Posted on 12/31/2025 3:49:43 PM PST by nickcarraway
Even though Rob Reiner directed some of Hollywood's most beloved movies before his gruesome murder, he had only helmed two films since 2017, and pal Bill Maher shared the devastating reason why, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
"The discussions we had in recent years were a lot about him not being able to get funding," Maher, 69, shared on his Club Random podcast about how Reiner couldn't get studios to cough up the money for new projects.
Maher gushed over Reiner's 'charisma' and 'presence' on his podcast.
Reiner's impressive directing resume included such beloved hits as The Princess Bride, Stand by Me, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, and The American President.
However, those smashes were released in the 1980s and 1990s, and Maher said the Hollywood icon was one of several in his age group who struggled getting financing for new projects.
"He's not the only director of a certain age who's told me that," the Real Time host told guest John Stamos when discussing Reiner, who was 78 when he and wife Michele were murdered allegedly by their troubled son Nick.
"And I just was saying this town is very ageist and not very nice to people who have done amazing... I mean he's got a pretty iconic resume of movies, but I remember him saying, 'You know if it's not spandex, and, you know, it's very hard for even somebody of his stature to get that funding."
Reiner appeared on Maher's podcast in September to promote his new 'Spinal Tap' film.
While Rob didn't appear to have tried to give his other children, son Jake and daughter Romy, a leg up in Hollywood with their acting careers, he went out of his way for disturbed nepo baby Nick, 32.
The Bronx native directed a screenplay Nick cowrote about his struggles with drug addiction, which included 18 trips to rehab as well as periods of homelessness. Their critically panned film, Being Charlie, was released in 2015.
After that, Rob directed Woody Harrelson in 2016's LBJ and teamed up with him again for the 2017 journalism thriller Shock and Awe.
The All in the Family star's directing resume greatly dried up after that. He directed a documentary about his comedian-actor pal Albert Brooks, which HBO released in 2023. Rob's final directing project was a sequel to his 1984 cult classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.
Spinal Tap II: The End Continues was released in September.
When he wasn't directing, Reiner turned back to acting work for creativity.
When Rob wasn't getting behind the camera, he was returning to his acting roots. He played Albert Schnurr in four episodes of FX's The Bear Season 4 earlier this year.
Rob also appeared in several episodes of the CBS All Access legal drama The Good Fight in the late 2010s.
Ageism, ageism, ageism, age is umm… a humdinger! But Hollywood is just a dinger... you get dinged and dinged and there goes your gazillion dollar home sliding into the ocean. You wouldn’t believe how many homes people lost that are now part of ATLANTIS. Or the Pacific version of ATLANTIS. And MEATHEAD was HEADED that way too. Was he the guy who created the MONKEE movie HEAD? Or headed that way with his hippie dippy this and hippie drippy that. Meathead, the talking head, couldn’t save himself from Hollywood and got dinged up badly. He should have gone to China and made movies. That’s where Hollywood is. Eating dumpling and kimchi and rice cakes in China. Meathead liked his head cheese like Archie Bunker and took refuge in his bunker to wait out the storm… But it slid into the ocean. No. He didn’t make it, and there is a story here to be made by Hollywood in China. Something like this: man gets stabbed by shank wielding son, home from off the streets to start in a new movie in China, as home slides into the ocean.
Why so much blood in the hotel room? Did he bring their body parts with him?
“ Hollywood normally abandons you after one flop. Hollywood gave Meathead five flops.”
Hollywood obviously decided that Meathead was a bad investment and decided to save their money.
They gave him two more chances after his biggest flop that only made $33k.
What film did David lean direct anonymously? Was this after his film “A Passage to India”?
I hadn’t thought of that but it would explain him checking in with no blood on him - and it certainly would ratchet up the hideousness of situation.
Very bad
I think Reiner’s trumpeting of newly released documents on the JFK Assassination and his own theories on who did it may have something to do with it.
Did he direct Spaceballs 2? Or merely put his name on it as "Executive Producer," which often means little.
I had read that when Trump won the election in 2024, that Reiner checked himself into a mental hospital, for a week. Then he lost funding for his latest project. (And not because the financiers were pro Trump, but they were against investing in someone with mental issues).
Maybe up through the 1980s...financing a movie with your own capital was possible, but in the last 25 years...so many ‘stinkers’ have been produced with marginal return. There’s a fair amount of fear....making a $50-M movie which only appears to 10-percent of the public.
2023 examples: Dial of Destiny (Indy Jones), The Flash, Aquaman, Wish, Haunted Mansion, Fury of the Gods, Renfeld. All of these lost $100-M-plus.
Just a lot of crappy movies being made.
“I hadn’t thought of that but it would explain him checking in with no blood on him - and it certainly would ratchet up the hideousness of situation”
Maybe it was his blood, half hearted suicide attempt?
Business 101...
If you have something to offer that people want, they will buy it.
Mel Brooks is 99.
I was a fan of his wife, Anne Bancroft, who passed in ‘05
Well, Clint’s name on a movie almost guarantees it will make money. Also, Clint has a long history of bringing in every movie on time and under budget. Producers really like that.
Mel is 99 yrs old. I saw his name as producer and also as director (along with 3 or 4 other directors). It reported he also acted in it in his previous roles as Yogurt and President Skroob. We’ll find out when it is released in 2027.
I didn’t see the first one. I think his comedy is crude, over-rated, and unfunny.
“Maybe it was his blood, half hearted suicide attempt?”
Possibly so...although reports said there was large amount of blood in the hotel room and there was no mention of him getting medical treatment after he was arrested - and there were no obvious injuries in the booking photos...?
It’s really terrible. There’s a poke at Trump - they got the concert venue because “An Evening with Stormy Daniels” was cancelled.
That said, I thought the original was comedy genius and I don’t recall any politics in it. This one is just crap really - appearances by Paul McCartney and Elton John couldn’t even save it.
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