Jerry O’Connell Turns ‘Stand By Me’ Poster Into Coronavirus PSA

Actor Jerry O’Connell is trying to keep humor alive during these difficult times by showing how the iconic Stand By Me poster would look as a coronavrius PSA. The 46-year-old actor has been self-isolating with his wife, actress Rebecca Romijn, and their 11-year-old twins, Dolly and Charlie. Just before Broadway shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, O’Connell was starring in A Soldier’s Play.

On Friday, O’Connell shared a version of the Stand By Me poster and changed it a little bit to put face masks on himself and co-stars Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix and Corey Feldman. He also added the word “Don’t” to the film’s title. The 1986 movie marked O’Connell’s film debut and was directed by Rob Reiner. The film remains a coming-of-age classic and is based on Stephen King’s novella The Body. It was directed by Rob Reiner, who has been using his own Twitter page to comment on the coronavirus pandemic.

This was not the first time O’Connell shared his wry sense of humor on social media to bring a smile to his fans. Back on March 19, he jokingly wrote, “It took four days of isolation but just realized, I don’t like my children.” In a follow-up tweet, he revealed Dolly and Charlie were “expelled” from homeschool.

Since then, O’Connell has shared several videos from his home. On Tuesday, he shared a clip of himself trying to help his daughters with math homework, adding “homeschooling going well.”

Before the coronavirus outbreak, O’Connell tackled a much more serious project. He starred in the first Broadway production of Charles Fuller’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Soldier’s Play. O’Connell starred as an army captain overseeing the murder of a black captain, played by Blair Underwood, during World War II. The show was scheduled to end its run on March 15, but all Broadway productions were shut down a few days earlier.

“What’s really funny about doing a Broadway show is that it’s not necessarily the hardest job in acting,” O’Connell recently told Broadway.com. “I work in television. I work in movies. Broadway’s not the hardest. But for the two weeks when we’re in previews and getting reviewed – it’s only about three or four shows that you’re being reviewed for – is the most stressful week. The whole job is about that week.”

On Saturday, the number of deaths from the coronavirus doubled in the U.S., reaching more than 2,000, reports Johns Hopkins University. There are mother than 120,000 confirmed cases.

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