No worthy list of classic coming-of-age movies is complete without director Rob Reiner’s 1986 film, “Stand by Me.”
The tale of four friends who find a dead body in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Oregon, is based on the Stephen King novella “The Body.”
Three of the film’s stars — Jerry O’Connell, Corey Feldman and Wil Wheaton — are back together for a national tour celebrating its 40-year anniversary.
Now in their 50s, the tour brings the former teenage buddies to The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda, Maryland, on Saturday night. They will take part in a Q&A discussion after the movie showing.
Wheaton told WTOP that the trio took the tour on a test drive last year.
“Hanging out together in this bus between cities, catching up on the last 40 years, and revisiting our memories from being on the set was really special,” he said. “I had hoped that we were all going to unlock memories for each other in a weird ‘Rashomon‘ sort of way and that is exactly what happened.”
The tone of the tour changed dramatically Dec. 14, when Reiner and his wife Michelle were fatally stabbed in their Los Angeles home.
“It was a shock. I’m still processing it,” Wheaton said. “The murder of Rob Reiner is a tragedy for the world, it is a tragedy for the arts, it is a terrible loss and it is an unspeakable tragedy for his family and the people who were very close to him.”
At the time of the interview, Wheaton told WTOP that he and his co-stars were figuring out an appropriate tribute for Reiner at Strathmore on March 14. One night later, Wheaton and O’Connell will take part in a tribute to Reiner at the Academy Awards.
Reiner’s death was not the first time the film’s cast experienced tragedy. Their co-star, River Phoenix, died from a drug overdose in 1993, seven years after the film came out. He was 23.
“I loved River,” Wheaton said. “He was the big brother I always wanted. He was kind and he was protective. I did not know what he had been through in his life already.”
“We already have an empty chair on the stage for River,” Wheaton said. “I lost a friend and the world lost a generational talent. … May his memory be a blessing.”
On Saturday night, the three actors will balance celebration of a timeless classic with reflections on their lost comrades and their own experiences with the film.
For Wheaton, who played Gordie Lachance, watching his younger self raises complicated feelings.
“Back then I had so much more in common with Gordie than I knew,” he said. “And to see that little boy and look back that sadness in my eyes that I tried to hide from myself. … It’s 1985 all over again.”
The tour has given Wheaton, now a writer and audiobook voice actor, time to reflect on the impact of making the movie.
“The only thing that I’ve done in my life that has this level of significance, really, was adopting my kids,” Wheaton said. “And when I think about what that means to me and what a significant, momentous event that was, it’s not surprising to me that ‘Stand By Me’ pulls all these very complicated memories right up to the surface.”
Tickets for “Stand By Me: The Film and Its Stars 40 Years Later” on Saturday, March 14, at Strathmore in North Bethesda can be purchased online.
Wheaton recorded the audiobook version of Stephen King’s “The Body,” which is scheduled for release on March 24.