As the film celebrates its 40th anniversary, Hasitha Fernando looks at the story behind Rob Reiner’s iconic Stephen King adaptation Stand By Me…
Stand by Me is often considered as one of the best movies to hail from the 1980s era and functions as a benchmark for coming-of-age dramas in cinema. Since its release fourdecades ago, the movie has gone on to captivate and resonate with generations of filmgoers with its timeless themes of friendship and loss. As the film celebrates its 40th anniversary we look back at what went on behind-the-scenes during the making of this much-adored pop culture classic…
Stand by Me was adapted from a Stephen King novella
Stand by Me is an adaptation of one of Stephen King’s novella titled The Body which appeared in a collection of four such stories published in 1982 named Different Seasons. The story takes place during the course of one summer in 1960 in the fictional city of Castlerock, Maine. Film producer Bruce A. Evans, having been impressed by King’s novella, sent Karen Gideon, his friend’s wife a copy of novella on her birthday on August 29, 1983. The couple immediately fell in love with the property and shortly after contacted Kirby McCauley, who was King’s agent at the time, to secure the film rights to the novella. Unfortunately, King’s offer of $100,000 and 10% of the gross profits proved to be too steep for a studio to dish out, considering there were no recognizable talent involved. Therefore, Evans and Gideon pursued Adrian Lyne, who was an established filmmaker with efforts like Foxes and Flashdance to his name, in order to convince financiers the legitimacy of the project. Lyne, Evans and Gideon tried their utmost to get the ball rolling with multiple studios with only Martin Shafter at Embassy Pictures responding positively to their proposal. After a lot of back and forth, Embassy Pictures was finally able to work out a deal with McCauley while Evans and Gideon spent eight weeks crafting the screenplay. At the advice of Embassy Pictures both Evans and Gideon got Andrew Sheineman involved with the production and it was he who sent Rob Reiner the script for the film, when Lyne dropped out of the project due to salary disputes.
Rob Reiner was an up-and-coming talent when he was chosen for the gig
A casual glance at the late Rob Reiner’s filmography which include the likes of The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery and A Few Good Men, it becomes abundantly clear that the creative was a master of genre filmmaking. Prior to helming Stand by Me, Reiner had only directed the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap and the romantic comedy The Sure Thing, but hailing from a background in acting he identified early on that the script lacked “focus”. After Reiner signed on to direct, he suggested making Gordie the emotional centre and narrator of the story as the fledgling filmmaker identified most with this particular character. The writer duo incorporated the changes suggested by Reiner and crafted a new script that would get the seal of approval from both director and the producers.
The production was in doldrums just prior to the commencement of shooting
Even with a director and script locked-in, production was in a state of total uncertainty just before shooting was about to kick-off. This was because Columbia Pictures purchased Embassy Pictures in the summer of 1985 and decided to cancel the production of the film. However, Norman Lear, one of Embassy’s co-owners, decided to put $7.5 million of his own money to the production due to his faith in Reiner and the script. But Embassy’s absence in the production posed a question as to how the movie would be distributed and this is where Columbia Pictures stepped in. Thanks to the positive response his daughters gave during a private screening of the film, Guy McElwaine, head of Colombia Pictures was convinced that they should handle distribution of Rob Reiner’s effort.
Columbia Pictures was concerned about the original title of the movie
Similar to Stephen King’s novella the movie too was originally going to be titled The Body. But Columbia Pictures were concerned that the title would give a different idea to audiences regarding the subject matter of their movie. During an interview, screenwriter Raynold Gideon summed up the concerns regarding the title by saying, “it sounded like either a sex film, a bodybuilding film or another Stephen King horror film.” Rob Reiner then came up with the alternative title of Stand by Me after the popular Ben E. King song which everyone loved, and the title eventually stuck.
Steps were taken to ensure the camaraderie of the young cast members
Stand by Me was one of those films, whose success can be directly attributed to the excellent casting choices taken by the director. Reiner and the producers interviewed more than 70 boys, out of the 300 odd children who auditioned, for the four main roles and ultimately cast Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman and Jerry O’Connell in the lead roles. Whilst Wheaton, Phoenix and Feldman all had prior acting experience it was O’Connell’s first gig in a feature film. To ensure the camaraderie of the four young actors he’d cast, Reiner went an extra-mile so the kids would bond with each other before shooting commenced. To accomplish this objective Reiner brought them down to Brownsville, Oregon – where the film was being shot – and got them involved in various “games and exercises from Viola Spolin’s book “Improvisations for the Theater”. One such exercise involved guiding each other through their hotel lobby whilst being blindfolded. The director also gave them mix-tapes of late 1950s music and ensuring they were about the era’s slang so the boys could better understand and immerse themselves in that time period and culture.
Michael Jackson was asked to do a cover of the Ben E. King’s song for the film
Rob Reiner not only took the title of Ben E. King’s popular song “Stand by Me” as the title of his film but even wanted the “King of Pop” Michael Jackson to do a cover of the song for the movie. In the end, however, Reiner thought that the original version of the song better suited his film. The success of Reiner’s effort following its release resulted in a renewed interest in the song, which played during the movie’s closing credits, as it got re-released during the same time the flick also debut. Although Ben E. King’s song was originally released in 1961, the re-released track reached the Top Ten, peaking at #9 in the fall of 1986.
Camera tricks and practical effects were used to pull off some of the scenes
The scene involving Gordie and Vern outrunning a train on top of a trestle took a full week to shoot and it required the involvement of four small adult female stunt doubles who were made to resemble the film’s four protagonists. Although the closeup shots featuring Gordie and Vern running away from the train appeared as if the locomotive was right behind them, in reality it was located at the far end of the trestle with the two actors on the opposite end. This ingenious effect was achieved using a 600 mm long-focus lens that, which when shot from the telephoto end, compressed the image to such a degree that it made it look as if the train was right behind the boys. The scene was shot above Lake Britton Reservoir, near McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park in northeast California. The memorable and hilarious scene involving the swamp leeches was achieved using molded latex, stuck on the actors’ skins with rubber cement. Although the end effect was pretty convincing to viewers, the boys found that the rubber cement application mixed with red coloring was kind of irritating for their skins.
Box-office success, critical acclaim, awards success and beyond
Made on a production budget of $8 million Stand by Me went on to make a respectable $52 million at the worldwide box-office by the conclusion of its theatrical run. The effort proved to be a hit with film critics as well, with review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes boasting an impressive 89%, as of writing, with an average rating of 8/10. The website’s critical consensus describes the film as follows, “Rob Reiner brings warmth, wit, and understated grace to Stand by Me, crafting a deeply affecting coming-of-age tale whose authentic performances and emotional honesty elevate its familiar journey”. Stephen King, in particular, was very moved by what Rob Reiner had done with the feature film adaptation of his novella, and during a 2016 interview stated that Stand by Me was his favorite adaptation of his literary works, alongside The Shawshank Redemption. The effort received a multitude of nominations come awards season, nabbing an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans, a DGA Award nomination for Outstanding Directing for Rob Reiner and two Golden Globe Award nominations in the Best Director and Best Motion Picture Drama categories.
Since its release, Stand by Me has been hailed as one the best efforts of the 1980s and one of the finest coming-of-age dramas that captured the emotional highs and lows of adolescence, the bittersweetness of friendship and the loss of innocence. These themes not only resonated with audiences at the time of its release but also 40 years later, where it is celebrated as a pop culture classic that beautifully understood the pangs of children on the cusp of adulthood.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
