When the controversial film My Own Private Idaho began production, word in Hollywood was that Phoenix had convinced the recalcitrant Keanu Reeves to take the risk of also playing a gay character in the film. Phoenix disagrees. "Did it convince him? No. He was excited from the start," he recalls. "Keanu supported me and I supported him. But we had a sort of thing where if one didn't do it, the other wouldn't, as we impulsively decided at the same time to do it. So the only way I could follow up on such an impulsive idea it would be if we both did it.
During filming in Idaho in the fall of 1990, nine cast and crew members, including Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, slept on futons spread out in Van Sant's home. It was a college dorm, a tribe, a family. Van Sant showed me his garage, where a bona fide garage band consisting of Phoenix and Reeves and other Idaho actors, as well as Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, often played late into the night.
They played the sweet, out-of-order lyrics Phoenix had written for himself and his band, Aleka's Attic – "Run to the rescue with love / and peace will follow" or "Hey, hey, where's your halo gone? " They played Beatles and Led Zeppelin, balancing ashtrays in Van Sant's black BMW and drinking wine, smoking pot. Sometimes they ended up crying with Phoenix as he talked about disappearing rainforests.
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