Editing Stand by Me (film) (section)

===Casting===
In a 2011 interview with [[NPR]], Wil Wheaton attributed the film's success to the director's casting choices:{{blockquote|Rob Reiner found four young boys who were the characters we played. I was awkward and nerdy and shy and uncomfortable in my skin and sensitive, and River was cool and smart and passionate and even at that age kind of like a father figure to some of us, Jerry was one of the funniest people I had ever seen in my life, either before or since, and Corey was unbelievably angry and in an incredible amount of pain and had a terrible relationship with his parents.<ref>{{cite interview |last=Wheaton |first=Wil |subject-link=Wil Wheaton |interviewer=David Greene |title=All Things Considered |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/08/06/139025610/stand-by-me-a-love-letter-to-childhood-innocence |work=[[National Public Radio]] |publisher=[[WNPR]] |location=[[Meriden, Connecticut]] |date=August 6, 2011 |access-date=August 6, 2011 |archive-date=March 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180309120338/https://www.npr.org/2011/08/06/139025610/stand-by-me-a-love-letter-to-childhood-innocence |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Feldman recalled how his home life translated into his onscreen character: "[Most kids aren't] thinking they're going to get hit by their parents because they're not doing well enough in school, which will prevent them from getting a work permit, which will prevent them from being an actor."<ref name="Variety" /> O'Connell agreed that he was cast based on how his personality fit the role, saying "Rob wanted us to understand our characters. He interviewed our characters. [...] I tried to stay like Vern and say the stupid things Vern would. I think I was Vern that summer."<ref name="CT-860925" /> Reiner and the producers interviewed more than 70 boys for the four main roles,<ref name="CT-861121" /> out of more than 300 who auditioned;<ref name="CT-860925" /> Phoenix originally read for the part of Gordie Lachance.<ref name=CT-860925>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/16/movies/how-4-boys-in-stand-by-me-became-a-film-team.html?pagewanted=all |title=How 4 boys in ''Stand by Me'' became a film team |last=Harmetz |first=Aljean |date=September 16, 1986 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=24 April 2017 |archive-date=August 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160823215231/http://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/16/movies/how-4-boys-in-stand-by-me-became-a-film-team.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Ethan Hawke]] auditioned for Chris Chambers.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/16/ethan-hawke-my-first-screen-partner-overdosed-on-sunset-boulevard-river-phoenix-was-a-big-lesson-to-me |title=Ethan Hawke on regrets, race and surviving Hollywood: 'River Phoenix was a big lesson to me' |last=Freeman |first=Hadley |date=November 16, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=November 19, 2020 |archive-date=November 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118215822/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/nov/16/ethan-hawke-my-first-screen-partner-overdosed-on-sunset-boulevard-river-phoenix-was-a-big-lesson-to-me |url-status=live}}</ref>

Before filming began, Reiner put the four main actors together for two weeks to play games from [[Viola Spolin]]'s ''Improvisation for the Theater'' (which Reiner called "the bible" of theater games)<ref name="CT-860925" /> and build camaraderie. As a result, a friendship developed among the actors.<ref name="Variety" /> Wheaton would recall "When you saw the four of us being comrades, that was real life, not acting."<ref name="CT-860925" />

Before settling on Richard Dreyfuss as the narrator (and the role of the adult Gordie), Reiner considered [[David Dukes]], [[Ted Bessell]], and [[Michael McKean]].<ref name="Variety" />