Ethan Hawke is reflecting on his late pal, River Phoenix.

While at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, the actor, 54, spoke to Entertainment Weekly about meeting the late star, who died at age 23 in 1993 , while filming “Explorers.”

Hawke and Phoenix starred together in the sci-fi film in 1985. 8

The “Dead Poets Society” alum got candid on the pressures of “a life in the performing arts,” and how Phoenix was “struggling” throughout his career.

“He was met with success much earlier than I was,” Hawke said, referring to Rob Reiner’s movie “Stand by Me,” which “launched this huge career at an extremely young age.”

The director explained that Phoenix was “vibrating off of how phony that was, whenever you’re getting a lot of accolades and you’re not even in control of y

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