“The agonizing thing is, I was witness to the greatness of a personality that never fully got to flourish. I will never see him play Hamlet, and he would have been one of the great ones. I wanted to see him do the most emotional work out there, and it still pains me that I never will. ” - Judd Hirsch

"I’ve got only very fond memories of River. We spent six weeks together in Utah, all day and every evening. I found him a remarkable young man and I can’t believe looking back that he was only 23 at the time. He was a very old head on young shoulders and was absolutely delightful, very committed and serious." - Jonathan Pryce

 ”I should see some of his films. I should, but in a way I just don’t want to spoil it, you know? I don’t want to let too much information into my head. I like the idea that the only Brando film I’ve seen is Streetcar Named Desire. One day I’ll see (some of these films) but I have to do a few more movies before I start getting involved in past things, because it probably can influence you very heavily.” - River Phoenix, about James Dean’s movies

"It’s just the expectation that you were going to work with him again. I recently thought of an upcoming project: Oh, there’s… No, there isn’t River. It’s his uniqueness that is gone. I think it was Billy Wilder who said when Ernst Lubitsch died, ‘Ach, no more Ernst Lubitsch films.’ They were just his films. Now it’s no more River Phoenix characters"  - Peter Weir

"The first thing that River said to me when we met was ‘I’m sorry, I took your role.’ I said ‘no, it’s quite alright’" - Mike Parker