Nick Reiner, the son of movie director Rob Reiner, has been arrested in connection with the deaths of his parents, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation.
Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead on Sunday with stab wounds, a source close to the family told NBC News.
It was not immediately known if Nick Reiner has legal representation.
The death of Rob Reiner has shocked Hollywood stars and his fans across the world. He built a huge reputation through acting in, producing and directing a string of hit movies in the 1980s and 1990s.
Nick Reiner, 32, has a long history with drug addiction, which began in his teens. He told People in an interview in 2016 that he spent periods of weeks sleeping rough on the streets and was in and out of rehab for addiction treatment that started when he was 15.
These experiences inspired the 2016 movie “Being Charlie,” which was directed by Rob Reiner, co-written by Nick Reiner and featured actor Cary Elwes, famous for appearing in Reiner’s classic “The Princess Bride,” as the main character’s father. The plot focuses on a young man struggling with addiction who has been in and out of rehab.
“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,” Nick told People at the time.
Reiner reflected on the challenges in real life and how they influenced the movie in an interview with the LA Times in 2015.
“It was very, very hard going through it the first time, with these painful and difficult highs and lows,” Rob Reiner said. “And then making the movie dredged it all up again.”
The protagonist of “Being Charlie” struggles to find meaning or practical help through a rehab program, and Reiner and Singer told the LA Times that this was directly inspired by how ineffective such treatments were for their son.
“When Nick would tell us that it wasn’t working for him, we wouldn’t listen. 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,” Rob Reiner said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
