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\n For a time in the 1990s, Rob Reiner turned his attention from the movies that had made him famous towards a particular passion project.\n <\/p>\n
\n Attachment theory was the growing rage \u2014 the idea that a child needs to form secure bonds with a caregiver in the first three years of life in order to develop in a healthy and stable way. Reiner founded \u201cI Am Your Child,\u201d an advocacy group designed to raise awareness.\n <\/p>\n
\n It was in that capacity that he made his way to the studios of Charlie Rose in June 1997.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about this for almost 20 years,\u201d he told Rose.<\/a> Now that he had found success, using his platform to work on the subject \u201cis the greatest thrill of my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI hate to say it but, if I could make a living, you know, doing this, I wouldn\u2019t make films.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It was a big statement, but one grounded in Reiner\u2019s beliefs. \u201cSuccessful attachment early on holds you in very good stead later on in life,\u201d he told Rose. \u201cYou will not find one single person in jail for a violent crime who had a great childhood.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n At the time, Nick Reiner was three years old. Twenty-eight years later he would stand accused<\/a> of murdering his parents.\n <\/p>\n \n The Reiners spoke openly and often about their love for their children, who in addition to Nick include son Jake Reiner, 34, daughter Romy, 27 and Tracy, 61, who Rob Reiner adopted during a previous marriage to the celebrated director Penny Marshall.\n <\/p>\n \n Michele Reiner\u2019s Instagram<\/a> features glowing photos and proud boasts about her kids, while Rob Reiner was a common presence in Romy Reiner\u2019s social media in particular, where she appeared to revel in the time they spent together, swimming in the sea or regularly cutting his hair.\n <\/p>\n \n Reiner was reportedly so enamored with fatherhood<\/a> that he had the word \u201cdad\u201d as part of his email address.\n <\/p>\n \n The Reiners had differing parenting styles and spoke about the tension it caused in their relationship when the kids were little.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe had different ways of going about it,\u201d Rob Reiner said during an appearance with Michele on the \u201cDouble Date with Marlo Thomas & Phil Donahue\u201d<\/a> podcast in October 2022. Asked about the biggest challenges in their marriage, Rob Reiner said it was \u201cdifferent issues with the kids.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Michele Reiner jumped in with an example. \u201cWhen the boys were little \u2014 like 4 and 6, before our daughter was born\u2014 I said we really need to teach them how to make a bed and our oldest son Jake goes, \u2018But daddy, you don\u2019t make your bed,\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201cAnd Rob went \u2018He\u2019s right.\u2019\u2026 Even the kids complain that there aren\u2019t enough boundaries and they weren\u2019t disciplined enough.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Rob Reiner replied that he \u201cgot that from my parents. They never disciplined me.\u201d Then he added: \u201cYou got your kids, you love your kids and hopefully they do the right thing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The Reiners were also very open about Nick\u2019s struggles with substance abuse, which included revolving stays in rehab and periods of homelessness. Rob and Nick Reiner channeled the difficult story into the film \u201cBeing Charlie,\u201d which Rob Reiner directed and the younger Reiner co-wrote.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI really wasn\u2019t sure I wanted to do this,\u201d Nick Reiner told the Los Angeles Times<\/a> during a family dinner to celebrate his 22nd birthday after the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015 .\n <\/p>\n \n It was a sentiment his father understood.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt was very, very hard going through it the first time, with these painful and difficult highs and lows,\u201d the elder Reiner said at the time. \u201cAnd then making the movie dredged it all up again.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It also prompted the Reiners to reflect on the path they chose as they tried to help Nick deal with addiction, giving more trust to professionals than to their troubled son.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe program works for some people but it can\u2019t work for everybody. When Nick would tell us that it wasn\u2019t working for him we wouldn\u2019t listen,\u201d Rob Reiner said. \u201cWe were desperate and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe were so influenced by these people,\u201d Michele Reiner added. \u201cThey would tell us he\u2019s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The film depicts the horrors of addiction for those who suffer from it and those around them. It stars Cary Elwes as a former actor running for Congress whose son (played by Nick Robinson) struggles with rehab and sobriety.\n <\/p>\n \n Elwes, who also starred in Reiner\u2019s \u201cThe Princess Bride,\u201d talked to the LA Times when the film was being promoted about his admiration for the director, saying \u201cSharing your life story about a child with a drug addiction? And in this business?\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cSo many filmmakers say, \u2018It\u2019s a personal story\u2019 and they don\u2019t really mean it,\u201d Elwes said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t get more personal than this.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The actor also said Reiner didn\u2019t shy from the hard parts of Elwes playing a stand-in for him.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThere were times when I would want to tone it down and Rob would just tell me, \u2018No, turn it up.\u2019 He would tell me he didn\u2019t handle it well and we had to show that,\u201d Elwes said. \u201cHe would describe the stages of grief and how addiction is like a slow suicide, then say, \u2018Let\u2019s explore all of that.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Promoting the film, Rob and Nick Reiner were often vulnerable about both their relationship and the process of filmmaking.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI think the bonding came not from the story itself, but from the fact that we were working on a movie together,\u201d Nick Reiner said during an episode of AOL\u2019s speaker series \u201cBuild.\u201d<\/a> \u201cI could see him in\u2026I think the form in which he could express himself best which is making movies.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n It probably wouldn\u2019t have happened were it not for Michele Reiner.\n <\/p>\n \n At that 22nd birthday dinner, Rob Reiner credited his wife for making sure everybody was \u201cso open\u201d as they worked on the film, the original reporter wrote in a story<\/a> after the Reiners were found dead. Michele replied: \u201cBut we didn\u2019t set out to do a public good. We had to do it for each other.\u201d\n <\/p>\n