Filmmaking legend Martin Scorsese posted a lovely tribute to Rob and Michelle RaynerWHO died this monthpresumably by hand their son Nick. IN essay For New York Times– the Oscar winner began:Rob Reiner was my friend, and so was Michelle. From now on I will have to use the past tense and it fills me with such deep sadness. But there is no other choice.”
Scorsese recalls meeting Rob Reiner in the early 1970s: “I immediately liked hanging out with Rob. We had a natural affinity for each other. He was funny and sometimes mordantly funny, but he was never the kind of guy who took over the room. He had a wonderful sense of unfettered freedom, he thoroughly enjoyed life in the moment, and he had a great laugh.”
CONNECTED: Kudos to Rob Reiner: A truly good man and a great director
He also recalls that the couple were fellow New York transplants in Hollywood; their first meeting, when Reiner joked to the tune of War's hit “The Cisco Kid”; Reiner casting The Wolf of Wall Street; a funny moment during the Kennedy Center tribute; and his favorite Reiner films.
“We kept in touch over the years and watched each other’s films,” Scorsese wrote. “Among his paintings I like best”Adversity“, a very special film with excellent performances from Kathy Bates and James Caan. But then of course there isThis is a spinal tap.' Somehow this painting stands apart. It's kind of a flawless creation. And a big part of the greatness of this film is Rob himself, as a director and an actor.”
Here's how he ended the tribute: “What happened to Rob and Michelle is an obscenity, an abyss in living reality. The only thing that will help me accept it is the passage of time. So, like all their loved ones and their friends – and these were people with many, many friends – I need to be allowed to imagine them alive and well… and that one day I will be at a dinner or a party and find myself sitting next to Rob, and I will hear his laugh and see him with a handsome face, laugh at his stories, enjoy his natural comic timing and feel lucky to have him as a friend again.”
