Nick Robinson Played a Version of Nick Reiner in ‘Being Charlie’ and Speaks Out After Rob Reiner’s Death: ‘An Incredible Artist’

Nick Robinson praised Rob Reiner as “an incredible artist” after the director’s tragic death. The two worked together on the 2015 drama film “Being Charlie,” which was co-written by Rob’s son, Nick Reiner, and based on Nick’s struggles with drug addiction and homelessness. Rob Reiner and his wife were found dead at their home on Dec. 14. Nick was then arrested for the murder of his parents.

“RIP Rob Reiner,” Robinson posted to his Instagram Stories (via E! News). “He showed me so much kindness and grace as a young actor. An incredible artist with such a capacity for empathy and warmth.”

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Nick’s arrest for the murder of his parents has put a renewed spotlight on “Being Charlie,” which Rob Reiner directed from a script Nick Reiner co-wrote with Matt Elisofon, a friend the director’s son met at one of his stints in rehab. Nick Robinson played a version of Nick Reiner in the film, while Reiner’s “Princess Bride” star Cary Elwes starred in the movie as a version of the director. The film centers on the strained relationship between a teenager struggling with substance abuse and his father, a former actor now running for governor.

“It only brought us closer together,” Rob Reiner told AOL Build in 2016 about making a movie with his son that was so closely inspired by their own rocky relationship amid Nick’s drug addiction. “It was like over a period of a year. It was intense. It was difficult at times. But it was also the most satisfying, creative experience I’ve ever had… I mean, we did get into fights over things but ultimately it forced us to make the film better. The whole process for me, I can just speak for myself, it did make me understand him a lot more and I think it made me a better father. Hopefully it did, I don’t know.”

“If your kid is going through rough times, your main job is to keep your child safe,” he continued. “I felt at a loss. So, I would do anything that, as we say in the film, ‘anybody with a desk and a diploma,’ I would listen to them. And the whole idea of tough love and you have to be a certain way and it’s not my nature. It’s not the way I am built, but I went and did that. And I think that 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.”

“Being Charlie” premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and opened in select theaters in May 2016. The movie earned positive reviews, with Variety calling it “a partial comeback” for Reiner as a director.