Before Nick Reiner was arrested on a murder charge in connection to his parents Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner‘s deaths, he worked on a movie titled Being Charlie with his father about his own drug addiction and homelessness.
Us Weekly confirmed on Monday, December 15, that Nick was taken in by the Los Angeles Police Department after Rob and Michele were found dead “from apparent stab wounds.” He was held in custody on no bail as authorities investigated Rob and Michele’s murder.
Before making headlines as a person of interest in the death of his parents, Nick revealed that he got addicted to drugs as a teenager, which led to a complicated relationship with his mom and dad.
“That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff,” Nick told People in 2016 about going through 17 rehab stints before getting sober. “I met crazy great people there, so out of my element. Now, I’ve been home for a really long time, and I’ve sort of gotten acclimated back to being in L.A. and being around my family.”
Before Nick Reiner was arrested in connection to his parents Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner’s deaths, their son had been candid about how addiction contributed to their complicated relationship over the years. Rob and Michele, who wed in 1989, shared three children: Jake, Nick and Romy. (Rob also adopted ex-wife Penny Marshall‘s daughter, Tracy.) […]
Nick recalled living on the streets after refusing treatment.
“When I was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck. There were a lot of dark years there,” he noted at the time. “I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas. I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun. If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless.”
After getting sober, Nick used his experience as inspiration for the 2015 film Being Charlie. He pulled from his own life to tell a fictional story about a teenage addict, which Nick collaborated on with his father.
Being Charlie‘s release allowed Nick and Rob to promote the film together. It also highlighted how Nick and Rob were still working on their relationship — a decade before Rob’s death.
“If your kid is going through rough times, [as] the parent, your main job is to keep your child safe. So I would do anything,” Rob mentioned during a Build Series interview at the time. “At the end of the day, I know my child better than an expert does and I probably should have trusted my own instinct and that’s one of the things I did learn about the whole experience.”
Keep scrolling for everything to know about Being Charlie — and how it pulled from real-life experiences:
What Was ‘Being Charlie’ About?
The film follows a rebellious teen who escaped a youth rehab only to be sent to an adult facility where he navigated addiction and the pressures of his famous actor father running for governor.
Who Worked on ‘Being Charlie’?
Nick cowrote the script with a friend from rehab named Matt Elisofon while Rob directed Being Charlie. Cary Elwes played the father and Nick Robinson portrayed the son in addition to cast members Morgan Saylor, Devon Bostick, Susan Misner, Ricardo Chavira and Common.
What Did Nick and Rob Say About Their Collaborative Process?
In a post-screening Q&A, Rob noted that the family “didn’t set out” for Being Charlie to be “cathartic or for it to be therapeutic, but it turned out to be that.” Nick, however, hinted at ongoing work that needed to be done between him and his dad when he did not respond to a fan question about their current relationship.
Rob said “there were disagreements” and “at times it was really rough” working on the film together while addressing the real-life issues that inspired Being Charlie, adding, “To be honest, by the time we got to the point of making the movie … our relationship had gotten so much closer.”
Nick called the experience “overwhelming” for him. “I really wasn’t sure I wanted to do this,” he added.
Hollywood is remembering famed director Rob Reiner following his death at age 78. News broke in December 2025 that two people — a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman — were found dead at Reiner’s Brentwood, California, home. A spokesperson for the Reiner family later confirmed that Rob and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, had […]
How Did ‘Being Charlie’ End for the Fictional Versions of Nick and Rob?
In the film, the father-son duo are able to make peace before Charlie takes control of his life and ultimately becomes a standup comic. The final scene showed David offering his son an apology for not supporting him properly.
“Charlie, I know you’re angry at me and probably don’t want to hear this right now but I do love you. I’m sorry. Every expert with a desk and a diploma told me I had to be tough at you but every time we sent you away to another one of those programs I saw you slipping away from us,” he said. “And all I could tell myself is that I’d rather have you alive and hating me than dead on the streets. So what do you want me to do? Tell me what to do.”
Charlie used the bonding moment to explain his side of the story.
“It was never about the drugs. All I ever wanted was a way to kill the noise. But the more I used the louder it got,” Charlie said before his father asked if he “was part of the noise.”
The son promised his father he didn’t “hate” him despite their differences. As they hugged, Charlie prepared to head out into the world on his own.
“You take good care of yourself,” David told his son.
The dialogue mirrored quotes Rob gave after the movie was released.
“When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen,” Rob told LA Times in 2016 about the onscreen apology. “We were desperate and because the people had diplomas on their wall, we listened to them when we should have been listening to our son.”
Michele, who was also at the event, added during the joint interview, “We were so influenced by these people. They would tell us he’s a liar, that he was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.”
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