this road will never end

"[...] the campfire scene in Private Idaho, in which River Phoenix's character confesses his love for Reeves'. It's such a raw scene, the one that gay men couldn't stop thinking about, such an honestly acted reflection of a painfully familiar experience. "Well, River just was so amazing in that," says Reeves, adding that he himself has never been the recipient of such a confession. So what fueled the honesty of the scene? "I think it was on two levels," says the actor. "We were playing characters, and then also the friendship, the work that River and I were doing together. My character says, 'Well, just come over here, man. I can't love you, and I won't do it that way, but just come over here, man, we can hug, stay warm, we'll be together.' But you were seeing great acting by River, and also connected into that was our personal relationship." Asked if he misses the late star who died of a drug overdose at age 23 in 1993, Reeves falls quiet. "Oh, very much," he says, with nothing more to add but silence."