Rob Reiner: The Actor’s Director
Every director has a different view on the role of actors in cinema. Some hold the
ancient art in high esteem while others think of actors as nothing more than props.
Directors that have great reverence for the art of acting have often been actors once
themselves. Some of the best directors of today are also great actors. Quentin Tarantino,
best known for action/thrillers Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, often acts in his own films;
Clint Eastwood has been nominated for multiple Academy Awards for both his directing
and acting in films such as Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven; and Ron Howard started
off as a child actor before going behind the scenes. Rob Reiner is also one of these actors
turned directors. Many remember him for his role as Michael “Meathead” Stivic in the
long running sitcom All In The Family. This role was what made Reiner a household
name in the 1970s, but it was not long until he stepped into the world of directing. Reiner
uses this background in acting to his advantage behind the scenes to establish connections
to the story through his own experiences, build a trust with his actors that strengthen their
performances, and collaborate with others for an overall better picture.
A good actor/actress simply performs the lines given to him, while a great actor
becomes the character. He/she draws from experiences in his/her own life and uses them
to make the character as real as possible. The same applies to great directors, but instead
of becoming the character, they become the story. Reiner uses his experiences to bring
life to the stories he is trying to convey to the audience. More often than not, he even
chooses his films based off what he is going through in his life at the time. This allows
for the story to have more relevance and authenticity for the audience.
In Stand By Me, Reiner chose to focus on the character Gordie rather than on all
four boys like the original Stephen King novella had done. Gordie became almost a
reflection of Reiner’s personality as a child (Stand By Me: Commentary). Reiner, too, had
a strained relationship with his parents and longed for companionship. (Stand By Me:
Commentary; Stand By Me). He grew up during the same time period as Gordie and his
friends, so Reiner’s favorite songs, phrases, and jokes as a child became the boys’. These
personal touches from Reiner gave the film a truly authentic feel (Stand By Me:
Commentary).
Many would say that it would be hard to relate to the characters and storyline of
the film Misery (Misery: Commentary). Rob Reiner, though, had a great understanding
for the way Paul Sheldon felt when writing his last installment of his novel, Misery
(Misery: Commentary; Misery). The option for the film came across Reiner’s desk at a
time when he was trying to break the mold for himself. He had been very well known for
romantic comedies, but wanted to do something different. Misery was his shot to do
something different: horror. Reiner used these emotions to fuel the character of Paul
Sheldon to make the audience sympathize with him and want him to make it in the end
(Misery: Commentary).
When Harry Met Sally was an idea that Rob Reiner had had for a long time.
Writer Nora Ephron and he had spent many years thinking of the concept, but it did not
become a reality until 1989 (When Harry Met Sally: Special). Throughout those years of
its inception, Reiner had made multiple films and had many major career
accomplishments, but he also experienced turbulence in his personal life, such as a
divorce from Penny Marshall and the difficulties of getting back into the world of dating
(“Rob”). This made Reiner want to complete When Harry Met Sally even more because it
really delved into the true relationship between men and women. He accumulated all his
experiences in both the dating world and married life to ultimately create Billy Crystal’s
character, Harry Burns. Nora Ephron did the same to create Meg Ryan’s character, Sally
Albright (When Harry Met Sally: Special). People empathized with these characters, and
they ultimately helped to answer the age-old question, “Can men and women really be
friends?”(When Harry Met Sally)
Trust is key to any good relationship. On a film set, one of the most important
relationships is the relationship between the director and his actors. If there is not a level
of trust between these two groups, the picture will never reach its true potential. Rob
Reiner creates an atmosphere that allows for trust between these two groups. His actors
look up to him as a fellow performer as well as a director. He will never tell an actor to
do something that he is not capable of doing himself, which makes his advice and
directions meaningful and reliable for the actors (Stand By Me: Special).
The majority of the cast of Stand By Me was child and teenage actors (Stand By
Me). This required a different way of directing from Rob Reiner in order for him to be
able to gain their trust. Unlike adult actors, child actors tend to have less of a range in
their acting abilities. Because of this, Reiner took a different approach to casting this
film. He looked less at the acting ability of the children and more at their regular
personalities searching for characteristics of the characters in the story. This made it so
the children almost did not have to act, but merely read lines as themselves, which gave
life to performances that would not have been the same if casted any other way (Stand By
Me: Commentary). Once Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and Vern were casted, Reiner took it
upon himself to require the four to arrive on set a few weeks early. They took this time to
play what the boys did not know at the time were theater games. These games helped
them to to refine their craft as actors and made them feel more comfortable with each
other. Reiner wanted to get to know the boys and to have them get to know one another.
He wanted them to become friends, so that their kinship came natural to them when the
time came to start shooting. Reiner became somewhat of a father figure for these boys.
Wil Wheaton often talks of the scene where Jerry O’Connell and he are running away
from the train. He said that Reiner did not feel that they looked truly scared and began to
yell at them. Because of the trust between the actors and director, this sparked something
in these boys. They became upset because they felt that they had let Reiner down, and
they used these feelings in the next take. That ultimately became the take they used in the
film because of the intense emotion that was expressed by Wheaton and O’Connell
(Stand By Me: Special).
When casting Misery, Reiner wanted the part of Paul Sheldon to be played by a
well-known actor while the part of Annie Wilkes to be played by a relatively unknown
actor (Misery: Special). He hit the jackpot when casting James Caan and Kathy Bates, but
he soon found out that he was working with two very different actors. Caan is a
performer who acts in the moment, so he is not very keen on rehearsing. Bates, on the
other hand, has a background in theater and insists on ample amount of rehearsal time.
This posed an issue for Reiner. Both had to concede in the amount of rehearsal that
occurred, but Reiner made sure that both actors were able to work under conditions that
yielded their best performances. He spent time with Bates looking into the back-story of
Annie Wilkes. This made up for some of the time Bates would have liked to have spent
rehearsing and allowed her to truly understand the motives behind the her complex
character. Bates went on to win an Academy Award for her performance as Annie
(Misery: Commentary).
While filming When Harry Met Sally, Reiner was not the conventional director.
Instead of being at a monitor watching the scene unfold, the actor in him would come
through as he stood right next to the camera, often acting out scenes as they occurred.
Crystal and Ryan were then able to play off of him to create the characters people see on
screen. In comedies like When Harry Met Sally, actors sometimes need reassuring to
know that their delivery is indeed funny and will play off as such to the audience. Reiner
would often laugh at jokes said by the actors and even ruined takes at times because of
this. He said though that he allowed himself to laugh so that he could show his actors that
they were doing a good job (When Harry Met Sally: Special).
Actors use collaboration often to gain all the knowledge possible about their roles
to establish a life for their characters. More often than not, the downfall of directors
comes from their unwillingness to collaborate. It is impossible to know everything, so
collaboration is important to be able to achieve the best ideas possible. Rob Reiner uses
collaboration from his actors, writers, and peers to bring different points of view to his
films.
Stand By Me was the film where Reiner collaborated with many people, but his
most significant collaborator, Andrew Scheinman, was essential. A producer works very
closely with a director, but Reiner and Scheinman take this to a new level. Scheinman
helped Reiner in many of the aspects of the film. He was a part of everything, from
normal producer duties like picking locations, to not as usual duties such as assisting in
writing scenes the night before the day of the shoot (Stand By Me: Commentary).
Scheinman and Reiner when went on to create the production company Castle Rock
Entertainment and have worked together on all of Reiner’s films except Spinal Tap
(“Rob”).
Rob Reiner is quick to admit that prior to making Misery, he did not have much
experience in the genre of horror. This did not limit him though. He was quick to research
aspects of horror filmmaking. He spent hours watching numerous Alfred Hitchcock films
to be able to fully understand the art of suspense. He used this knowledge to create a
more subtle tension rather than giving a gory approach to the story. He learned how to get
the perfect timing to be able to keep the audience on their toes (Misery: Commentary).
Reiner used his actors in every way possible when making When Harry Met Sally.
Both Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal brought ideas to the table that were essential to the feel
of the film. From their beginning in the film, both Ryan and Crystal were vocal
contributors in the production. Ryan or Crystal even adapted some of the most
memorable scenes of the film (When Harry Met Sally: Special). Crystal was the person
who suggested that Harry talk to Sally in the silly voice while they are in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art which strengthened viewers want for Harry and Sally to end
up together, and Ryan proposed the famous and unforgettable ending to the deli scene.
Reiner’s willingness to collaborate with his actors gave the film some of its most
memorable touches, and it would not have been the same had he not (When Harry Met
Sally).
Rob Reiner’s acting experience has helped him to become the director he is today.
Through his career as an actor, he learned how to establish a sincere, realistic story using
his own experiences, create a level of trust on set that brings out great performances, and
collaborate with his coworkers and peers to see new ideas. All of these lessons have been
transferred into his directing as well to create his diverse arrangement of famous films.
Because of this, Reiner belongs among the list of other great actors turned directors like
Tarantino, Eastwood, and Howard. These men truly understand the art of acting and how
it is used in all aspects of cinema.
Work Cited
Misery. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Rob Reiner. By William Goldman. Perf. James Caan and
Kathy Bates. Columbia Pictures, 1990. DVD.
Misery: Commentary. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Rob Reiner. By William Goldman. Perf.
James Caan and Kathy Bates. Columbia Pictures, 1990. DVD.
Misery: Special Features. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Rob Reiner. By William Goldman.
Perf. James Caan and Kathy Bates. Columbia Pictures, 1990. DVD.
"Rob Reiner." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.
Stand By Me. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Bruce Evans, Raynold Gideon, and Andrew
Scheinman. By Stephen King, Raynold Gideon, and Bruce Evans. Perf. Wil
Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell. Columbia
Pictures. 1986. DVD.
Stand By Me: Commentary. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Bruce Evans, Raynold Gideon, and
Andrew Scheinman. By Stephen King, Raynold Gideon, and Bruce Evans. Perf.
Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell. Columbia
Pictures. 1986. DVD.
Stand By Me: Special Features. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Bruce Evans, Raynold Gideon,
and Andrew Scheinman. By Stephen King, Raynold Gideon, and Bruce Evans.
Perf. Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell.
Columbia Pictures. 1986. DVD.
When Harry Met Sally. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Rob Reiner. By Nora Ephron. Perf. Billy
Crystal and Meg Ryan. Castle Rock Entertainment. 1989. DVD.
When Harry Met Sally: Commentary. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Rob Reiner. By Nora
Ephron. Perf. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Castle Rock Entertainment. 1989.
DVD.
When Harry Met Sally: Special Features. Dir. Rob Reiner. Prod. Rob Reiner. By Nora
Ephron. Perf. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. Castle Rock Entertainment. 1989.
DVD.
(Misery).
(Misery: Commentary).
(Misery: Special).
("Rob”).
(Stand By Me).
(Stand By Me: Commentary).
(Stand By Me: Special).
(When Harry Met Sally).
(When Harry Met Sally: Commentary).
(When Harry Met Sally: Special).