Rob Reiner Made Film Based on Son Nick’s Personal Demons 10 Years Before Grisly Murders

Ten years before he would become a reported person of interest in the “apparent homicide” of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, Nick Reiner co-wrote a film with his father about his years of battling addiction and homelessness.

Los Angeles police said officers responding to a call on South Chadbourne Avenue late Sunday afternoon discovered the bodies of a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman inside the residence. Authorities confirmed the property belonged to Reiner, the celebrated director behind When Harry Met Sally, This Is Spinal Tap, and Stand By Me.

The Reiner family later released a statement confirming that the victims were Reiner and his wife.

On Sunday night, People reported that Nick Reiner was responsible for the killings, while The New York Post described him as a person of interest. Police have not confirmed either account.

In 2015, however, Reiner and his son premiered Being Charlie at the Toronto International Film Festival, which told the story of a famous liberal movie star running for Congress while failing, repeatedly, to reach his son and manage his rehab stints. Reiner directed the film while his son Nick co-wrote it, drawing on his own struggles.

While promoting the film, both men acknowledged that the film mirrored, to some extent, their own relationship and how the process became a “cathartic” experience for the two.

In one interview with ABC News, Nick Reiner explained that his script “was harsh on” the father character.

He continued: “I, believe it or not, was not wanting the character to be that villainous. And it was hard for [my father] for a while to think that I thought of him that way and to convince him that that’s not how I felt, but that, you know, fathers do get in that mode sometimes when they’re trying to help their kid who’s in danger.”

Rob Reiner followed: “and it’s interesting that he mentions that because I did think that. I mean, the way the father originally was written as a very black-and-white bad guy, and I thought, ‘Oh God, that’s what Nick thinks of me’ and ‘Oh my God,’ you know?”

After explaining how the pair evolved the father character to be more multi-dimensional, he continued: “I do think that over the course of making the film that, you know, our relationship definitely changed and got, I mean, it wasn’t that was terrible or anything, but it got better because I then understood a lot more of what he was he had gone through and I think he understood a little bit more what I had gone through. And then the script reflected that.”

He later detailed how the pair “had fights” over key decisions in production and that the process was “very emotional,” but that he came to “respect” his son and what he had come through.

“I told him many times when we were making the film that he’s the heart and soul of the film. I’ve always said that to him. And he was. I mean, he did push this to be what it was,” the director added.

Watch above via ABC News.