MovieChat Forums > River Phoenix Discussion > How famous was River Phoenix before he s...

How famous was River Phoenix before he sadly passed?

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (20304)
13 replies | jump to latest

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/ea4myf/how_famous_was_river_phoenix_before_he_sadly/

I mean this with the greatest of respect, but Phoenix died before I was born so I have no way of knowing, but I was just reading about his career and how big he could’ve been, and was wondering in today’s terms, how famous was he?

For example Timothee Chalamet seems like a fairly close comparison (same age, been in some critically acclaimed films and a heart throb). Was he more or less famous than say Chalamet? What’s a good comparison that someone born in the mid 90’s might be able to grasp? I’m really curious, it’s such a shame we lost him.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

He was quite a teen heart throb, but also a well respected actor. So he was pretty well known, despite never being in a huge blockbuster, other than a small role as the young Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade.

[–] ProductionNow (1072) 5 years ago

average looking =teen heartthrob. Nobody told him to drug-up.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Average looking? Wish I was that average looking!

[–] ProductionNow (1072) 5 years ago

that's because you are judging yourself, not what others see in you. River was average looking (with that nose. especially) but per usual ,his looks glorified by being a "star". And let's also feel sad for the drugged homeless living a cardboard box in the cold who dont' have a career whom people turn their eyes away from

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Well, the teen girls I grew up with sure seemed to think he was attractive!

[–] ProductionNow (1072) 5 years ago

jacob,
His looks glorified by being a star/famous.. It's a true entity and a common occurrence.(same with women)

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

He was famous--so famous that for the first years of his career, everyone saw Joaquin Phoenix as "River Phoenix's brother" before he came into his own.

But we're not talking super stardom, like Will Smith, Keanu Reeves or Tom Cruise. We're talking maybe on the level of a Jason Gordon-Levitt.

[–] snepts (11123) 5 years ago

Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Yeah, Joseph. Whatever his name is. The kid from Third Rock from the Sun. I can never remember his name because he has too many names.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

[deleted]

[–] legnadibrom (6365) 5 years ago

a new tv show named a criminal gang after him

[–] Cognoscente (2720) 4 years ago

If he hadn't died, he would have surpassed Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Maybe we would have seen River in Titanic instead of Leo.

[–] FootOfDavros (8465) 4 years ago

Interesting question.

I'd say unless you were a 14 year old girl there's a very reasonable chance you wouldn't have a clue who the guy was. I remember when the news was broadcast he was reported as the kid from Stand By Me and Indiana Jones and everyone was sort like "Oh yes, that guy". But he wasn't particularly famous.

Timothee Chalamet - from a year ago when this was thread was first posted - may be a good call. I had no idea who he was until the Dune announcement. Just a pretty boy kid really. Whether he'd have become a great actor is anyone's guess.

... Having said that I remember being strong armed into going to see What's Eating Gilbert Grape on a date, circa that era, which was mind-blowingly, excruciatingly awful (the film not the date in itself). And yet today we have people who will claim that the caricature Johnny Depp is a real, actual actor and a good one to boot, so who knows...