Editor's Note: Business Insider published a May 2016 interview with Rob Reiner and his son Nick Reiner about their film Being Charlie, which Nick wrote and is based on his experiences with drug addiction. December 15, 2025 Nick Rayner was arrested a day after his parents, Rob Reiner and Michelle Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Los Angeles home.
Over the past 30 years, Rob Reiner has been best known as the director of films such as Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men. These titles brought joy to millions.
But the Reiner family is not entirely happy. The son of the legendary actor and director, 22-year-old Nick, has been struggling with drug addiction since adolescence.
Most families would like to keep this part of their lives as hidden from the public as possible. But Reiner admits that even during his son's darkest moments of addiction, he thought about making a film. And yet it was too painful to put pen to paper and start writing the script.
Rob Reiner. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Interestingly, his son came to the same realization as a means of rehabilitation.
Four years ago, while in rehab in Los Angeles, Nick became friends with fellow drug addict Matt Elisophone. They began writing about their problems with addiction and the people they met in rehab. In the end they came up with a script for the film “Be Charlie(in theaters Friday), which they asked Rob to direct.
The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last September to a sold out crowd.
A mixture of drama and comedy, it follows an 18-year-old boy named Charlie (played by Nick Robinson of Jurassic World fame) as he battles addiction to heroin and cocaine. As Charlie drifts in and out of rehab, the irritation of his actor-turned-politician father (Cary Elwes) is growing, but he doesn’t know how to help his son.
“It was a real corrective emotional experience,” Nick Reiner told Business Insider after a TIFF screening of the film about the making of the film.
Being Charlie took four years to reach the screen (Nick was sober during this time), evolving from a half-hour comedy, then an hour-long drama rejected by networks, into a feature film.
According to Rob Reiner, early in development the project lacked information for both father and son.
“It wasn't just what he went through, it was what we went through,” Rob told Business Insider, referring to himself and his wife Michelle, who sat next to him.
Michelle, Rob, Jake, Romy and Nick Rayner. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Nick and Elisophone were by Rob's side throughout filming. According to Rob, the script was updated daily to make the scenes more realistic.
“I relied on him,” Rob said of his son. “He is the heart and soul of the film.”
One of the biggest changes came during the filming of the film's ending, in which Charlie and his father finally have a heart-to-heart talk.
Rob and Nick couldn't find the right tone. After constant rewrites in the days leading up to filming the scene, they finally felt like they had something. It's a thrilling moment as father and son open up to each other like never before.
The Reiners compare getting the ending right to the entire experience of making the film.
“We healed as we went along,” Nick said. “And all this doesn’t happen overnight. Some things we haven't dealt with in a while, but we were able to do it in this film. He didn't fix everything, but he really touched on…”
Nick paused to find his words, then his father, sitting across from Nick, finished for him.
“It made me really understand what he's been through for a long time,” Rob said.
This story was originally published on May 16, 2016. It has since been updated.
