“Being Charlie” producer Douglas Shaffer was in disbelief when he heard the news that Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were murdered — allegedly at the hands of their troubled son, Nick Reiner.
Shaffer worked with the father-son duo on the 2015 film, which Rob directed and Nick co-wrote based on his experience as an addict. When the film came out, Nick was allegedly sober and had healed his relationship with Rob — which made the tragedy all the more surprising for Shaffer.
“It was just a good experience for everybody involved,” Shaffer exclusively told Page Six about working on the film. “And so that’s why when all this stuff came up, it was just complete and total shock.”
“Nick… I thought the demons were like exorcised,” Shaffer continued. “After the movie, I felt like, ‘Okay, he’s on the up and up. This is good. He’s doing good.’ I had no idea these other issues were happening. So it was a shock. I mean, I thought it was a home invasion at first when I heard. I had no idea.”
After he first heard about the double homicide, Shaffer reached out to “Being Charlie” editor Bob Joyce, who also worked with Rob on this year’s “Spinal Tap” sequel.
“I texted Bob and I said, ‘First of all, are you okay?’ And then, ‘What the hell is going on?’ And he’s just like, ‘I had no idea,’” Shaffer explained. “Everybody’s just taken aback. This is so awful.”
All of the producers from the film have been in touch since the disturbing news broke, according to Shaffer.
“Our group that the production company worked for, we’re on a chat and we’ve been chatting since this happened. I’ve reached out to Bob. I’ve tried to talk to him. But he’s probably going to need a few days,” Shaffer shared. “He’s going to be the one who needs to process this a lot longer. I think he might be a little overwhelmed right now.”
After Nick was charged with murdering his parents, “Being Charlie” stunt performer Erik Audé told Page Six that Rob and Nick had “tension” and argued publicly on the film’s set.
“With film sets, there’s tension. There’s always tension in every movie. So I’ve never not been on a set, and I made 20 something movie, where there hasn’t been some type of disagreement or argument that sometimes gets elevated because you only have a certain amount of time to shoot for the day,” Shaffer explained.
“Rob is a very proud guy. Stubborn in some ways. And so I could see where he would have a disagreement, but I wouldn’t feel like I would necessarily classify that as something that was dysfunctional crazy on set.”
Shaffer doesn’t think he could watch “Being Charlie” ever again in the wake of the murders.
“It takes the point of view of Charlie, which is Nick. Rewatching the movie I have very little sympathy for that character based on everything that’s happened, because I feel like everything he was given and everything he.. you know, his father tried to help him. And to do that, I can’t look at that character because that character represents Nick,” Shaffer stated.
“So it would just be a completely different viewing experience,” the producer continued. “I mean, I haven’t watched it since it happened, but it would be a completely different viewing experience now because you’re not going to feel for that character. You’re supposed to feel for the main character, but if you’re just like, ‘I don’t like that main character now. That character did something terrible.’ You can’t watch it.”
Nick allegedly stabbed his parents to death inside their Los Angeles home early Sunday. He was arrested that night and charged with two counts of murder.
Rob’s youngest son has been to rehab almost 20 times and experienced bouts of homelessness, which inspired the plot of “Being Charlie.”
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