Gus Van Sant gave copies of John Rechy’s novel “City Of Night” to River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves to help get them into the mindset of street hustlers. Keanu found the book very useful, and went on to read five other Rechy novels. River reportedly stopped reading after the first paragraph. “He had his own background to draw on,” Gus Van Sant later said. “I think River had an entire youth spent traveling with his family, no connections to society, no roots, no permanence. He crafted that character himself.” 👀
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