Conan O’Brien told The New Yorker about the deaths of Rob and Michelle Reiner: “I was in shock for quite some time after that. I don’t know what else to say.”
Conan O’Brien has broken his silence about the deaths of his good friend director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle Singer Reiner.
The Dec. 14 killings of the respected Hollywood couple occurred the morning after they attended a holiday party at Ms. O’Brien’s Los Angeles home.
O’Brien, 62, who will host the Academy Awards on March 15, spoke about the deeply personal loss in an interview with The New Yorker on February 20.
“They were very nice people,” O’Brien said. “And I had the experience of saying goodnight to someone and then realizing the next day they were gone. … I think I was in shock for quite a while after that. I mean, there’s no other word for it. It’s really, really bad. It’s really bad.”
The couple’s son, Nick Reiner, 32, has been charged with the serial murders of his parents and is scheduled for an arraignment hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, February 23rd.
Mr O’Brien said social activist Rob Reiner’s voice was noticeably missing from the national debate.
“I think about how Rob felt about what’s going on in this country, how involved he was, how much he put himself out there,” O’Brien said. “And it’s still hard for me to understand how that voice could be silenced in an instant.”
Conan O’Brien called Rob Reiner’s ‘Spinal Tap’ truly ‘amazing’
Conan O’Brien and his wife Liza have become “increasingly” close to the Reiner family over the years. O’Brien was already a big fan of Reiner, having directed such classic films as Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, and When Harry Met Sally.
O’Brien said he continues to think about Reiner’s impressive body of work.
“I think the seven movies that Rob Reiner made in quick succession are classics. Now, if you can make one great movie, that’s great. That’s an almost impossible feat. If you make two, it means you’re one of the greats. Seven – In a period like 9, 10, 11 years, that’s crazy. ”
Even producing the 1984 rockumentary Spinal Tap, which Reiner directed, wrote and starred in, was a seminal achievement.
“If that’s all that[Reiner]ever did, he was a huge influence on my generation,” O’Brien said, adding that when “Spinal Tap” came out, “I was in college, and it was like an atom splitting moment. There are moments when you see something really amazing.”
Conan O’Brien praises actress Catherine O’Hara after her death
Mr. O’Brien puts actress Catherine O’Hara, who died on January 30 at the age of 71, in the same category of greatness as Mr. Reiner.
“Who’s a funnier performer than Catherine O’Hara?” O’Brien said. “And what people didn’t get to experience personally is that she was – she was, I still say ‘yes’ – she was probably the most amazing person I’ve ever met. She just glowed.”
