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This was no tortured soul, just a lost one. "The guy was having a good time, but he made a big mistake and now he's not here," Depp, who was onstage at the Viper Room when Phoenix died, remarked not long afterward. Recalling that Phoenix had come with his guitar, Depp added, "That's not an unhappy kid." Edwards' sensitive biography builds just the right tone for looking back at Phoenix's life 20 years after his death: respect for his talents, admiration for his individuality and a subtle indignation for the tragedy to come. Why hasn't River Phoenix become an icon like actor James Dean, another generation's gone-too-soon totem? Edwards notes that five months after Phoenix's death came the suicide of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. "Apparently," Edwards writes, "the nineties had room for only one angel-faced blond boy, too pained by the world to live in it." More likely, and Edwards suggests this, Phoenix's filmography is too thin. He appeared in just 13 movies of varying quality and starred in only a handful of those, and his roles were too diverse to fix him in the public mind. His brother Joaquin is the Phoenix making a lasting mark in movies. Yet it's this lack of distinction that might allow River Phoenix to be rediscovered by audiences not burdened by what could have been. Instead, they might see an actor who brings emotional power and truth to a role. That would be a legacy worthy of lost promise.
[Associated
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