‘Life is pain without you’: Cary Elwes and Martin Scorsese pay tribute to Rob Reiner as autopsy reports sealed | Film
More than two weeks after the deaths of film director Rob Reiner and his photographer wife Michele, friends and colleagues continue to pay tribute to the couple.
Cary Elwes, who starred in Reiner’s 1987 classic The Princess Bride, said in a post on Instagram that he was only now able to share publicly about his loss.
Elwes stated that he “fell in love with Reiner” when he first met the 24-year-old, and wrote, “Enough time has passed that I can finally put my pain into words.”
“As we started spending more time together, I realized he was someone I wanted in my life. I also knew that by giving me the role… he was giving me the keys to the castle.”
The actor, who published some behind-the-scenes images from the film, added that he did not remember “not a single day without laughing.”
“The movie is about love, loyalty and sacrifice, things that Rob values, which are among the many reasons why he’s the perfect person to direct the movie.”
“And if I could make her laugh in return, I felt like I’d won the lottery. Her laugh was one of the greatest sounds I’ve ever known – it was so genuine it still rings in my ears.”
“This was a man who felt deeply,” Elwes wrote. “His heart was full of love and compassion. He wasn’t impressed by how much money you had or whether you had a privileged education. He just wanted to know if you were a ‘good man.'”
The Reiners’ son, Nick, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder after his parents’ bodies were found in their Los Angeles home on December 14. He is being held without bail at a juvenile detention facility in the city.
Elwes also paid tribute to Reiner’s wife, saying: “To say they were a great team would be an understatement… My heart still aches every time I think of you, I know the pain of losing you too soon will probably never go away.”
He concluded with a quote from The Princess Bride: “Sure, death can’t stop true love, but life without you is pain.”
In an article published in the New York Times, Martin Scorsese paid tribute to Reiner, whom he first met in the 1970s, and said:
“I immediately loved hanging out with Rob. We had a natural affinity for each other. He was very funny, and sometimes painfully funny, but he was never the type of guy to take over the room. He had a wonderful sense of unlimited freedom, thoroughly enjoyed the life of the moment, and had a great laugh.”
Reiner had a supporting role in Scorsese’s 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, where he played the father of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jordan Belfort.
“He could improvise at his best,” Scorsese wrote, “he was adept at comedy, worked beautifully with Leo and the other actors, and understood his character’s human predicament: The man loved his son, was happy with his success, but knew he was destined for decline.”
This week, a Los Angeles superior court judge agreed to bar the release of Reiners’ autopsy reports at the LAPD’s request.
A court order obtained by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner last week placed a security embargo on the cases to restrict public release of “any investigative information, notes, reports, or photographs” related to the investigation.
The medical examiner’s office had previously confirmed the deaths were the result of homicide, with public databases stating the cause was “multiple sharps injuries.”
Following Reiners’ killing, President Donald Trump shared that Rob Reiner’s death was “due to the anger he created in others” because he was openly anti-Trump.
Trump said Reiner was “tortured and struggling” and attributed his death to his “massive, persistent, and incurable disorder resulting from a mind-crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
“He was known to drive people CRAZY with his fierce obsession with President Donald J Trump; his apparent paranoia reached new heights as the Trump Administration exceeded all goals and expectations of greatness and as America’s Golden Age approached, perhaps like never before.”
The president’s comments were widely condemned, and Joe Rogan added his own voice to the critics last week.
We speak to comedian Shane GillisThe hugely popular podcaster said of Trump: “It’s one thing if you say it privately, which is crazy, but it’s very disappointing.”
Rogan, who supported Trump in 2024 but has recently expressed discomfort with some of his policies, equated the president’s apparent lack of empathy with “people celebrating when Charlie Kirk was shot.”
“Imagine Obama tweeting like this after someone dies. That person is a deranged person who hates Obama,” Rogan continued. “This just shows you how crazy the way Trump thinks and talks is.”
Rogan concluded by suggesting that an advisor should have taken away Trump’s “damn phone” when he decided to comment on Reiner’s death.
