Ten years before Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in what authorities are investigating as an apparent homicide. allegedly involving their son, Nick, the acclaimed director appeared to foreshadow real-life family tensions in his 2015 drama Being Charlie.
Rob and Michele were discovered dead in their Brentwood home on Sunday, December 14, and reports say their deaths are being investigated as a possible homicide. People then reported that Nick was allegedly responsible, citing multiple sources, although police have not confirmed the claim.
So how does Being Charlie foreshadow the Reiners’ family struggles?
What is Being Charlie About?
Premiering at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, Being Charlie is based on Nick’s experiences following his heroin addiction and period of homelessness.
The film tells the story of Charlie (Nick Robinson), an 18-year-old troubled addict who has been in and out of rehab for years before escaping a facility in rural Utah.
He returns home to his parents, who stage an intervention and send him to an adult rehabilitation center, where he meets Eva (Morgan Saylor) and a group of wisecracking misfits.
However, when Eva leaves him, Charlie ends up back on the streets and overdoses. Though he is exonerated, the incident makes the news, and his actor father, David (Cary Elwes), who is running for governor, fears it will cost him the election.
David ultimately wins, seeks out his son, and makes peace with him. Charlie then decides to turn his life around. As the credits roll, he is shown having become a stand-up comic.
How Did Being Charlie Mirror the Real-Life Relationship Between Rob and Nick Reiner?
Directed by Rob himself, Being Charlie was also written by his son, Nick, alongside a friend he met in rehab.
Nick had long struggled with addiction, and the film documented the family’s difficulties during that period. It offered a glimpse into their household at a time when the younger Reiner’s problems were escalating.
Like Reiner, Charlie resents the harsh way his parents respond to his addiction in the film, particularly their reliance on repeated stints in rehabilitation. Rob and Michele later confirmed it mirrored their real-life interactions with Nick.
The film ends on a hopeful note, with David acknowledging his mistakes and apologizing to his son, which Rob said he owed Nick and ultimately expressed in real life.
“When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen. We were desperate, and because these people had diplomas on their walls, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son,” Rob told the Los Angeles Times during an interview at TIFF.
“We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he was a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us—and we believed them,” Michele added.
At the time, Nick had achieved sobriety, saying he decided to get clean because he “got sick of it.”
“I come from a nice family. I’m not supposed to be out there on the streets and in homeless shelters doing all these f*****-up things,” he explained.
While Nick declined to answer questions about his relationship with his parents, Rob acknowledged in a post-screening Question and Answer they had experienced “disagreements” and “rough” times while depicting their bond in the film.
“Sometimes it would get overwhelming for me,” Nick interjected.
However, Rob later said their relationship improved during the making of the movie. “Our relationship had gotten so much closer,” he noted.
Yet Nick later said he “wasn’t sure” he “wanted to do” the Q&A, making Rob’s remarks about reconciliation and closure seem less conclusive.
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