy》Interview Magazine, November 1991 )
他的孩子氣，其他合作的年長演員回憶：
Dan Aykroyd, costar, Sneakers: We called each other Mr. Woach and Mrs. Woach. The catering truck we used to call the Roach Coach. And that somehow evolved into the Woach. And he’d do things like pinch the fat around my waist [or] come up and blow on my bald spot. Just complete, absolute, total irreverence. And he could get away with it.
Carolyn Pfeiffer: He bonded very, very strongly with Richard Harris. River would come and drive Richard to the set, bypassing the film’s drivers. He always wanted to make sure that Richard was fine, that Richard wasn’t lonely. I mean, he was like a mother hen, River.
Richard Harris, costar, Silent Tongue: He looked upon me as a kind of father figure. He’d knock at my door and ask if he could come in and sleep....He’d sleep on the couch. I could hear him rehearsing his lines-at 4 in the morning. I said, ”Fuckin’ go to sleep.” He’d be in the bathroom, taking a crap, doing his lines.
……《A BRIEF LIFE》 PREMIERE March 1994
(附帶一提，Richard Harris就是最近某個魔幻系列電影中演老巫師的演員，年紀很大很大了，是個有個性的老公公。 【註：他後來也去世了....】)
Gus也回憶River的孩子氣(忘了是那篇報導)：“他喜歡從背後偷偷摸摸地抱住我說“我愛你”，我是個低調的人，通常這時會有點不知所措地僵住。他通常會再一次地抱住我，重複地再說一次。”
可愛的孩子氣。也在這篇報導片段中。
River Phoenix has a maddening habit of finishing other people’s sentences for them. Although sometimes annoying, the results are just as often clever and perceptive. The actor is currently seated next to independent film-maker Gus Van Sant on a well-worn couch in the director’s suite at Sunset Boulevard’s funky Chateau Marmont hotel.
We’re here to have a ”serious” discussion about issues -art, gay politics, drugs -raised by their film My Own Private Idaho, which features River as a narcoleptic street hustler in search of his family and the love of a good man. But River is in a hyperkinetic, playful mood (due in part to jetlag, he’s just flown in from winning best actor for the film at the Venice Film Festival), and Van Sant’s slow, measured speech provides plenty of openings for his wordplay. He dodges in and out of the conversation, tossing up verbal smokescreens whenever the opportunity arises. Various unidentified young men with indeterminatefunctions wander in and out of the room vying for the actor’s attention. One in baseball cap and T-shirt, whom River introduces as ”JK, my manager”, carries a wine bucket and seems to be responsible for procuring cold beer.
I knew we were in for an interesting ride when River bounced in ten minutes late looking like James Dean in wrap-around shades (which he kept on throughout the interview) and short brown jeans that revealed several inches of his hairy ankles above side-zip leather pointy boots, and asked to use the bathroom. A few minutes later he returned, introduced himself, and plopped distractedly on to the couch next to Van Sant. My female friends lately had been salivating about what a hunk the 20-year-old had become. Frankly, I never understood what they were talking about until this afternoon.
……(The Face No 42 March 1992)
被強迫著長大，從小男孩一直到青春期，沒有平凡的同儕朋友，總是跟年長的專業演員工作，是家中經濟的唯一重要支柱。二十歲以後反而越來越像個孩子。
很喜歡音樂，想做一個民謠搖滾樂手及吉他手，並且很臭屁地說自己絕對是同齡的人中吉他彈得最好的。除了電影劇照外，最多抱著吉他照相的照片。而且跟吉他在一起時，會露出孩子氣的笑容，他真的很愛他的吉他，看起來。
RIVER PHOENIX AND I ARE GOING DOWNTOWN TO THE MUSIC store so he can buy a twelve-string guitar. On the dashboard of my rented Taurus he is demonstrating his ideas about living in the present. ”If your mind’s up here,” he says, his long fingers sliding up the blue padded dashboard, ”and you’re really down here...”-he thumps the base of the vinyl hill-”then the guy down here isn’t getting any attention.”
(《AHEAD OF THE PACK》PREMIERE April 1988 )
當他在街頭倒下的時候，真的還只是個孩子。
“Often The Most Sensitive Suffer From A Painful World”
這是The Animals Agenda( Jan/Feb 1994)悼念文章的標題。這是我所能理解的解釋之一。是我願意相信的理由。
River Calling…
Hello, Bill. If you’re sleeping, please, by all means, ignore this message. But in fact if you are awake, then you’d better not ignore me….I had the most amazing day. It was just beautiful, the things I learned, through pain and through misunderstanding, and through being displaced, discombobulated. I come out on my last day of work (on I Love You to Death) as a triumphant failure. I stand here; need not I die nor need I drink, for I know that my soul will keep. And who’s to say he or she or it is the one, for I only know from where it has begun….Doctor Bill…where am I coming from? Who cares? Do I need to know where they’re coming from to get along with them? No. I accept them. But I come from a place that is foreign, a place where no other eyes see….The stuff is so vague….In case. And did you know that. There is. And. Wait. Not. No. Sure. But maybe. That doesn’t matter. All those words. All those broken phrases. They don’t mean anything. But where was the point?…And then through the speaker they hear a little voice crackling, saying, “You have missed the point.” But don’t take it upon yourself. Don’t carry that weight. It’s not your fault….I would say that it’s safe to guess that people simply
don’t understand. Beep.
(
《A BRIEF LIFE》 PREMIERE March 1994)
Life is multi-layered and there’s no way I could do my life justice in one pat answer.”── River Phoenix
青春封印。
Forever young.
River Phoenix Gone but not Forgotten。仍然被深深懷念著，被喜愛著。
就像River在《MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO 》中最有名的劇照之一：River 穿著紅色牛仔褲孤獨地走在沙漠旁的公路上，長長延伸的那條路。
And this road will never end.
