What the director and cast said on the 25th anniversity of “Stand by me”

I researched the director of the movie “Stand by Me” and found a very interesting interview the director and the casts of “Gordie” and “Teddy” gave 25 years after the release of the movie.

The movie is based on a novel from Stephen King, called “the Body”. The novel is about four boys who “go on this journey together to find a dead body” (Reiner, Wheaton, & Feldman, 2011).  Gordie was not the main character in this novel but described as the sensitive one. So, Rob Reiner, the director of the film, decided to build the story around him, his doubts about himself and his issues with his father. (The father seemed not to love him and compared him constantly to his dead brother.) Furthermore, the story is about the change Gordie is going through while he is having this adventure with his friends. At the end of the movie, he became much more self-confident. In my opinion, all children of this age are a little insecure about themselves. In adolescence there is much to explore and one begins to decide what kind of person one wants to become in the future.  We have all had times where we have been insecure and we feel bad for Gordie because of his family situation so it is easy to sympathize with him.

I would not have imagined that the actors played by “Chris” and “Teddy” became really good friends in real life. While Chris and Gordie had this very tight bond in the movie, Wil Wheaton, the actor of “Gordie”, felt rather intimidated by Chris Chambers, the actor of “Chris”.

What I also found very interesting is how the actors were talking about the film and their experiences on the set. Wil Wheaton stated that he was 12 years old when they filmed the movie. At that time, the whole film seemed to him as just a great adventure story. At the time of the interview, 25 years later, he appreciated the message of the movie. It is not all about the dead body anymore. I think this is a good example of how various perceptions of a child and an adult are. While children are focusing on the fun part of the story, adults are more likely to focus on the “sense” of the movie and the message it wants to deliver.

Reference:

Reiner, R., Wheaton, W., & Feldman, C. (25. 03 2011). Stand By Me’ at 25 – The Stars’ Oral History of Their Beloved Classic. (G. Tyrant, Interviewer) retrieved 09 26, 2013 from http://geektyrant.com/news/2011/3/29/rob-reiner-and-cast-talk-about-the-25th-anniversary-of-stand.html