Suloinens

River Phoenix photographed by Bruce Weber for American Vogue, May 1990.

We went for coffee in Gainesville. The teenage waitress was a little excited, but she kept her cool. “Do you have Venezuelan coffee?” No. “Do you have carrot juice?” No. “Well, I’ll just have a double espresso then,” he said, and promptly ticked away for hours about how hyper he felt from the caffeine. I told him he was a pinup even in the British teen mags and then immediately wished I hadn’t. So did he. He laid his beautiful head on the table and groaned with real embarrassment. “A pinup. Oh, God. I wish you hadn’t said that. A pinup!” He told me about the publicity stills that were taken of him “when I was younger.” You do everything they tell you, he said “they teach you how to pose, you know, they say, ‘you have to do it like this!’ And you tilt your head, and they show you how to push your lips out and suck in your cheek… oh, oh [groans] and then all the outtakes that you never want to see again in your life go through the teen magazines forever. Oh. oh [more groans].” It was very funny, but he meant it. Gentlemanly modesty is River’s strong suit.