On a Sunday evening, thePeople magazine reported a shocking allegation that Nick Reiner was said to be responsible for the tragic homicide of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, in Brentwood. Simultaneously, theNew York Postclaimed that the 32-year-old was a person of considerable interest in the killings. However, law enforcement authorities have yet to verify these reports. If Nick Reiner is ultimately named a suspect, it wouldn't be the first time that tensions between him and his parents have been brought to light. A decade ago, Rob and Nick even collaborated on a movie that documented the challenges they faced as a family.
Nick Reiner has long battled with addiction, and in 2015, the family released a film drama titledBeing Charlie, which chronicles his struggles and the subsequent challenges they faced. Nick co-wrote the script with a friend from rehab, inspired by his experiences, while Rob directed the movie based on his experience as a parent. Produced and sanctioned by the family, the movie offers an authentic glimpse into the Reiner household during those years as Nick's challenges escalated. Carey Elwes played the stand-in for Rob, and Nick Robinson portrayed Nick Reiner himself.
The movie premiered at TIFF in September 2015 and was released on Starz the following year.Charlie centers on Charlie Mills, an 18-year-old addict son of a movie star who is now running for Congress. Charlie resents the harsh way his father and mother are treating his addiction, which involves mandatory stints in rehab. The movie provides few answers and ends with a certain détente, with an apology from the father for his sometimes-unsympathetic treatment of his son. In an interview at TIFF, Reiner said he owed and gave this apology to his son in real life.
Michele added that they were so influenced by others who told them Nick was a liar and trying to manipulate them. Nick noted that at some point as an addict, "I got sick of it. I got sick of doing that...I come from a nice family. I’m not supposed to be out there on the streets and in homeless shelters doing all these things." (The Hollywood Reporter's review said the pair "clearly used this as a way to work through how 22-year-old Nick Reiner's own drug problems affected their family.")
In a post-screening Q&A, Rob said that "we didn't set out for it to be cathartic or therapeutic, but it turned out to be that." When asked about their relationship, Rob said there were disagreements and at times it was really rough when they were trying to depict the reality of their relationship in the movie. Nick responded that "sometimes it would get overwhelming for me."
The movie is now available on YouTube and late Sunday night became a kind of de facto platform for people to come and debate how parents relate to addict kids. A scene in which Charlie angrily confronts his father at his family home is painful to watch, and if law enforcement concludes that Nick is the suspect, it would not be surprising if YouTube decided to remove the film.
Rob Reiner said that at the time of production, their relationship had changed for the better. "To be honest, by the time we got to the point of making the movie it didn't matter if we actually did. Because our relationship had gotten so much closer." Still, Nick did not seem as engaged with the interview as one might have expected, and a reporter left feeling that Rob Reiner's expression of closure was an aspiration that had not been fully achieved. The Hollywood Reporter's review also concluded that the film featured "two warring agendas, aligned neatly with the father and son positions expressed therein."
