We lost something special when we lost Phoenix […] Watching him become a man, seeing how he followed his tastes and his interests, was something that I think most of his fans were looking forward to, and I still wonder sometimes when I see a film he could have starred in how it would have been different with him playing the part. There are lots of talented and eclectic actors working today, but no one who offers up that same combination of talent and charm and charisma that Phoenix had. I don’t consider every death tragic automatically, but considering it’s been two decades and this one still hurts like it’s fresh, I think this stands as one of the greatest sorrows I’ve seen this industry sustain in the time I’ve lived and worked in LA.”

—	"What if River Phoenix had lived?" by Drew McWeeny

”For those that knew him, you know that he was about as special a person that there ever was. I feel very lucky for the years of friendship that we had. The diners we loitered in, the movies we went to go see and the music we played together. All the things I learned about life, love and art from you. You filled me with blind confidence…telling me that I was a great actor (before I became an actor) and a great musician. You were a gift. The influence you had on me still lives…from the way I eat to the way I express myself. Today, I’m playing XTC songs and thinking about you. I miss you and wish you were here. Be free, my friend. Love-Zaza.”

"It's important to establish, a space for those who are not accounted for, speaking of people who don't fit into a stereotype. That leaves out a lot of people in this world, that aren't; the model, you know in the fashion sense, citizen, or, I just protest it.. I think it's important to have a film, that, stirs up that idea, that stirs up some sort of controversy."

riverphoenixislove:

- River Phoenix on -‘My Own Private Idaho’-(1991).

"River was a product of his own goodness. It was almost like he was too good to be on this Earth. Like, everyone else steps over the homeless people: River could not step over a homeless person. He had to rehabilitate them and give them life. And he was incredibly honest...I'd be like, 'I have to go to my room and now and recover from that statement.' On set he'd throw himself on you and say, 'I like you so much,' and you never meet people like that."

riverphoenixislove:

- Sandra Bullock ~(co-star, The Thing Called Love, 1993)