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Film 1045: My Own Private Idaho

Trivia: Many members of the cast (including River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Flea, and Michael Parker) moved into director Gus Van Sant's large old house in Portland, Oregon during filming. They apparently caused such a disturbance (staying up late, getting drunk, partying, and playing music) and overtook the house to such an extent that Van Sant eventually had to move out of his own house and stay with a friend in order to get some sleep.

River Phoenix was often compared to the late James Dean. The comparisons reportedly began during Stand by Me (1986) and continued throughout his life. Gus Van Sant says, "many times during production I heard someone say to River, 'hey, that was great. You're like the next James Dean.' And every time River very politely thanked them, before stating that he'd never seen a James Dean movie. He didn't grow up with movies and television like most people. He grew up on the road with his family. I believe he died without ever having seen a James Dean movie. The haircut he wore in our film probably didn't do anything to quiet the comparisons."

Gus Van Sant was very pleased that his movie was being produced and would be distributed by New Line Cinema, a major studio. He wanted the movie to have a wide release and "play in shopping malls." Just after production, New Line created Fine Line Features, it's special "art house" label. This resulted in the movie having a very limited number of prints struck and only playing in select art house theaters. Van Sant says he might as well have made the movie independently.

The reason the lead characters were named Mike and Scott is that when Gus Van Sant was writing the script, he met two actual street hustlers with those names and the lead characters were fictionalized versions of them. One of those hustlers appears in the cafe scene.

For its initial American video release, this gay themed movie was packaged as a straight film, with both of its stars Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix in clinches with women on the video jacket.

Because River Phoenix's agent refused to show him the film treatment for 'My Own Private Idaho', in late 1990 Keanu Reeves rode his motorcycle from Canada to Phoenix's hometown of Gainesville in Florida to hand deliver it himself.

River Phoenix was absent from the New York premiere of the film. He disliked flying and traveled mostly everywhere by car or train. Attempting to drive from his home town in Florida to New York, he didn't leave himself enough time and was still making the journey as the premiere took place without him.

When Scott and Mike first appear in Portland, they sit beneath a statue of an elk with an American Indian riding atop it. The statue is real, and still exists in Portland. However, the rider was added by Gus Van Sant. It was really a production assistant covered in grease paint and sitting perfectly still atop the elk statue.

The abandoned building where the hustlers squat was shot at several locations that were edited to appear contiguous. The actors would be filmed walking into a doorway at one location, then finish going through the door at another. River Phoenix challenged himself by walking through doorways while doing an unscripted action (coughing, spinning, tripping) that he would be forced to finish days later at the second location.

River Phoenix wrote the campfire scene in private, on little scraps of paper. Gus Van Sant was under the impression that he had been writing song lyrics and was surprised when River told him he'd rewritten the scene. Van Sant liked what River presented, but didn't know if Keanu Reeves would be up for it. River assured him that he'd already privately talked to Keanu about it and he was fine with everything. Gus Van Sant says he's he had to give complete faith to River, since he was completely left out of the loop on the whole scene.

River Phoenix was a big fan of The Simpsons (1989) and suggested it's inclusion. Simpsons creator Matt Groening is from Portland, and in fact Gus Van Sant was living in what used to be his best friend's house. Matt let them use the footage from The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror (1990) for free.