Stand By Me Behind The Scenes

Keifer Sutherland was very offhand to his young co-stars so that they would be genuinely afraid of him on set.. Which they were! It has to be said that, despite his excellent performance as a bully, in reality, Kiefer is a charming, soft spoken and highly intelligent person who is the exact opposite of the character of "Ace".

The names of all the towns (except Castle Rock) in the movie (set in Oregon) are real places in Maine, where author Stephen King grew up and lives.

Corey Feldman and Rob Reiner tried 30 different laughs before they came up with the one for Teddy Duchamp

Wil Wheaton's grandfather was in "Wagon Train" and so his grandmother asked Rob if somehow it could be worked into the script.

The location for the swamp scene with the leeches wasn't originally a swamp. People working on the movie dug a large hole and filled it with water. When they came back weeks later, it naturally evolved into a real swamp.

The boys got to rehearse together and get to know one another for two weeks before production started, so that they would gain the chemistry of real friends.

In an interview, Keifer Sutherland told a story about Jerry O'Connell, who was eleven at the time of filming.

In Oregon, where they were filming, there was a huge Renaissance Fair, and a bunch of hippies came in from the mountains to sell their stuff. So one night, Jerry managed to tie his baby-sitter to the banister so he could go out to the fair.

He went and got some toys and cookies, but unfortunately he didn't know that they were pot cookies. They found him two hours later crying in a parking lot, and they had to halt shooting for a day. Can you imagine an eleven-year-old Jerry O'Connell high on pot cookies crying in a parking lot? Poor kid!

For the scene where the boys are crossing the railway bridge, director Rob Reiner thought they weren't showing the right emotion as the train comes up behind them. He yelled at them so much he made Wil Wheaton and Jerry O'Connell cry, which is exactly what he was hoping for in the scene.

During the filming of Stand By Me, Corey Feldman walked in on River Phoenix smoking dope and getting high. Feldman had been smoking it also. Wil Wheaton also kept disabling the pinball machine in the hotel where the four boys were staying so they could get free games. (infomation taken from THE RIVER PHOENIX BIOGRAPHY which is the greatest biography ever written, of a highly commended actor and humanitarian -I highly recommend it!)

In the first couple of takes, River Phoenix couldn't perfect his crying for the scene where Chris breaks down and cries to his best friend, Gordie. So Rob Reiner told him to go away and think of a time where he had been let down by an adult. River returned and completed the scene at once. Although nobody knows what moment he remembered, the tears are real.

When Wil Wheaton and River Phoenix are racing in the junkyard, apparently, in real life, Wil was the better runner than River and Wil didn't know how to make it look like River could beat him. So, Rob (the director) told Wil to move his arms more to make it look like he was trying to beat River.

The boys aren't smoking real cigarettes in the film. They were actually lettuce leaves, being that Rob Reiner was and still is, a staunch anti-smoker.

During the making of the film, the young boys soaked Corey Feldman's clothes in beer then dried them so he smelled like a wino.

In the scene where Vern is digging for his lost pennies under the porch, you can see that it is far too well lit, but the director Rob Reiner wanted the audience to see the full picture so that all of the holes Vern has dug can be seen clearly.

Due to the boys rowdiness and misbehaviour at the hotel they were staying in, the hotel security even registered their names, photos and numbers.

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