Kiefer Sutherland Shares River Phoenix 'Stand by Me' Story That May Have Inspired Film's Title

“We were making Stand by Me, which was a Stephen King short story called The Body, and River Phoenix was learning guitar and playing guitar and he was actually very, very good,” Sutherland told host Jimmy Fallon.

“…And I was playing “Stand by Me” and singing that song, and he said, ‘Oh, I love the melody of that song,’ and he hadn’t heard it before,” he continued. “So I was teaching it to him and Rob Reiner [the film’s director] walked by and said, ‘Oh, I haven’t heard that song for a long time, I love it.’ And then that was the end of that discussion.”

“And then Rob Reiner ended up using that song for the film and changing the title to Stand by Me,” added Sutherland.

“Do you think he changed…?” Fallon began to ask.

“I have no idea,” Sutherland admitted, adding, “I just know it was part of that conversation.”

This isn’t the first time Sutherland praised Phoenix. In 2021, he said, “I worked with the main cast very little but when I’d get there early, they would be workshopping scenes and trying out each other’s lines. River specifically had such an appetite to learn and be good — and, of course, he was.”

“He was a year older than the rest of the boys and I think it made a pretty significant difference,” Sutherland continued. “When the others were doing age-appropriate things, River was asking questions like, ‘Would you mind running lines with me?’ He saw me playing guitar and asked, ‘What song is that? Would you teach me?’ ”

“His desire to get to the next level was so evident that you knew he was going to do something special,” Sutherland recalled of the later actor.

His interview with Jimmy Fallon below. Timestamped to the River Phoenix part.