Kid 90 - General Discussion

[luckyroll3]

Quote

A look at young Hollywood stars growing up in the 1990s, using hundreds of hours of footage captured by a teenaged Soleil Moon Frye.

I watched this this morning and wow the nostalgia and the tears! I had the biggest crush on Jonathon Brandis, so every scene with him or talking about him made me cry like a baby. It was sad to see how many of her friends committed suicide and that in hindset she could see that they were all crying for help. 

Looking forward to hearing what other folks thought about this. I liked it despite some areas where there were no transitions or the story/what was happening wasn't quite clear (like when she started talking about how she drank whatever "they" gave her that was supposed to be ginger ale and she couldn't remember anything that happened after. I'm still not sure who "they" were or who she was talking to in the clip the next day....)

And I have to say that the most shocking thing for me throughout the entire thing was learning that Soleil lost her virginity to Charlie Sheen!

[Kromm]

59 minutes ago, luckyroll3 said:

I have to say that the most shocking thing for me throughout the entire thing was learning that Soleil lost her virginity to Charlie Sheen!

Ugh. 

Now that I've heard that, I might lose my lunch. 

[shantown]

This was a little disjointed but I think that's also what their lives were like back then. The whole time I kept frantically googling to check everybody's ages, what they starred in together, where they were now. The ending with the video clips of all the friends who had passed away since they knew each other as kids was kind of a gut punch. I think it was Brian Austin Green in a clip who talked about their being so few kids in the business that they all knew each other, it was so weird to see them hanging out just being teenagers (albeit very rich, connected, "world at your fingertips" teenagers). That really was a different time - no internet, no cell phones, paparazzi not as dangerous as they seem now. It must have been a trip for some of the old friends she brought in not only to meet up and reminisce about their lives 30 years ago but to see those videos again. Between this and the Real World New York reunion show, I am having a bit of a 90s nostalgia overload!

[Miss Slay]

I liked it - although I wanted to hear from more of her friends. She didn't include a lot of her female friends. I also agree about the transitions - like what happened after her first semester in NYC?

It was a great trip down memory lane and those home videos were so good. I *do* think Soleil should have done a better job clarifying her virginity loss. The first time - it def. sounded like rape - and it wasn't consensual.  But the guy that she first has *consensual* sex with is Charlie Sheen and she refers to that as her virginity loss. I think because of Charlie Sheen's reputation people might assume he's the one who assaulted her - so I think the documentary could have done a better job of clarifying which virginity loss she was referring to.

That said, re: her sexual assault, how terrible was it that Soleil was a known virgin and was encouraging teenagers to have honest conversations about sex - and whoever that was probably knew that... yuck.

 

[sadie]

I really enjoyed this. I had no idea how hard all these kids lived with the drugs and such. I wish she had shared a little about her current life to show how she came out the other side of this. I wept at the end showing all the ones that had dies way way too young, tragic. And not to be shallow but I had no idea what a beautiful woman she has grown into. If you grew up in the 90’s like me, you will very much enjoy this. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This covered such a wide range of topics: growing up in the 90s, Hollywood (which covers another huge subset of topics), what it's like to be a teenager, reminiscing with your childhood friends about the old days, girls being sexualized, etc.

I enjoyed hearing what all of these actors had to say about each other, about the industry, about their friendships, etc. In the pre-internet days, all we knew about these teen stars came from the carefully selected sound bytes released by their PR people to shitty publications like Teen Beat and People. We could read blurbs from the canned interviews about their favorite colors and how many pets they had but we didn't get to know them the way that you can today with social media, so this was like pulling back the curtain on so many people I grew up watching. Despite this, I love that she has so many videos and pictures that would not be out of place with a current day celebrity. I love that she documented so much of her life.

I'm glad she realized even as a teenage that a painful six hour surgery would result in letting her be who she wanted to be. Even if it didn't result in Oscar worthy roles, it still allowed her to be comfortable in her own body and that alone was worth it.

Hee, on a shallow note, I loved all the photos and videos because remembering those 90s fashions was hilarious. I also loved that the videos showed them being dumb teenagers doing regular teenage things like hanging out at each other's houses, going to amusement parks, driving around, drinking, looking for ladybugs. I also loved watching the adult versions of these teenagers reacting to seeing the footage afte r all these years.

It was sad to see how many people in her friend group have already passed away. Seeing the guilt and regret from the ones who are still alive.

Overall, this felt similar to Rob in High Fidelity going on a quest to find his ex-girlfriends, but Soleil had slightly different goals. She mentioned it early on but she repeated it again near the end when she talked to BAG and said that as an adult she questioned how much of their friendship really existed and how much of it was in her head. I hope that reconnecting with so many of her childhood friends keeps them in contact. As much as I love and appreciate the friends I've made as an adult, there is something about the people who knew you when you were a dumb 13 year old trying to figure out your place in the world that is special.

[Racj82]

It's crazy that when I was checking out Soliel back in the day. Godsmack by how she looked in the Wonder Years among other things, she was only 14 and 15. I mean I was even younger at the time but I didn't even realize that was punky brewster when I was watching or that she wasn't older.

It reminds me of Ladybugs which ironically had Brandis as the star. But, there is a scene in that movie when his 15 fifteen year old love interest is running on the soccer field towards him with her breasts bouncing in slow motion. As a kid I didn't think anything of it and if course I wasn't mad.

But when I see that scene or the scene on wonder years now I'm like, someone totally cast this teenage girl knowing that they were going to flaunt this minors body for titillation. If a dude didn't cast them, I'm sure a man had final say. Weirds me out.

How much of casting actual teenagers is about casting teenagers they think other teens will find hot and how many is on casting who they find hot?

[QQQQ]

I watched, but need some clarification. Do we know who sexually assaulted her? It wasn't Charlie Sheen, right? Who was the older man who came back into her life and took her to a baseball game? Was THAT Charlie?

[ShadowHunter]

1 hour ago, QQQQ said:

I watched, but need some clarification. Do we know who sexually assaulted her? It wasn't Charlie Sheen, right? Who was the older man who came back into her life and took her to a baseball game? Was THAT Charlie?

She didn't name the person who assaulted her. After she brings up the assault the screen said 6 months later and that was when Charlie Sheen entered the picture. Yes Sheen was the one who took her to the baseball game she even called Sheen her "Mr.Big" I guess she was a Sex in the City fan. So I don't believe Sheen was the one who assaulted her. Based off the stuff she wrote in her diary her relationship with Sheen is something she doesn't seem to be upset about. While bringing up the assault you could see how upset she was. Horrible thing to have to go through.

It's great she filmed so much stuff honestly she was already doing what everyone does today.  Wild seeing everyone I kept having to pause and go Omg it's so and so lol. Dana Ashbrook from Twin Peaks showed up I had no idea she ever hung out with him. Jonathan Silverman as well lol.

The phone messages from Jonathan Brandis were sad. It seemed like he was in love with her maybe? I remember he was with Tatyana Ali for 3 years. 

They showed a picture of Edward Furlong at the end but he was left out of this. I remember when he was 15 he was dating that girl in her mid 20s. So sick. You could do a whole documentary on that alone. 

Nice seeing Stephen Dorff when I was little I thought he was cute. I was happy when he showed up on True Detective S3 he was really good. Sucks about his brother. 

Sad seeing all the people she knew who sadly died way too young. Depressing. 

Jump Around yeah that song was huge. Talk about a flashback lol.

 

 

 

 

[QQQQ]

Thanks, ShadowHunter. I got a bit confused when she was so happy to see Mr. Big again and I was like... um, what the??!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

It took me way longer than an hour and ten minutes to watch this documentary because every time another name or face appeared on the screen, I had to pause so I could look them up because I didn't realize how many of these people were around the same age as Soleil. Most of the time, I was like wow, Jenny Lewis is the same age as Soleil? Stephen Dorff is only three years older than Soleil?

And then there were the moments when I was like whoa, Soleil was making out with that House of Pain guy when she was 16 and he was 24? She lost her virginity to Charlie Sheen when she was 18 and he was 29? And when Jonathan Silverman and Dana Ashbrook were pretending to be FBI agents, they specifically said Charlie was 29 and didn't seem at all concerned about the age difference. Then again, they were hanging out with Soleil and they were barely younger than Charlie (Jonathan is a year younger than Charlie and Dana is two years younger than Charlie). Some people were getting some serious side eye from me.

[Robert Lynch]

16 hours ago, ShadowHunter said:

She didn't name the person who assaulted her. After she brings up the assault the screen said 6 months later and that was when Charlie Sheen entered the picture. Yes Sheen was the one who took her to the baseball game she even called Sheen her "Mr.Big" I guess she was a Sex in the City fan. So I don't believe Sheen was the one who assaulted her. Based off the stuff she wrote in her diary her relationship with Sheen is something she doesn't seem to be upset about. While bringing up the assault you could see how upset she was. Horrible thing to have to go through.

It's great she filmed so much stuff honestly she was already doing what everyone does today.  Wild seeing everyone I kept having to pause and go Omg it's so and so lol. Dana Ashbrook from Twin Peaks showed up I had no idea she ever hung out with him. Jonathan Silverman as well lol.

The phone messages from Jonathan Brandis were sad. It seemed like he was in love with her maybe? I remember he was with Tatyana Ali for 3 years. 

They showed a picture of Edward Furlong at the end but he was left out of this. I remember when he was 15 he was dating that girl in her mid 20s. So sick. You could do a whole documentary on that alone. 

Nice seeing Stephen Dorff when I was little I thought he was cute. I was happy when he showed up on True Detective S3 he was really good. Sucks about his brother. 

Sad seeing all the people she knew who sadly died way too young. Depressing. 

Jump Around yeah that song was huge. Talk about a flashback lol.

 

 

 

 

That was Edward Furlong's tutor and her name is Jackie Domac. They were together for sometime until they ended their relationship In 1998! Pretty shocked that they met on the set of Terminator 2 and that began their romance together. There is a clip of them from 1993 with Edward discussion Jackie in such high regards. It is amazing how she tries to look like Soleil Moon Frye.

 

Edited March 16, 2021 by Robert Lynch

[ShadowHunter]

27 minutes ago, Robert Lynch said:

That was Edward Furlong's tutor and her name is Jackie Domac. They were together for sometime until they ended their relationship In 1998! Pretty shocked that they met on the set of Terminator 2 and that began their romance together. There is a clip of them from 1993 with Edward discussion Jackie in such high regards. It is amazing how she tries to look like Soleil Moon Frye.

 

The whole thing is disturbing.

[Robert Lynch]

10 hours ago, ShadowHunter said:

The whole thing is disturbing.

I don't disagree with you on that! 

[luckyroll3]

On 3/14/2021 at 12:40 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

I hope that reconnecting with so many of her childhood friends keeps them in contact. As much as I love and appreciate the friends I've made as an adult, there is something about the people who knew you when you were a dumb 13 year old trying to figure out your place in the world that is special.

I loved hearing how her and Stephen Dorff were able to reconnect and restart their friendship after the death of his brother. And it was interesting to learn that she, Balthazar and Brian have been friends all this time (particularly Brian, cause sometimes he seems like the type of douche who does't keep friends).

On 3/16/2021 at 12:08 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

It took me way longer than an hour and ten minutes to watch this documentary because every time another name or face appeared on the screen, I had to pause so I could look them up because I didn't realize how many of these people were around the same age as Soleil.

Same. I wanted to see where folks are currently, especially the ones I hadn't thought about in a while. And I was also checking ages!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 3/17/2021 at 10:07 AM, luckyroll3 said:

I loved hearing how her and Stephen Dorff were able to reconnect and restart their friendship after the death of his brother. And it was interesting to learn that she, Balthazar and Brian have been friends all this time (particularly Brian, cause sometimes he seems like the type of douche who does't keep friends).

Same. I wanted to see where folks are currently, especially the ones I hadn't thought about in a while. And I was also checking ages!

Hahaha, glad it wasn't just me!

I have some negative feelings about BAG due to the shitty way he has treated Vanessa, Megan, and their kids after splitting with them so I just assumed he was an all around shitty person. I'm glad he's been a friend to Soleil though (but I still think he sucks).

[LemonSoda]

I probably need to watch this a few more times to fully process it. What a time travel it was! I kept pausing to make certain I saw who I saw. 
Probably wrong but I thought the lack of transition was to show all the chaos, one moment blurred in to the next. 
It was nice to see Shannon mentioned as a friend, a person without attaching her career to her name. 
I did cringe a few times when I realized how much younger she was than many of those she was hanging out with. 
 

[Cementhead]

Just watched last night.  Soleil is very likeable. Eloquent, thoughtful and just has a 'good people' vibe to her.  She certainly lived a charmed life and I was relieved to see that she grew up in a happy house and had a happy childhood. 

I cannot believe she has held onto all of that stuff; most especially the voice mails and answering machine messages!  That is crazy, what a time capsule.  Like some of you have already mentioned, it must have been a really wild trip for these guys to watch those clips of themselves from back then.  I was really feeling it for them in the moment so I can only imagine how they must have been feeling it x100.

I got a good chuckle at the little video clip of Leo DiCaprio bragging to Soleil about how many inches he had grown since she last saw him and 'look at how big I've gotten!'  And then I chuckle some more when I think of the Leo DiCaprio of today watching that clip himself.  Too funny.  Oh, and how Brian Austin Green was the big camera hog back then; especially funny in the video of them at a theme park where he was dancing around in his oversized Adidas shirt and was just on the verge of breaking into a rap. It was a total David Silver moment.

Speaking of Brian and Soleil, random observation:  he and Soleil have each had those smoky, raspy voices since they were kids, it seems. 

I really enjoyed most of this although she did lose me during the 'moving to New York and living the Skateboard Life' bit but only because it was a very niche-y time and full of unfamiliar faces to me, but it was obviously a significant time period in her life so it would make complete sense for her to include it here. 

This was a fun little doc and worthy of your time.

ETA:  Ok, who knew?!  I just read that DiCaprio is actually an executive producer of this and that it was produced under his own production company so he obviously has a good sense of humour about himself to include that clip I mentioned.  Also, music composed by Linda Perry who is married but separated from another familiar face in this doc; Sara Gilbert. 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Cementhead

[Racj82]

On 3/18/2021 at 10:55 PM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Hahaha, glad it wasn't just me!

I have some negative feelings about BAG due to the shitty way he has treated Vanessa, Megan, and their kids after splitting with them so I just assumed he was an all around shitty person. I'm glad he's been a friend to Soleil though (but I still think he sucks).

By all accounts he's always been a great friend. I never assumed otherwise. We also don't know the actual reality of the situation. There are three stories with the truth possibly being somewhere in between as usual. Shannen Doherty has always been close with Brian and he was there for her a lot after her cancer diagnosis as well. People are capable of good and bad.

No one apologize for being confused watching the movie because the movie did lack structure and was chaotic at times so it can be confusing at times. 

The New York stuff did hit home with me. The movie Kids featured a lot of her New York friends. I saw that movie on HBO after it came out. As a kid just getting into high school, that movie was a lot! Still one of the most frank movies I've seen about teenagers and sex ever. Not shocked that some of them died young.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Racj82

[LemonSoda]

5 hours ago, Racj82 said:

By all accounts he's always been a great friend. I never assumed otherwise. We also don't know the actual reality of the situation. There are three stories with the truth possibly being somewhere in between as usual. Shannen Doherty has always been close with Brian and he was there for her a lot after her cancer diagnosis as well. People are capable of good and bad.

Absolutely! Sometimes we forget especially in this digital world that humans aren’t all one way or another. You can be a horrible boyfriend, husband but an incredible Father. You can be a bad parent, a good husband or even an incredible friend. BAG’s relationships have always seemed messy but I think it says a lot that his friend group dates back over 30 years. 

Soleil has always given off good people vibes. I loved her books but hope she’ll write more because she’s full of good stories. 

[jumper sage]

I was shocked at how little parenting these kids had!  Going to clubs as a young teen?  How could the parents NOT KNOW?  She is lucky she made it out.

[festivus]

I've never seen Punky Brewster and didn't know anything really about Soleil. What struck me the most honestly is how eloquent she was in her diaries at such a young age. Actual passage from my diary: Me & R smoked a J with B today at lunch. ( I thought my mom would never crack that brilliant code. I was wrong.) It's all pretty much like that.

It was fun seeing all those people so young. I don't remember any of the ones that died, but I think I'm about 10 years or so older than her. It seems like she doesn't think badly of her experience with Charlie Sheen. I was just waiting for that to turn ugly.

[AngieBee1]

Quote

I was shocked at how little parenting these kids had!  Going to clubs as a young teen?  How could the parents NOT KNOW?  She is lucky she made it out.

Her parents seemed pretty free-wheeling so I'm sure they trusted her to make the right decisions. The thing about being a young celebrity is that the celebrity often trumps the age.  Drew Barrymore was clubbing when she was 9 years old. Joaquin Phoenix was going to the Viper Room when he was a teen. It's hard for some parents of celebrity kids to pull rank when that kid has their own money or is contributing to the home.  

[BrindaWalsh]

On 3/20/2021 at 9:39 PM, jumper sage said:

I was shocked at how little parenting these kids had!  Going to clubs as a young teen?  How could the parents NOT KNOW?  She is lucky she made it out.

I grew up in suburban nj and kids started hitting the nyc club scene (limelight, palladium, etc.) as young as 14/15.  Most just lied about where they were going, came up with a reason to stay out late, etc.  If it was easy to access here, imagine if you were a child star in the 90s in Hollywood.  

I had no idea that the angst of the 90s was so universal, it felt so isolating at the time.  But if you think about it, it was everywhere.  In our music, in our clothing, etc.  We were literally wrapped up in angst.  I didn't put that together until watching this.  

I am not sure if I am totally squicked out by Charlie Sheen or if I kind of love that she has such fond memories of her first consensual time and that he, of all people, made her feel so safe and content.

Not sure if others watched this and found themselves saying "i did that too!" or "i wore that too!" but I totally had that teddy bear diary and my now hubby and I have the same magical "it's snowing in yankee stadium" baseball story.  And I also lay in a field stoned out of my gourd many a time in the 90s while waxing philosphical about our collective purpose as humans. 

To quote David Arquette - life got better.

[catlover79]

On 3/12/2021 at 9:45 PM, Miss Slay said:

I liked it - although I wanted to hear from more of her friends. She didn't include a lot of her female friends. I also agree about the transitions - like what happened after her first semester in NYC?

It was a great trip down memory lane and those home videos were so good. I *do* think Soleil should have done a better job clarifying her virginity loss. The first time - it def. sounded like rape - and it wasn't consensual.  But the guy that she first has *consensual* sex with is Charlie Sheen and she refers to that as her virginity loss. I think because of Charlie Sheen's reputation people might assume he's the one who assaulted her - so I think the documentary could have done a better job of clarifying which virginity loss she was referring to.

That said, re: her sexual assault, how terrible was it that Soleil was a known virgin and was encouraging teenagers to have honest conversations about sex - and whoever that was probably knew that... yuck.

I haven't seen this yet, but I did read Soleil's recent interview with PEOPLE where she mentioned that her first time was with Charlie Sheen. I was squicked out. I'm glad that it appears to have been consensual and she doesn't seem to be traumatized, but another part of me was saying, "ewwww, did we really need to know this?" 😳😝

[Avabelle]

On 3/20/2021 at 1:34 PM, Cementhead said:

got a good chuckle at the little video clip of Leo DiCaprio bragging to Soleil about how many inches he had grown since she last saw him and 'look at how big I've gotten!'  And then I chuckle some more when I think of the Leo DiCaprio of today watching that clip himself. 

That is funny. I didn’t think Leo would be down with having his footage in this but suppose if he was producing it.

how would it work if The actors didn’t want to be associated with kid 90? Would she have to cut their footage?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

9 hours ago, Avabelle said:

how would it work if The actors didn’t want to be associated with kid 90? Would she have to cut their footage?

She would have to blur their faces in photos if they were not taken in public.

[Anon Anon]

When she described the person who first took her virginity, she described being in love. I don't think she's the type to sleep around. Around that time she was dating Edward Furlong. 3 years together and only a mere mention of him? And he has a history of being abusive.....logical deduction?

[Bastet]

On 3/16/2021 at 9:08 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

And then there were the moments when I was like whoa, Soleil was making out with that House of Pain guy when she was 16 and he was 24? She lost her virginity to Charlie Sheen when she was 18 and he was 29? And when Jonathan Silverman and Dana Ashbrook were pretending to be FBI agents, they specifically said Charlie was 29 and didn't seem at all concerned about the age difference. Then again, they were hanging out with Soleil and they were barely younger than Charlie (Jonathan is a year younger than Charlie and Dana is two years younger than Charlie). Some people were getting some serious side eye from me.

I just watched this, and am appalled at the number of men in their mid to late 20s who were hanging around a teenage girl.  Sometimes before they even knew her, like Charlie Sheen and Johnny Depp showing up at her birthday party.  Gross!

In the footage when she was hanging out with other teens, just being L.A. party kids, that was fun; I'm closer to her brother's age than hers, and was not part of the entertainment industry, but some things are universal.  It was a trip to see someone documenting everything at that time, as that was not the norm, but nice to see footage where people are just doing what they were already doing, rather than performing because it's going to be posted on social media.

I thought this was just okay, but I'm glad I finally watched it.