Kiefer Sutherland reveals how he, River Phoenix, and a guitar may have inspired “Stand by Me”'s title

"Rob Reiner walked by and said, 'Oh, I haven't heard that song for a long time.'"

Kiefer Sutherland has revealed how a jam session with his late Stand by Me costar River Phoenix may have had a profound effect on the 1986 coming-of-age film.

The actor recalled a moment when he was playing guitar on the film’s set and one of his song choices — Ben E. King’s 1961 hit “Stand by Me” — caught the attention of its director, Rob Reiner, who later used it for its title and featured it in the movie.

“We were making Stand by Me, which was a Stephen King short story called "The Body," and River Phoenix was learning guitar and playing guitar, and he was actually very, very good,” Sutherland told host Jimmy Fallon while visiting The Tonight Show on Friday. “And he was getting very, very good at a very fast rate.”

When Sutherland switched it up and began performing “Stand by Me,” Phoenix was immediately taken by the tune.

“He said, ‘Oh, I love the melody of that song,’ and he hadn’t heard it before,” Sutherland said. “So I was teaching it to him, and Rob Reiner walked by and said, ‘Oh, I haven’t heard that song for a long time. I love it.’ And then that was the end of that discussion.”

His performance seems to have had a ripple effect because, he said, “Rob Reiner ended up using that song for the film and changing the title to Stand by Me.”

"Do you think he changed...?" Fallon asked.

“I have no idea," Sutherland replied. "I just know it was part of that conversation."

Sutherland starred as Ace Merrill, a bully who antagonized the film’s young friend group — played by Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, and Will Wheaton — in the Academy Award–winning drama. He recently reminisced about Phoenix, who died at the age of 23, and his never-ending curiosity on set.

“I worked with the main cast very little, but when I’d get there early, they would be workshopping scenes and trying out each other’s lines,” he said in a story for The Guardian in 2021. “River [Phoenix] specifically had such an appetite to learn and be good — and, of course, he was.”

Phoenix being a year older than his costars set him apart, Sutherland recalled. "When the others were doing age-appropriate things, River was asking questions like: 'Would you mind running lines with me?' He saw me playing guitar and asked: 'What song is that? Would you teach me?'" he said. "His desire to get to the next level was so evident that you knew he was going to do something special. He was interested in storytelling from the perspective of learning and sharing as opposed to just entertaining.”

Watch Sutherland recall making music with Phoenix in the clip above.

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