Rest in peace, Rob and Michele Reiner
So, the first thing I heard about when I woke up on Monday morning was the untimely deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner.
Truth be told, I don’t really know if I can pay proper tribute to them. Obviously, I never knew them personally and before writing this entry, I really only knew of Rob Reiner, but I’ve already deeply respected him for his work as a filmmaker. He’s made some all-time classics — This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, Misery, A Few Good Men — and I also think his work as an actor is greatly underappreciated. If you need proof of that, just watch him in The Wolf of Wall Street playing Jordan Belfort’s short-tempered dad.
Rob may have been the more high-profile of the pair but I feel like his wife, Michele, also deserves more than a fleeting mention. I’ll admit I didn’t know much about Michele before Monday but it’s clear to me that she was a remarkable figure in her own right. Aside from her work as a photographer and a producer, by all accounts, Michelle was the main driving force in her and her husband’s activist endeavours. They both campaigned tirelessly for marriage equality and other progressive causes, so I think it’s fair to say that Michele has more than made up for that one time she photographed the cover for The Art of the Deal… ugh, the less said about Trump’s repugant “eulogy” to Rob Reiner, the better.
Rest in peace, Rob and Michele. They may be gone but their spirits are still alive.
