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The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper
Rob Reiner: His Life & Legacy. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired January 01, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:27]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to THE WHOLE STORY. I'm Anderson Cooper.
The tragic killing of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele inside their Brentwood home last week sent shockwaves through Hollywood and beyond. They were legends in the film industry, but they were also political activists who fought for their ideals both on screen and off.
Rob Reiner was 78 years old. Michele was 70. There are still many unanswered questions in this case about what happened the night they were killed and why. Their son, Nick Reiner, is now charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
In this next hour, CNN's Sara Sidner brings us the latest on the investigation and lays out what comes next in the legal case against Nick Reiner. She also looks at the long legacy the Reiners leave behind in the arts and in politics through those who knew them and worked alongside both of them for decades.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the holidays kicked off in Hollywood, Rob Reiner and his wife Michele had a busy weekend planned.
DOMINIC PATTEN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD: Few places in the world know how to celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas the way Hollywood does.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: The Hollywood social scene, you know, runs on parties big and small, and some are the kind that end up in the magazines, end up on the Web sites, on social media. But a lot of the gatherings are much more informal.
They are not for photographers. They're not for paparazzi. They're for genuine friendships. They are for families and friends to get together. And that's the kind of event that the Reiners were at on Saturday night.
SIDNER (voice-over): It was December 13th, comedian Conan O'Brien's annual holiday celebration at his Pacific Palisades home.
NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's been a tough year after those fires in January, they were right there next to this area. So this was a celebration, a holiday celebration, a chance for people to maybe hope for, you know, a better year next year.
SIDNER (voice-over): The Reiners and their 32-year-old son, Nick, were there.
Nick had been living in his parents' guest house for the past several weeks. His younger sister, 28-year-old Romy, lived right across the street in her own place. The other two, Jake and Tracy, also in Los Angeles. This was a close-knit family.
BARRY MARKOWITZ, CINEMATOGRAPHER ON 'BEING CHARLIE": A love fest. I mean, they cared about their kids. They lived for their kids, Rob and Michele. They would all eat together. Dinner. They went to baseball games. The Dodgers and events. And, you know, so they did it all together.
DUSTIN LANCE BLACK, SCREENWRITER: I've always known that family was number one for Rob and Michele.
ALAN HORN, FRIEND OF ROB REINER'S FOR 50 PLUS YEARS: They were very caring, deeply involved parents doing their best to raise.
SIDNER (voice-over): Jake and then Nick, then the youngest, Romy, who was reportedly very close to Nick.
MARKOWITZ: I wish I had that with my sister. Romy loves him and that's the way it should be. I saw that firsthand.
SIDNER (voice-over): Close through Nick's decades of struggle with drug addiction. A story told in the movie "Being Charlie" that father and son worked on together. Nick, the writer, his father, the director.
ROB REINER, ACTOR AND DIRECTOR: Loosely based. It's not exactly a documentary, but it is loosely based on, you know, things that Nick went through and his relationship to me and his mother, and --
MARKOWITZ: They did everything for him, and he tried his hardest to do for them by fighting this disease off and cooperating. They did everything, and he took them wherever they went on trips. It wasn't like, we're going. We'll see. Have a good time. He took him wherever he went.
WATT: Now taking his son to a Hollywood party, including him, hanging out with him, spending time with him, being with him, making Nick feel like he was part of the family. Like he was a regular member of society. That appears to be what Rob Reiner was trying to do, to try and include his son, to try and help his son.
SIDNER (voice-over): But including Nick that December night at the O'Brien celebration reportedly became troublesome from the very start.
WATT: I've spoken to people who were there that, you know, one person I spoke to said that they saw this figure standing earlier on in the evening, standing outside by the fire pit, alone, smoking a cigarette, and dressed very scruffily. PATTEN: Many people were surprised who -- that who he was, didn't quite know who he was, thought maybe he was a guy who had just wandered in from the street, but then of course realized he was with Rob and Michele Reiner who made what I understand have been told by people who were there some excuses for him.
[19:05:05]
ROB SHUTER, HOLLYWOOD PUBLICIST: I do know from a couple of insiders, people at the party, that when Nick arrived, people were not happy. They knew in Hollywood that he was troubled. This isn't a secret.
We should be really clear here. I've heard stories about Nick for a really long time. He was a troubled guy, and people in Hollywood tolerated him because of his parents, because of his dad.
SIDNER (voice-over): And trouble quickly escalated.
PATTEN: It looks like that turned into some tense altercations with other guests and with his father. There are reports from multiple sources that there was some sort of argument that went on and on and on for a while, and then all of the Reiners left very shortly afterwards, kind of leaving the other guests a little stunned, some a little shaken up.
SHUTER: People have seen him attack his mom and dad verbally many, many times before. And so, I think the behavior this night was shocking for everybody but maybe not surprising.
SIDNER (voice-over): What happened next that night is still unclear. That is until Sunday afternoon. The "New York Times" reports Romy Reiner got a call to check on her parents after their masseuse said they didn't answer the door around 2:00 in the afternoon.
WATT: She went to check on them and found them. We're told by police that they were in the master bedroom area of the house.
SIDNER (voice-over): Discovering what has been described as an awful scene, Romy fled. Her friend called 911.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ambulance death investigation 255 South Chadbourn Avenue. Code 2, incident 2586, RD 825.
SIDNER (voice-over): The fire department rushed to the scene and upon arrival immediately called for reinforcements.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 255 South Chadbourn Avenue is now firefighter requesting a backup.
SIDNER: What does that tell you?
JOEY JACKSON, FORMER PUBLIC PROSECUTOR: It's probably a lot of blood looking like something happened of significance. And I think the first order of business for police is to safeguard themselves, the community, and to ensure that everything is secure and the person who is on the loose is ultimately apprehended. SIDNER: They see that the crime scene is much more complex, perhaps much more gruesome, not knowing when they first walked in the door what they were going to find.
JACKSON: Yes.
SIDNER (voice-over): Meanwhile, word of the crime started to get out.
SHUTER: After Romy, Rob's daughter, discovered the bodies, while her friend called 911, she called Billy Crystal. This was her dad's best friend and Billy Crystal came over to the house immediately. He lives very close by.
PATTEN: At the time, Nick Reiner was nowhere to be found around there, and very quickly, as things developed and as the massive police presence evolved, the homicide and robbery department of the LAPD started fanning out to find him.
WATT: The spotlight very quickly put on Nick Reiner. We're told family members or a family member told the police about Nick's history of drug addiction, that he was living in the guest house, and also about this alleged argument that he had with his father the night before at Conan O'Brien's party. That is what tipped the police off. That's what put the police on Nick Reiner's trail, looking for him as the suspect.
SIDNER (voice-over): By early evening, the news hit. The Reiners were dead.
ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening from New York, I'm Erica Hill. We begin this hour with breaking news out of Los Angeles.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's turn back to this breaking news that we've been following this morning. A tragic end for a Hollywood icon. Rob Reiner and his wife Michele have been found dead inside their Los Angeles home.
HORN: The word shock doesn't even express it well enough. We are stunned. This is really beyond hard to find the words.
SIDNER (voice-over): By Sunday evening, LAPD officers found Nick 15 miles away from his parents' home in South L.A., near the University of Southern California campus.
WATT: Officers did not face any challenges in taking him into custody. This did not appear to be a man who was trying to hide, who had a plan, who was trying to get away, who was trying to stay one step ahead. This looked like a guy wandering around who was then very easy to pick up once they figured out where he was. He did not resist. He did not try to flee. He was down cuffed. That was it. No resistance, we're told.
LAURA COATES, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Is it because he realized the inevitability of his arrest? Was it because there was some advance notice that he would have, that he would be sought after and obviously arrested? [19:10:02]
Or was this somebody who was no longer displaying the kind of violence that they believe he committed in that home?
His parents have been killed in their home, and they are targeting him as the suspect. Was he disassociating from the entire experience? Was there a true disconnect between the loss of his parents and him now being a suspect?
SIDNER (voice-over): In less than 24 hours, a holiday celebration had turned to horror. Loving parents became victims, a close knit family was torn apart, and a son became a suspect.
That son's dark past when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIDNER (voice-over): As the sun went down in Brentwood and the crime tape went up, many were talking about the Reiners' youngest son, Nick.
STELTER: Soon as bodies were reported at the Reiner residence, people started wondering about Nick. There were questions instantly around dinner tables and Hollywood in text message chains, not because he was necessarily guilty of anything, but because of his background, because of his struggles with drug abuse. There were immediate questions about where Nick was, about how he was doing, you know, about whether he could be possibly connected to the crime scene.
SIDNER (voice-over): Nick's history was well known in Hollywood because of that movie Rob and Nick made about a decade ago. A fictionalized version of their story.
CARY ELWES, ACTOR, "BEING CHARLIE": You've had plenty of choices, Charlie.
NICK ROBINSON, ACTOR, "BEING CHARLIE": Yes. Rehab or jail, you know, quite a wide selection there.
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, EMMY AWARD WINNING JOURNALIST: So, the movie "Being Charlie" is about a young man who is battling addiction, and his famous father is running for office, and the son comes back and they have to have a reckoning of dealing with the son's addiction. It was written by Nick Reiner and his father Rob helped produce and direct it.
SIDNER (voice-over): Father and son promoted it heavily.
STEPHEN COLBERT, LATE-NIGHT HOST: Please welcome Rob Reiner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one and only Rob Reiner is here.
SIDNER (voice-over): And candidly discussing the why of Nick's addiction.
NICK REINER, ROB REINER'S SON: I had no identity and I had no passions, and I think the reason I had no identity was because, you know, I have a famous dad and a famous grandpa, and that fame sort of informs who you are. So, I wanted to etch out my own identity with a more rebellious, angry, drug addicted sort of persona.
[19:15:00]
SIDNER (voice-over): They also addressed when Nick's drug use started.
N. REINER: I started when I was like almost about to turn 15.
SIDNER (voice-over): They brought up the recoveries and the relapses.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many times have you been in and out of rehab?
N. REINER: I'll be honest, it's been like 17 or 18 times.
SIDNER (voice-over): And they explained why Nick became homeless multiple times.
"If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs, they were suggesting that I had to be homeless," Nick told "People" magazine in 2016. "I spent nights on the street," he said. "I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun."
R. REINER: He told me this morning there was a guy in a homeless shelter who had 666 tattooed across his forehead, you know.
SIDNER (voice-over): Nick even revealed the very first time he shot heroin to a podcast called Dopey. He said he was 18 and with an acquaintance.
N. REINER: He takes me to downtown L.A. We go to Skid Row, and I went and I shot up heroin with this guy. And --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did you do it?
N. REINER: We copped in Skid Row. We drove to an undisclosed location. I mean, I don't know where it was.
SIDNER (voice-over): But despite the dire content, Rob and Nick were upbeat and positive in their interviews together. Speaking of how making the movie actually helped heal their relationship.
R. REINER: The fact that we were dealing with, you know, things that Nick had gone through and how I had related to it and how his mother had related to it, it forced me to have to see more clearly and understand more deeply what Nick had gone through.
And I think it forced him to see things that I had experienced during this process. And it definitely brought us closer together.
PAUL MECURIO, PODCASTER, INTERVIEWED ROB AND NICK REINER: What I saw were two people that came to learn a lot about each other through working on this film. SIDNER (voice-over): In interviews, Rob stressed repeatedly that one thing he really regretted was listening to the experts instead of his son. That is something the dad in "Being Charlie" did repeatedly.
ELWES: Every counselor, every therapist told us the same thing. Be strong, hold the boundaries.
R. REINER: If your kid is going through rough times, your main job is to keep your child safe. 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 I -- it's not my nature, it's not the way I am built. But I went and did 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.
SIDNER (voice-over): Throughout their appearances, they also sent a message. The drug use was in the past.
R. REINER: He had some struggles from the time he was 15 to 19 with substances, substance abuse.
ODUOLOWU: When "Being Charlie" came out, much of Hollywood, much of the family thought that this was a turning point where you have Nick sober, proactively working towards bettering himself, and then years later, you hear Nick on the Dopey podcast talking about still relapsing, still using drugs, wanting to use drugs.
SIDNER (voice-over): In 2016, Nick admitted to Dopey he had not been fully sober while promoting the movie.
N. REINER: I would not ever go on to these things like, you know, coked up or anything like that. I try to be straight, use the appearance as my motivation to be straight, do as best I could on it, and then afterwards enjoy a joint.
SIDNER (voice-over): Nearly two years later, when he went back on the Dopey podcast, he admitted to some recent and heavy drug use.
N. REINER: I got totally spun out on uppers. I think it was coke and something else, and I was up for days on end, and I started punching out different things in my guest house. I think I started with the TV, and then I went over to the lamp and then progressively everything in the guest house got wrecked.
SIDNER (voice-over): In that same interview, Nick told Dopey that his drug use triggered a potentially deadly medical emergency while on a flight.
N. REINER: I wound up having a cocaine heart attack. I was on Suboxone, too. So I literally passed out on the plane and I woke up in a hospital.
ODUOLOWU: And from there you heard stories of a person that could get violent when they didn't get their way, but also that the family was fearful that Nick was back on drugs, and using them in a way trying to hide them. So, without being in the living room personally, you heard tales of the family fearing that Nick was back using and using at a heavy rate.
SIDNER (voice-over): But publicly, his protective family stayed quiet about any day-to-day details of Nick's struggles.
[19:20:01]
D. BLACK: I was aware there were challenges. I think sometimes those challenges would be brought up, but they were always brought up with love, with the frustration you hear any parent talk about, you know, their kids' problems.
SIDNER (voice-over): Alan Horn, a friend of the Reiners for more than 50 years, says outside the public comments the family made around the movie "Being Charlie," he only heard Michele mention Nick's struggles once.
HORN: She simply said that they had tried everything and we're trying to deal with the fact that nothing seemed to have worked that well. And it was sad and, of course, frustrating.
SIDNER (voice-over): And Barry Markowitz, the cinematographer for "Being Charlie," who stayed with the Reiners in their Brentwood home for several days in mid-November, says Nick seemed to be improving.
MARKOWITZ: You look great, you know. He struggled to get back and he was -- I didn't see him for a year and he looked, not that he looked bad the last time I saw him, but, you know, the whole attitude, the whole thing was like it was on the rise.
SIDNER (voice-over): Markowitz saw improvement and Paul Mecurio saw a genuine love between father and son.
MECURIO: But it truly happened the way it's being alleged, horrific and it's such a juxtaposition of what I saw.
SIDNER (voice-over): Up next, Rob Reiner's legacy.
R. REINER: Many years ago, I said I could win the Nobel Prize. It'll say the headline, "Meathead Wins Nobel."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:26:31]
MARIA SHRIVER, CLOSE FRIEND: After the tragic murder of my great friends Rob and Michele Reiner, the entire world is hurting.
STELTER: The outpouring of grief was immediate and so intense.
JACK BLACK, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: I don't really want to talk about anything other than Rob Reiner because he was such a -- I mean, he was such an incredible inspiration to me.
KEVIN BACON, ACTOR: He was so fun. JIMMY FALLON, LATE-NIGHT HOST: He's one of the smartest and funniest people I've ever met. What a tremendous loss.
STELTER: Someone said Reiner was like the mayor of Hollywood, and I think that sums it up so well. Reiner had this status as an actor and a writer, as a director and a producer, as a political activist, as a role model for younger filmmakers.
CARL REINER, ACTOR, ROB REINER'S FATHER: My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
SIDNER (voice-over): Rob Reiner cleared his own path into the annals of cinema history. But he was also born into Hollywood royalty as the son of Carl Reiner.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Robbie, how about this daddy of yours?
R. REINER: Some birthday, huh, Dad?
SIDNER (voice-over): The legendary comedian and creator of the iconic "Dick Van Dyke Show."
C. REINER: There she is. There's the little lady who puts you out of business.
R. REINER: There's a story that my folks told me when I was, like, eight years old, and they said that I came up to them and I said, I want to change my name. And he says, well, what do you want to change your name to? And I said, Carl.
I wanted to be like him. I looked up to him. I thought he was the greatest.
I wouldn't be here for him having sex with my mother. And then you being supportive of me. And you wouldn't be here if I didn't have sex with your mother.
SHUTER: Rob Reiner couldn't believe how lucky he was. He knew he had a really successful dad. His parents, his dad opened the door for him, but he had to walk through it, and he delivered.
R. REINER: Well, I think they just don't like the idea of America fighting an illegal and immoral war.
CARROLL O'CONNOR, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: Well, if they don't like it, they can lump it.
PATTEN: He hit his own superstardom with his role as Meathead on "All in the Family," one of the greatest television shows of all time.
ODUOLOWU: His role on all in the family was so important at the time because that type of television hadn't been seen before in American television. You had the conservative, borderline racist Archie Bunker and Meathead is the constant voice going back at him talking about progressive things. And he was on that show for multiple years, winning two Emmys. R. REINER: Who's talking about communism? I'm talking about civil rights.
O'CONNOR: That's communism.
CHRIS WALLACE, TV HOST: How much resistance did you all get from CBS?
R. REINER: Tremendous resistance. At first when the first -- the show first came on, they had a huge disclaimer that preceded the show. Basically was saying, we don't know how this show got on. You want to watch it? Watch it at your own peril.
WALLACE: Is it true that to this day, people come up to you in a very friendly way and say, hey, Meathead.
R. REINER: Yes, yes, I made the joke long years, many years ago. I said I could win the Nobel Prize.
[19:30:01]
It'll say, the headline "Meathead Wins Nobel."
ODUOLOWU: I don't think Rob ever really, you know, loved or saw himself as an actor and that was going to be it. You know his father started as a standup comedian, which is telling stories. And so, Rob Reiner was a storyteller. And that's what you get to do with directing.
BILL CARTER, EDITOR AT LATENIGHTER: He became a movie director, and interestingly, he starts out with this is "Spinal Tap."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "Spinal Tap."
SHUTER: "Spinal Tap" broke every rule.
NIGEL TUFNEL, MUSICIAN: It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.
SHUTER: They broke the third wall. They did crazy stuff. They were so odd. Everything about it was un-Hollywood. But the fans just loved it.
TUFNEL: No one knows who they were or what they were doing.
R. REINER: Here's a line that Nigel says, no one knows who they were or what they were doing.
COOPER: Were or what they were doing.
R. REINER: OK, so if you go to Stonehenge, there's an educational center and they have quotes up there.
COOPER: No.
R. REINER: Philosophers, poets, scientists. And up there it says, no one knows who they were or what they were doing, Nigel Tufnel, rock musician. It's right up there. SIDNER (voice-over): Reiner's big screen successes kept on coming with the string of versatile, genre-bending films.
PATTEN: Some of the greatest films ever made.
RIVER PHOENIX, ACTOR: No, he just doesn't know you.
SIDNER (voice-over): Including films like "Stand by Me," the powerful coming of age drama.
WIL WHEATON, ACTOR: He hates me. I'm no good.
ROBIN WRIGHT, ACTOR: You can die, too, for all I care.
SIDNER (voice-over): "The Princess Bride," an adventure fantasy and cult classic.
WRIGHT: Oh, my sweet Westley.
SIDNER (voice-over): And of course, "Misery," the psychological thriller which earned Kathy Bates an Academy Award.
SHUTER: I interviewed him once and we were talking about his films, and I said, what do they all have in common? Because they're so different. They're different genres. Some comedy, some dramas. He said they're all about humanity. They're all about people.
And he said, if you remembered people is the center of every story then people will connect with it. And I think he was right.
MEG RYAN, ACTOR: That is just like you, Harry.
SIDNER (voice-over): Perhaps the film achievement Reiner is most remembered for is his heartfelt collaboration with renowned writer Nora Ephron.
RYAN: I really hate you.
SIDNER (voice-over): "When Harry Met Sally."
R. REINER: The original ending of the film that we had was that Harry and Sally didn't get together, because I had been -- I've been married for ten years, I've been single for 10 years, and I couldn't figure out how I was ever going to be with anybody. And that gave birth to "When Harry Met Sally." And I hadn't met anybody. And so, it was going to be the two of them seeing each other after years, talking and then walking away from each other.
I met my wife, Michele, who I've been married to now 35 years. I met her while we were making the film, and I changed the ending.
RYAN: Oh, oh, God.
ODUOLOWU: The scene that everyone remembers in "When Harry Met Sally" is them in the diner, and Meg Ryan showing just how convincing women can be at the expense of, you know, the male ego. But the line is delivered by his mom.
ESTELLE REINER, ACTOR, ROB REINER'S MOTHER: I'll have what she's having.
ODUOLOWU: "I'll have what she's having." It's so great. It's so well- written. It's such perfect timing. And that it's his mom who delivers the line out of the box funny, where there's a joke within a joke.
R. REINER: And I love the fact that it turned out right up there with "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." You've got Estelle Reiner and Clark Gable on the same list.
CARTER: And another thing people don't know about him is that he was instrumental in "Seinfeld."
JERRY SEINFELD, COMEDIAN: I'm on no sleep, no sleep.
CARTER: His company Castle Rock backed "Seinfeld," and Jerry will say, you know, it wasn't for Rob that show would not have ever existed.
SEINFELD: I got to get on that internet. I'm late on everything.
SIDNER (voice-over): Whether looking to make you laugh on the small screen or make you cry on the silver screen, Reiner's ability to tell stories people connected with was remarkable.
HORN: Rob had a run of movies that was really quite spectacular, and we had a lot of fun doing this. Rob once said that in 12 years, we had lunch together almost every work day and never had an argument. Not one argument. It was a joy.
[19:35:00]
ODUOLOWU: The common thread in Rob Reiner's work is heart and humanity, where even if you are watching something for the first time or you're watching an unsavory character like the Jack Nicholson character in "A Few Good Men."
TOM CRUISE, ACTOR, "A FEW GOOD MEN": I want the truth.
JACK NICHOLSON, ACTOR, "A FEW GOOD MEN": You can't handle the truth.
ODUOLOWU: You get an understanding of where they're coming from, and that's not easy to do. It's very difficult to make monsters feel like men.
PATTEN: I think that's why they resonate with audiences, with critics, and with people who made them because we all see a part of ourselves in those stories. Action, comedy, drama, documentary.
SIDNER (voice-over): And soon he tackled politics.
R. REINER: We need you all to mobilize.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:40:33]
R. REINER: I'm here to introduce the next president of the United States, Howard Dean.
HOWARD DEAN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The first time I remember meeting him was at his house, and it was a very successful fundraiser. Then I got to know him. It turned out we shared a lot of values, and he sort of became an unofficial adviser.
CARTER: Rob was an interesting mix of things. He was passionate about his work, but he was clearly passionate about politics.
R. REINER: I guess it's part of my DNA. My parents were politically active.
SIDNER (voice-over): Rob Reiner's political beliefs appeared throughout his career as a director.
CARTER: The most obvious example of his point of view is "The American President."
MICHAEL DOUGLAS, ACTOR, "THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT": Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest.
SIDNER (voice-over): Reiner credited Norman Lear with helping him think beyond Hollywood.
R. REINER: From Norman, I got this idea that you could use your celebrity and you could do something good with it.
SIDNER (voice-over): As well as his wife Michele.
R. REINER: She is my -- what they call the --
COLBERT: Political muse?
R. REINER: The Bunsen burner that lights the flame under my ass.
D. BLACK: Together, Rob and Michele showed this incredible courage to speak truth to power and to understand their truth, and to say it clearly and in plain words that people could understand on either side of the aisle.
SIDNER (voice-over): Starting in the 1990s, Reiner was a regular figure in Democratic national politics.
R. REINER: I'm punchy. I've been up for like four days campaigning. I'm like nuts. I don't know where I am.
DEAN: He got involved and he got his hands dirty, and he understood the issues very, very well, which is not always the case with big donors.
R. REINER: This is it, folks. This is it. We got to win big. CARTER: He put up money. He made appearances.
R. REINER: That's why I'm for Joe. Plus, I've known him a long time and he's fought for a lot. Listen, he's not perfect. He's had his problems. I think he has the best chance to beat Trump.
CARTER: He wore his activism on his sleeve.
R. REINER: You can see the party is completely energized. Everybody is coalescing around Kamala as well they should.
SIDNER (voice-over): Reiner's activism took shape in California politics, where he was a highly skilled operative.
R. REINER: Tomorrow is going to be a great day for Democrats in California.
SIDNER (voice-over): The Reiners turned advocacy into concrete action.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rob Reiner conceived California's Proposition 10, which would fund child development programs by raising the tax on cigarettes.
SIDNER (voice-over): Led a campaign to preserve 3,000 acres of wild land, for example.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He has done so much for this state. This is just one of the many, many things he's bequeathed California, Rob Reiner.
SIDNER (voice-over): But no fight would define Reiner's political legacy like Proposition Eight.
STELTER: Reiner was instrumental in the repeal of the same-sex marriage ban in California.
D. BLACK: People forget that around Proposition Eight, the gay and lesbian folks fighting for marriage equality did not have the support of the Democratic Party. You know who we had support from? Rob and Michele Reiner, who had nothing personal to gain from it.
SHUTER: It was an enormous risk to speak out. And because of his success, he had the power to do this.
SIDNER (voice-over): Reiner's fight against Proposition Eight helped pave the way for the Supreme Court's 2015 legalization of same-sex marriage.
STELTER: Raising money and bankrolling and leading the marriage equality movement is something that was really close to Reiner's heart.
R. REINER: Gay and lesbian community, the one class of people in this country that has viewed lesser under the law.
SHUTER: He believed this stuff. It was really important to him. I would argue it was more important to him than his filmmaking career.
SIDNER (voice-over): His prolific efforts in California even led to many hoping he'd run for governor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've given it some thought.
R. REINER: Yes. Of course.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And give it more thought.
R. REINER: Of course you give it thought. You know, there is no timetable. Right now, like I say, I'm focused on making sure that every 4-year-old in California gets preschool. And then we go on from there.
DEAN: He had sort of had a gift for politics, and of course, he was incredibly valuable.
CARTER: Very important people in the Democratic Party were very close with him, and that was illustrative because here you have the Obamas showing up, going to be there the next night.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: We've known them for many, many years, and we were supposed to be seeing them that night.
SIDNER (voice-over): In the hours after his death, prominent Democrats remembered Reiner.
[19:45:03]
Many on the right also offered their condolences.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Our prayers go out to the Reiner family.
MEGYN KELLY, JOURNALIST: This is an American icon.
JAMES WOODS, ACTOR: Rob Reiner was a godsend in my life.
D. BLACK: Rob was a progressive, but he was more than willing to make friends on the right. And in doing that and being able to collaborate and work with people who had different perspectives than he did, he created actual change.
SIDNER (voice-over): President Trump remembered him, too. The day after the Reiners were killed Trump took to Truth Social posting Reiner was killed because of his, quote, "Trump derangement syndrome."
STELTER: Trump's post made no sense to most people who read it. They viewed Rob Reiner as an acclaimed actor and an award-winning director. They viewed him as a Hollywood icon, but for Trump, he only viewed Reiner as this adversary, as this political opponent.
Trump was especially triggered by Reiner because Reiner was deeply concerned about Trump's ties to Russia during Trump's first term in office. R. REINER: There's no question that the Russians meddled and had an effect on what happened in the last election, and they continue to meddle.
STELTER: He viewed Trump as an opponent to all that was good and is right in America.
R. REINER: I've never seen a person with as big an ego as this person has. We've got a misogynist, we've got a racist who's also antisemitic. We have the single worst president that has ever been in the White House. He's completely incompetent.
SIDNER (voice-over): Trump doubled down in a press conference the following day.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He was a deranged person. I thought he was very bad for our country.
SIDNER (voice-over): Trump's response garnered backlash from both sides of the aisle.
OBAMA: Unlike some people, Rob and Michele Reiner are some of the most decent, courageous people you ever want to know.
REP. DON BACON (R-NE): It's not appropriate. It's not presidential.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I think President Trump should have said nothing.
STELTER: The volume of pro-Trump backlash to Trump's post was surprising.
HAROLD FORD, JR., FOX NEWS ANALYST: If Joe Biden had said this about anybody, I would have attacked him and said he was completely wrong. I do hope the president comes back and corrects himself.
R. REINER: We need you all to mobilize.
CARTER: Whether you agree with him or not, I think you have to respect that. He constantly wanted to speak out and if he hadn't passed away, he would have kept doing it with his last breath, I think.
R. REINER: Thank you.
SIDNER (voice-over): In the wake of Charlie Kirk's death, Reiner spoke about the weight a president's words carry.
R. REINER: I believe it's incumbent upon leaders to calm the waters when something like this happens, not to stoke the fire of violence.
SIDNER (voice-over): Up next, the road ahead for the Reiner family.
PATTEN: I can't imagine a family that has been torn apart might have to sit with lawyers and have a discussion about whether or not one of their own family should die for killing two members of their family. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:52:21]
SIDNER (voice-over): Two days after Rob and Michele Reiner were found fatally stabbed in their home, the Los Angeles County district attorney formally took over the case.
NATHAN HOCHMAN, LOS ANGELES DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Today, I'm here to announce that our office will be filing charges against Nick Reiner. Two counts of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders. These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.
COATES: The death penalty, there's been a moratorium in California for a long time, but it's available when there are special circumstances. It could be multiple murders, multiple killings. The weapon that's being used.
But they also will consult the family. It doesn't mean that the prosecutor must only do what the family wants. But when you're talking about this unbelievable tragedy, the prosecutor wants to hear their views.
SIDNER (voice-over): On Wednesday, hidden from the cameras, Nick Reiner made his first appearance before a judge. He was shackled and wearing a jail suicide prevention vest.
ALAN JACKSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Your honor, if we could, I would like to ask for a continuance of the arraignment.
SIDNER (voice-over): Thirty-two-year-old Reiner didn't enter a plea and waived his right to a speedy arraignment. Defense attorney Alan Jackson, known for a string of high profile clients, urged the public to allow the process to play out.
A. JACKSON: There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case.
SIDNER (voice-over): Reiner will remain in custody without bail until his arraignment in January.
How difficult is it to put together a defense in a case like this?
J. JACKSON: I think the defenses that are going to work are the defenses about your client's mental state. You're going to want to talk about why his mental state was not premeditation, why he didn't really intend to kill them, but he acted spontaneously and in a heat of passion. And in that case, in a case like this, again, if the jury comes back with manslaughter, that's a huge victory.
COATES: As we know it, you're talking about first-degree murder. That includes premeditation. That's a very significant charge to have anyone face. Oftentimes, premeditation happens in an instant.
And for that reason, they're trying to prove that there was some deliberation, but also the special circumstances in California.
[19:55:03]
What weapon did you use? Did you procure the weapon? Was it in reaction to an act of self-defense, or did you lie in wait, rendering them completely defenseless to commit the crime? That's all going to come into play.
SIDNER (voice-over): At this point, we know an alleged weapon. We know the suspect. But the question haunting family, friends and the public is why?
J. JACKSON: I think we'll learn a lot of that as the court proceedings go on. Would they learn about the family dynamic? What happened that afternoon? Was there a dispute?
Even though you'll hear everybody tell you, Sara, that motive, motive, motive, motive is not an element, jurors as they sit there, if the case goes to trial, they want to know.
SIDNER: They want the reason.
J. JACKSON: Correct.
SIDNER: We all want the reason.
J. JACKSON: We all want the reason.
SHUTER: This story is massive and it's not going to go anywhere. Because next, we have the trial. This story is going to be around for a long time.
SIDNER (voice-over): For those who knew Rob and Michele Reiner, their story can't be told without acknowledging their family's struggles and how they face them with love.
D. BLACK: What's remarkable about the Reiners is that they would never give up on love. They would never give up on family. They were willing to do anything, including sacrificing their own happiness, their own comfort, their own ease, their own life to make sure they were taking care of the family.
ODUOLOWU: Remembering them solely for the movies or the photography or the work that they did is nice. But these were parents that tried and loved their family, that had a child who fell into substance abuse, that they tried as much as they could to put him in rehab, to do a film with him, hoping that he got better. They should be remembered for people that -- that gave a damn.
MECURIO: But the core of what he did was about tapping into real life and real human emotion and trying to make the world a little bit better place with his art.
R. REINER: Well, to me, the only thing that matters, whether it's a comedy or drama, tell the truth. The funniest lines are lines that resonate with something true, that you feel. TUFNEL: You cannot -- listen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much is the --
TUFNEL: Just listen for a minute. The sustain. Listen to it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not hearing anything.
TUFNEL: You would, though, if it were playing.
R. REINER: The key to this whole thing, if you can write or create something in a space that only you can stand, that you stand on that place, and that story is coming from an organic place, a place that you have experienced either the thing that the characters are going through, or you can connect with it in some way, you have a better chance of telling a good story.
PATTEN: His legacy was of a vast amount of things on both sides of the camera. Some of the greatest films ever made, "Harry Met Sally," "Stand by Me."
BILLY CRYSTAL, ACTOR, "WHEN HARRY MET SALLY": I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.
PHOENIX: It's like God gave you something, man. All those stories that you can make up. And he said, this is what we got for you, kid. Try not to lose it.
R. REINER: Maybe I could have taken an easier road. I don't know, but I think that this was a natural way to go. This is what I wanted to do. I wanted to write and create and direct and make shows. I always wanted to do that, and probably because I saw it with my father.
PATTEN: A man who stood on the public stage with his beliefs in social justice and equality, and who stood on the personal stage with kindness and Grace and empathy, and Michele Reiner will be a part of that as well.
HORN: Despite his considerable success and prominence, he was humble. He had a streak of humility that is always attractive to anyone. If someone else had a problem, he was the first to say, how's everything with you? It's a friendship vacuum that reflects the loss of truly good people and there's a sadness to it. It's just overwhelming.
SIDNER (voice-over): Friends, family and fans are all reflecting on his life. But back in 2019, Rob Reiner spoke to Dan Rather about his own legacy.
DAN RATHER, JOURNALIST: The end comes to all of us sooner or later, I hope it will be a long time for each of the three of us. When it's over what would you like most for people to say about you and your life after you were gone?
R. REINER: You know, for me, it's like, I hope I didn't take up space, but I hope that I, you know, was able to contribute something. I mean, the greatest pleasure I get is people come up to you and say, you give me so much pleasure, you know, with the films or whatever. That makes me feel good.
So somehow, I did something that made their life somehow a little better. And so those things make you feel good because you say, OK, I didn't take up space.
