What is Being Charlie about? Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner’s movie trends online as director found dead at home

Hollywood director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead at their Los Angeles home on December 14. Sources from law enforcement told The New York Post that the couple’s son, Nick Reiner, is a person of interest in their killing.

Being Charlie is a 2015 film directed by Rob Reiner and co-written by his son, Nick Reiner. Being Charlie is about a troubled teenager who is struggling with drug addiction and checks into rehab as his father, an actor who has become a politician, runs for the post of governor. As per Time, the film’s protagonist is Charlie Mills, an 18-year-old played by Nick Robinson.

The film was written by Nick and Matt Elisofon, who met while at rehab together, and draws on both men’s experiences with drug addiction, according to Time. The news publication noted that the film was a personal undertaking for both Rob Reiner and his son.

Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner, were reportedly stabbed to death by their son, Nick.

(via PEOPLE) pic.twitter.com/Rd4nAvCo4a

— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) December 15, 2025

About Nick Reiner’s struggles with drug addiction and how he found a productive outlet through Being Charlie

The harrowing deaths of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner have brought their son’s drug addiction into renewed focus. While sources have confirmed that Nick is a suspect in the death of his parents, as per The New York Post, the cause of the couple’s death and the circumstances surrounding the incident remain unclear as of the writing of the article.

According to People magazine, Nick Reiner began struggling with drug addiction in his early teenage years, and in between spending time at multiple rehab facilities, he even spent a few years dealing with homelessness.

The news outlet noted that Nick’s rehab stints began when he was 15 years old.

As per another report by People magazine, the writer detailed how his journey with addiction influenced the writing of Being Charlie. Despite claiming that the film is not a direct interpretation of his own life, Nick admitted that he did undergo similar experiences. He told the news outlet in 2016,

“It’s not my life…I went to a lot of these places, so I had a lot of these stories.”

There is unconfirmed chatter that a family member, possibly being Rob Reiner’s son Nick, was escorted off the scene (Tim Pingel’s YouTube Live) pic.twitter.com/xsKPPt2DMK

— News Now (@NewsNowUS) December 15, 2025

A common arc between the film’s protagonist’s journey and Nick’s life is the homelessness they both struggle with. During his conversation with People magazine, Nick recounted the time he spent without a roof over his head:

“I was homeless in Maine. I was homeless in New Jersey. I was homeless in Texas. I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun…That made me who I am now, having to deal with that stuff. I met crazy great people there, so out of my element…When I was out there, I could’ve died. It’s all luck. You roll the dice and you hope you make it.”

As per Nick, he became homeless as a result of disagreeing with his family over the best recourse to addiction and the choice of rehab programs. At the time, he shared that he had been living at home in Los Angeles, and after a period of getting “acclimated,” he had become more at ease with living with his family.