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There's a new film in some
theaters around the country.

This one is called Kids.
That has a nice innocent sound,

but this Kids is not about innocence.

I remember when this film hit, and
it cause a shit storm of controversy.

So shocking.

ALL TIME CLASSIC!!!

''Kids'' Review (1995)

The story of sex-obsessed teens,

drinking, drugging, drifting kids.

These kids are degenerates!!!

This is why I don't want KIDS.

New York can be really ugly.

Just a f♪♪♪♪ Masterpiece

Movie changed my life.

It's a deeply shocking
and disturbing film,

which feels absolutely authentic.

Is this real?

I thought this was a doco.

Kids 1995 Director.

Search

I really got in the
kids, we trusted each other.

This was a massive back in the 90s.

It's the breakout movie of the year.

This movie disturbed Madonna. 'Nuff said.

Most talked about film of
the year, it's called Kids.

Where did they find the actors?

No I wasn't an actor at all.

I was skateboarding in
Washington Square Park.

What a scummy characters

where were the PARENTS!?

WTF happened to these kids?!?

My name is Hamilton Chango Harris.

I was the one rolling up
the blunt in the film.

I can only tell you what I experienced.

I grew up in New York City,
I was born in New York.

I grew up in poverty.

New York City 1970's.

When I say poverty, I'm
not just talking about poverty

from an economical standpoint,
I'm talking about poverty

from a psychological and
emotional standpoint.

We moved to the housing projects,

which is really just like a fancy version

of a prison system.

You know, atrocious
conditions in the country

that's supposed to be free and open

and have all these opportunities.

I didn't experience those
material opportunities.

Everything's burnt down.

Like I actually got burned out as a kid.

So I'm being woken up
by my family, it's like

after midnight and
everybody's knocking on

each other's doors,
''It's a fire,'' and everyone's

helping each other to
get out the building.

'Cause they would set
the buildings on fire

to get insurance money.

It was a hustle.

Kids are resilient, we bounce back up.

As kids we would pull out
the old, crazy mattresses

that people would throw away and use them

as springboards and do flips on them.

So we always found ways to
make something out of nothing.

As you got older, it's really hard

to maintain that state
of positivity, you know?

My perception of what I
was taught subconsciously

about Black people being
poor and unfortunate

and White people being
superior and having everything,

like how do you get such a huge divide?

There was a few directions
which the environment

would lead you into,
which weren't so healthy.

And if you're smart
enough to realize that,

you need to figure a way to get out.

WE WERE ONCE KIDS

New York City 1980's.

When I started venturing
out of the neighborhood,

I would see skateboards around.

It was like, ''Yo, this
looks kind of cool.''

A friend was like, ''Yo, why
don't we all get skateboards?''

''Why don't we all get skateboards?''

I was like, ''Yeah, let's do
it, let's do it,'' you know?

I knew I couldn't get a
skateboard in one shot.

Wasn't possible, 'cause
it's too expensive.

Each month for about six
months, I just kept getting

every part, until I had the whole thing.

Only thing I could
think of is the skateboards.

My name is Hamilton Harris,
and I like to skate.

It keeps me out of trouble
and stuff, you know,

'cause I live in Harlem.

I wanna go to college and stuff, you know?

A skateboard is something that you get on

and you can ride away from
what was going on at home.

You leave that behind you.

We would just go as far as we could go.

Get on the train, we'd go to Skate NYC,

this skate shop in the Lower East Side.

See all these kids, right?

There was one thing we all had in common

and it was the board.

And that really was all that mattered.

And then they skated across
the street to the park.

And then they, they were all
doing tricks over the garbage can.

I started to move up a little
bit, but still out of sight.

It was a bunch of guys,
but Harold stood out.

He calls me from across
the street, sees me.

''Yo, yo, come over here
yo, come, come here.''

Just the way his facial features were,

you couldn't take your eyes off
him, you couldn't look away.

It's just like, you
felt like you were being

summoned by some spirit, you know?

He was just like, ''Why don't you'',

''why don't you come down and hang out?''

''You could be a part of it too.''

''You're no different than I am.''

And that's when I knew

I had met someone incredibly valuable.

The skate shop became
refuge to all the kids

who didn't want to go back home.

It was like a camaraderie.

We just gravitated toward each other.

Wow, these people have lives
to, and go through shit too.

All of us from our crew have

like crazy backgrounds and crazy stories.

I think that's kind of
what, why we bonded and all.

But once we skated that
shit didn't matter.

When we all skated, that was a way

for us to escape that reality.

White kid, Black kid,
Chinese kid, just all these

different kids, and they're
riding together, you know?

I saw freedom.

New York City in the '80s,

the drug was cocaine
and it turned to crack.

It was this huge epidemic
which destroyed communities.

And while illegal drug use
is found in every community,

nowhere is it worse than
our public housing projects.

I remember one day Harold is like,

''Yo, y'all want to go to my house?''

Skate to his crib in the Campos Plaza.

We come in, his grandmother's
sitting on the couch.

His uncles were there,
they were all hanging out.

He called his grandmother
Mom, ''Hey Mom, Hey Mom.''

And then it hit me, it was like, oh.

His grandmother raised him,
his parents wasn't there.

He and his uncle, I could
see, yeah his uncle,

he has a drug addiction.

I could, because I had that in my home.

My sisters do it, my mom
do it, I can pick up on it.

So I'm like, ''Yep okay, that's what''

''that's what I'm connected to with him.''

Harold's Brother
It was like a jungle in my house.

The only thing we knew is what we saw,

like to walk into a bedroom and like,

you see like dudes
shooting up and it's like,

you're just hanging out with
them, watching them shoot up.

And you're just like, ''Holy shit.''

Like, my grandmother charging them,

like space to like shoot up.

It was like, it was
like a Airbnb for drugs.

I know that my mother died off of it.

I know that my father had
a heart attack from it.

And then I saw my aunt, I saw my uncle.

That's what we saw as a future.

New York City 1990's.

In 1991, '92, there was
just too much happening.

Kids needed a place of refuge

because the skate shops closed down.

Skateboarding wasn't cool no more.

There was no more money to be made.

All the skaters stopped skating.

Except for us, the ones with the,
the heavy dysfunction.

So we was always skating in the streets.

And that's where I met Justin.

He was smoking cigarettes at the time.

He smoked cigarettes and
he drank a lot, you know,

which I was like, ''Damn,
it's like a little old man'',

''this guy,'' you know?

Then I found out that
he ran away from home

so he was homeless, right?

Staying couch to couch,
you know what I mean?

And I was like, ''Whoa, you
homeless yo, that's crazy.''

No one knows exactly
how many homeless people

there are in New York City.

Officials estimate 56,000
homeless men, women

and children wander the
streets of New York.

So we would be hanging at
Washington Square Park, right?

And these girls used to hang around.

They were like rave, slash Gothic,

slash punk rock girls, right?

I was a little punk rock
chick from the Lower East Side.

I met Justin when I was 14.

This was early '90s New York City.

This is one of like the
biggest like crime waves,

biggest murder rate.

Like the city was not fun back then.

It was like crack heads and
dope fiends, everywhere.

Afraid of being jumped constantly.

I remember like one time these big dudes

are like fucking with
us, like down on Broadway

where we're like walking back
and Justin came out of nowhere

and just started slamming his
board and punching the wall.

Like, ''You want to see crazy,
like, I'll fuck you up,''

just trying to protect
us from these dudes.

He was the most loyal friend
you could ever ask for.

Fucking like intense
and crazy as a person,

like in the best possible way.

He was just larger than life.

When the skate shop died out,

we would go hanging out
at Highlyann's spot.

Harold, you know, grew up
around the corner from me

and that's how kind of,

we all kind of came together.

We became brothers and sisters.

We're gonna create this
reality that's functional.

We spent every day together.

We would just be getting like, fucked up,

drinking 40s, smoking
blunts, chilling on the stoop

all hours of the night, on the roof.

We didn't stop, we were
just together like 24/7.

They became my family.

We were young, we didn't have shit.

Like, we used to scrape by.

I don't even know how we
survived when we skated,

'cause we never used to eat.

Like when we were hungry, we
used to go to the supermarket

and we would have a plan.

Like before go in like, ''All
right, you steal the bread'',

''you steal the cold cuts, you
steal this, you steal that.''

And then we would literally
go somewhere afterwards

and have like a picnic.

Being able to be together
and be able to, you know,

have communal food and
have everything together

was a huge thing for us, and
it was important for all of us

to maintain, I think,
our sanity growing up.

For Justin, this was a home base of sorts.

You know, he could always come here

and he would always be loved.

We were each other's
support system, I think.

We had each other's back and
we took care of each other

without having any family support at all.

And we grew up together
supporting each other.

We would go skate
together, and then I'm like,

''All right, I'm gonna go home.''

And he would come with me to the Bronx,

to the block where you have
like these guys who like,

are like crack dealers
with guns and stuff.

And like, coming to the project hallway

and like smoking blunts and
be in rhyme circles and shit.

And he's like, ''Yo, for these
Jets, I don't give a fuck.''

''Ba ba ba ba ba,'' and they'd be like,

''Yo, I like this dude.''

S'up Justin.

Oh, yeah Jamal!

Yo, this is the first video footage

in the motherfucking dungeon.

He a small person who
just didn't give a fuck.

And when I say he didn't give a fuck,

he really didn't give a fuck.

He was like fearless.

Oh, put your hand over it,

now turn it upside down and back.

Oh, no you didn't, yo.

- That's the...
- Yeah.

That's the ultimate dog motion, yo.

That's the dog motion,
that's the dog motion, yo.

- We drank a lot together.
- Did a lot of acid.

We had lots of fun, but we also,

we also had a lot of issues.

You know, I've seen people get like

stabbed to death, like right there.

I've seen people get shot out the window,

like right there, and feeling like

emotionally drained, emotionally beaten.

We leaned on each other with those issues

to plow through feelings.

Underneath all of this like act,

we're both creative in a certain way.

♪ See me come then they come ♪

♪ And they dance upon the floor ♪

♪ Doing a dance it's the man, Jamal ♪

♪ They're not coming back ♪

♪ And I got the right spread Knicks ♪

When no one else was around.

I talked about literature with Justin.

I'd just be drinking a beer and like

breaking that shit down.

And we shared that, this
love for creativity.

We had that bond of,
of trying to find a way

to move forward in life with
hopes of things getting better.

And at that time I used to smoke weed

'cause I grew up around weed, right?

My dad would roll the joints.

So I had a connection with weed, right?

But Harold didn't smoke.

Of course he didn't, he lost his parents

from heroin, his two
uncles is drug addicts.

He was anti-drugs.

He would make jokes, like
imitating that we high

and clowning us for smoking, you know?

Ryan is smoking, so then
Ryan passes it to me.

I started smoking it and he goes,

''Fuck Hamilton, you're
always smoking that shit.''

''I hate that shit, man.''

And I got the joint in my
hand and I'm just like,

When he said that to me, I knew he cared.

And I knew he was thinking
like, ''Yo, you smoke that'',

''you're gonna start using this,''

''it's going to turn into that.''

''I know because I don't have my mom.''

I could hear all of that.

So he didn't have to say it,
but I knew what he was saying.

That was the tough love part, right?

This is when I saw another side of Harold,

that his love and compassion and care

was on a whole 'nother level.

He just wanted to get
out from the projects.

I could relate, you know?

I used to always hang
out with the skaters

and there was a blunt
and I smoked some of it.

And I remember I was actually high,

and I remember Harold was
like, very concerned for me.

Not that I did it, but
just like, was I okay?

And I remember he walked me
home, and we became super close.

We would go out to clubs together

and he would stay up all
night, he could break night.

He always wanted to avoid
ever having to go home.

He used to get real mad because

I would complain that I had a curfew.

Whenever I complained about my parents

or the rules that I had, he
was quick to point out to me

what a privilege it was
to have those things.

You know, he didn't talk about
home, like in the way that,

you know, you would hope that
someone would talk about home.

Ultimately he felt unsafe.

In Washington Square Park at the time,

everyone congregated there.

So it's really interesting
to have the weed dealers,

kids who were into punk
rock music, skateboarders,

and the musicians, and the kids who went

to the clubs all hanging there.

We would be skating and some random person

would just be like, ''Yo Harold,''

and you'd meet all these people.

So this kid comes around,
he comes with Harold.

This kid from Tennessee.

He's like, ''Yo, this is
my friend Harmony, yo.''

''He's going to NYU film
school,'' blah blah blah.

He used to stay in our crib,

we didn't know who the fuck he was.

Like, him and Harold used
to sleep in the same room.

We thought he was a runaway because

my brother used to run away all the time.

So we thought he was just
one of his runaway friends.

Harold would bring all
kinds of people to our house.

Anyone that he thought
was great and loved,

it was like he wanted to
share them with us too.

He was so excited because
he just really saw

how talented Harmony
was and, and was just,

just very taken by Harmony.

He and Harold just seemed
to really love each other.

So right then and there,

it was like Harold's
vouching for this kid.

And that was a great way to meet him.

I mean, he was just, he seemed so great.

Because Harold vouched for him,

and Harold gave him the stamp of approval,

I said, ''Okay, so he's hanging
around now, oh, that's fine.''

It's like, he coronates fucking people.

Yeah he's like this,
like this divine being.

''I coronate you,'' boom, you're accepted.

No one questions it, done.

But he trusted everybody.

And he always gave
everybody the opportunity.

My very first impressions of Larry

when I first saw him around
taking photos was just like,

''Yo, who's like Grandpa,
who's this old dude?''

Like, ''Who is this cat?''

What the fuck you guys doing?

What the fuck you guys doing, man?

He's a fucking human
being, who gives a shit?

Hey, stop being shit
man, get the fuck away.

One on one and that's it.

One on one?

At that time, like the
baggy clothes were in,

He's wearing like, you know, skate tees,

he had, you know, like the long hair.

He's coming to hang out
with these young guys

and he's making himself look like them

so they would accept him.

Who the fuck is that guy?

Who is that old guy?

I don't know. I asked him right out.

I remember Harold saying,
''Yo, that's Larry Clark.''

''You know, he made this
book Tulsa, teenage lust,''

blah blah blah.

I'm like, ''How does he know?''

And it turns out Tobin
told everybody.

Meeting Larry, I was, you know,

I was a junior in high school.

And there was a class
that was being offered

in documentary photography.

I was like, kind of the youngest
student in that workshop.

And I stayed at Larry's house.

Man, I like your collage.

He was researching skateboarding
as, as a possible film.

He would ask me questions like,

''What's the drug of
choice for skateboarders?''

And I said, ''I don't know,
Larry, I think everything.''

''And are they having sex
all the time?''

He would want to meet people.

No one knows kind of who he is at all.

Like, no one knows art.

So I had to be like, ''No, he's okay'',

''he's a great photographer.''

Which gave him acceptance
in the skateboard community.

You know, here's his book.

People doing, shooting up drugs,

a pregnant woman shooting up drugs.

And I'm like, ''Whoa, that's kinda crazy.''

- Hey Larry, do you mind that I’m videoing?
- No.

Where’s your dad now, man?

My dad lives in the country, homeboy.

Do you like to talk to him?

- Yeah I talk to him.
- I send him postcards and shit.

- He's like, cool?
- Fuck yeah, he's bad.

- Turn him on to me, man.
- Ay, man.

Tell him about me, man.

He won't come to New York.

Well send him, send some
pictures or something.

Can I tell you a secret about Alan, man?

You can.

- Alan is fucking...
- so fucking... sexually crazed.

- Yeah.
- He just wants to fuck kids, man.

- Yeah see.
- So bad, man.

But see...

He would like meet you,
shake your hand, say “Hi Tobin,”

and he would try to get in
your pants so fast, man.

- He's totally fucking horny.
- You know what? He’d get a black eye.

He’s totally fucking mental.

You know what? Trophy.

Aggressive. He’s like faggy aggressive.

See, you know why, cause he...

- But he’s the sweetest guy, man.
- He’s a wonderful guy, man.

You would love the guy, man.

Yeah.

He’s a good guy. But...

But it doesn’t matter.

He’s sexually aggressive to the max, man.

You know what?

He just wants to suck your dick.

- That’s gross.
- That’s all he wants to do, man.

But I swear to god,
when he’s so horny, man.

The guy's a fucking dork.

He's trying to suck your cock right now.

See, I don’t go for that shit.

Fuck that shit, yo.

So you got this 49-year-old dude, right?

Who is like this well-known photographer.

None of us don't know.

Most of us didn't even care.

But he would have weed,
and like good weed too.

Like really good stuff, you know?

He's taking photos of us hanging,

well a service for a service, right?

Coaxed me in, fine, I liked it.

''All right, you can hang around,

'''cause I know we're going to
smoke some good stuff,'' right?

That was my logic.

I feel like the fact that
Larry entered the scene

as like an older person
who wasn't homeless,

who wasn't broke, and
who seemed like he had

some sort of resources.

Like, okay, how can we make
use of this motherfucker?

I never trust people like that, you know,

just, you know, growing up.

Like, why does this guy wanna
hang around all these kids?

I just always thought he was
a little funny or something.

So I just always had my guard up

'cause I always thought, you know,

''Larry, why would you want
to take pictures of us?''

Why is he telling guys
to go to his,

bringing people to his apartment,

and buying them beer and
you know, weed and shit.

I always thought it was funny.

You just saw this group of like,

these crazy fucking skateboarding kids.

Like we stood out like,
these fucking guys,

the energy's crazy, you know what I mean?

Like the way we looked, the way,

the diversity amongst all of us and like,

but we were all together and like,

we had parents that were
never around, like...

Like, I feel like he saw,
he saw, he saw dollar signs.

That's what people like him do.

You know, that's how they make money.

Harold would be like, ''Yo,
we're gonna be in the movie.''

''Yo, they making a movie,
we're gonna be in this movie.''

Larry was going to be making a movie,

and that we were gonna be in it?

And Harmony was going to write it?

And I was like, ''Yeah,
all right, whatever.''

This guy wants to make a movie.

You know, it just didn't seem real to me.

You know, it didn't seem like
it was ever gonna be anything.

Some of them were excited
probably in their head

thinking, ''Oh, I'm gonna fucking get rich''

''and become a millionaire off
this,'' you know what I mean?

And you know, I think that
was the initial excitement,

and a lot of us came from
nothing, so you know,

I was looking at this like,
''Oh, I'm gonna be somebody now.''

''I'm gonna, this is my way out.''

Justin always wanted to act

and do those kinds of things, you know?

He never really said it,

but Justin always wanted to do that,

but also had that personality
to do it, you know?

The first time I saw
Larry, actually Justin

brought him here to this house.

At the time I must've been 15 or 16,

so I was still young, and all of a sudden

there's like this, like
60-something-year-old dude

sitting in my fucking living room,

like trying to smoke a blunt
with us, like, you know,

Justin explained, he's
trying to do a movie of us.

And he was psyched, so like
you know, for him, we're like,

''All right cool,'' but I
just really remember him

just kind of stalking and
just being in the background,

just kind of like watching
and just being there,

just always thinking it
was just a little strange.

I don't even think he
even said hello to me once

or even spoke to me.

You know, I wasn't
impressed by the idea of it.

You know what I mean?

Like, I wasn't easily impressed
pretty much by anything.

I wanted to skate,
had to skate every day.

You know, I was like very
serious about skating

around that time, you know?

Like I had goals in my
brain, you know, it's like,

I wanted to become a pro skateboarder.

I was just riding the wave,

but it was nice to have
Ryan and Highlyann,

and some people that was like,

''Yo, this dude, nah, no bueno.''

So that kept like this nice equilibrium,

this nice balance, also
perspective, for them to be like,

''Wow, this could be an opportunity.''

And for us to be like,

''Oh, maybe we need to not be so gullible.''

'94 comes, Supreme opens its doors.

Now we got a new skate shop.

So Supreme replaced Skate NYC.

We got a home again, we back home.

Try to do a hard flip and land.

Gotta land it, kinda like this.

For us it was great because

we were all together and like,

the skate shop gave us so
much free shit, it was cool.

The whole crew, we're
all skating, Larry's around

developing this story
about this group of kids

hanging out skating, right?

I think we could sense there
was something bigger than us.

But we were just going with the wave.

The taxi! Get the taxi!

Firework popping, laughter.

OPEN CASTING CALL

''KIDS''

So right where the park was,

they were posting up flyers casting.

It was Harold and Justin who
went to the office first.

I see office, I'm like, ''Whoa,
this really is happening.''

We got casting call sheets.

It's like, ''Whoa, casting call sheets.''

That's when I knew we're making a movie.

When I went to the casting,
the character was my name.

I was like, ''Huh, like
I'm playing myself?''

Like my character is my name?

I thought that was like, huh, you know?

So I read the part, I got the part,

Justin got the part, Harold got the part.

When I heard that there
was gonna be this movie

and that there was gonna be auditions

I was like, ''Fuck that
shit, I'm not auditioning''

''for anything, like that's crazy.''

Harold was so, so excited about it.

He just loved to perform,
he loved the adoration.

He loved to make people laugh.

Harold yelling nonsense, laughter.

''You have to be in it, and you have to go,

''and you have to,'' and
like telling my mom,

like he was just so, so
excited by the movie.

So it really was Harold who
kind of like dragged me,

so to speak, so I was
like, ''All right, fine.''

Harold and Justin
would go to the office,

bring whoever there and be like,
''Yo, this is my boy, Peter.''

''This is my boy, yo, he's
got to be in the film.''

They took me up there like
they own the place, you know?

They're like walking in with their boards

and I'm just following
them, walking up the stairs.

I'm like, ''Yo, this is real,'' you know?

So I go in and they go,

''This is Pete, put him in the movie.''

That's what Justin said, and
Harold's like, ''Yeah, yeah, yeah.''

And I was just like, and
that's how I got in the film.

Harold is the one that
was with Harmony at Aster

and was ''Harmony put Harv in the movie.''

Harmony's like, ''All right,
cool,'' and that was it.

And then I started going to auditions

and readings with these guys.

Then he was casting
for the girls' parts.

So I saw the script with
Harmony and I was very frank

with Harmony, I'm like, ''Who
the fuck are these characters?''

''What is the storyline, like
girls are just to get fucked?''

''These kids are violent, and...''

''and they want to fuck fucking virgins?''

''Like, that's fucking gross.''

You know, Harmony was always like,

''I'm just given the storyline''

''and I have to write the script for it.''

From the girl perspective,
it completely missed

our role at all.

Like these are our people

that we consider our family members.

Justin was my brother.

Like to me, that's a
much more powerful story

than one of rape and misogyny.

We opted not to just because

it wasn't anything we
were comfortable with.

And then all these other people

just started coming in from the outside.

I was walking around
the Village with my friend

and Harmony and Larry came up to me

and they were like, ''Oh,
we're making this movie.''

''Do you guys wanna come audition for it?''

''Like we're having these open auditions.''

You know, in the script it says Steven,

a Puerto Rican kid with gold fronts, okay?

''Steven Callis, he went
to jail for armed robbery.''

''Do you want his part?''

Well we all knew that
Larry was sketchy, right?

Like so, but like he was
still offering money.

It wasn't much money,
but to us at the time

it was a lot of money and it was like,

what the fuck else were we doing?

Yo, we're all fucking hungry.

I'm not gonna knock Justin
getting an opportunity

or Harold getting an opportunity.

An opportunity is a fucking opportunity.

Two of your best friends, Harold Hunter

and Justin Pierce, are
lead guys in the film.

Yo, I'm right here, you know?

Right. You going out tonight?

It was just like, he's in the lead?

I'm in the lead, 'cause
that's my boy, so I'm good.

Like, that's how we looked at it.

Like if one person's doing well,

we're all doing well, you know?

It was crazy man,

but exciting, you know?

The first stuff we shot
was at Washington Square Park

around the fountain and
stuff, and so it's like

every single motherfucking kid there.

You know, it's a tight
knit group of friends.

Like when you're talking about the people

that the movie was written for and like

that clique of skater kids, like

that's a brotherhood for real.

They were wary of me.

''Why is this motherfucker
playing our friend?''

''Why aren't we playing our friend?''

You know, it was like,
''Yo, why the fuck are you here?''

But you know, then you
have someone like Harold

who was like, ''Yo, this
is my friend Jonny.''

''And you guys should know
Jonny, and Jonny's cool.''

And you know, eventually kind of bonding

with Hamilton and Justin.

And then it comes to my scene.

Rolling up a joint, right, a blunt.

And as I'm doing it, I do it all the time.

But then, you know, it kicked in like,

''Whoa, yo, we're on a movie set, yo.''

''There's a camera there,
all right, whatever.''

And then I was like, I was high as a kite.

And it's crazy because like, Larry like

played along with that shit, man.

Like as a kid, you look like,

''Man, this dude is
fucking cool,'' but also,

and he got like a $1.5 million budget,

but he's still fighting
with a heroin addiction.

And these crazy-ass kids in his film.

There was always something happening.

It was like corralling cats.

None of us know what the fuck we're doing.

None of us know movies, none
of us understand continuity.

You know, ''Cut, okay,
break for the night.''

And then the next day,

Justin comes back with a broken arm.

Your lead, all of a
sudden is wearing a cast.

Like how the fuck are you
going to hide that, you know.

I didn't know what scale it was on,

I didn't know what it was about.

You get plopped into this
thing, cameras everywhere.

I didn't really look at the big picture.

We shot that party scene,

which is at my character's house,

where all this stuff goes down at the end.

All these kids in this tiny-ass apartment

and they were night
shoots, and it was like,

just kinda bopping around the room.

''Okay get this, get this, get this.''

And then, ''Okay, oh, you know what?''

''We gotta shoot this now.''

So they, ''Okay Jonny, we
need you to go sit there now''

''and make out with Michelle.''

You know, ''I need you to put your hand''

''in between her crotch,''
and like, you know,

Larry's like screaming at me like,

''Rub her crotch harder, man.

''Like, come on, like really
rub her crotch,'' you know?

And it's like, you're like, ''Oh my God.''

Like you know, this is
not like normal, right?

This is not normal, and you know,

I remember kind of feeling a
bit pressured there and stuff.

Here's my tongue and here's a camera

and you know, really wild.

You know, you're a 16-year-old kid.

You don't know what's what,
and you're super stoned.

And you're like, you know,

you're not thinking about
these things really.

You're just like,

''Well, I'm just going
with the flow,'' you know?

You know, they were like,

''Then were gonna do this scene, guys.''

And we're at a party, whatever.

We had our shirts off, they
were like, we got, you know,

''You guys just going to smoke and talk.''

Smoke and talk.

They had a tray of mad pre-rolled blunts.

They came, we smoke, they're like, ''Cut.''

We'd light another blunt.

It was like, ''Cut,'' light another blunt.

'Cause we had to, you
know, have a fresh blunt

every time we started.

I remember us being squished,

fucking smoking weed and just talking,

you know, just talking for
like a hour, they were filming.

We smoked like 10 blunts,
we were high as hell.

We did another scene that
night, I literally fell asleep.

And in the scene, you see me sleeping.

I'm sleeping, I'm really knocked out.

I wake up, 6:00 in the morning,
they're like, ''It's a wrap.''

I'm like, ''Oh shit, all
right, we done? Cool.''

That's how young I was,

I couldn't even stay
up all night, you know?

I was trying to, trying to
hang, but that didn't happen.

I remember filming that pool scene.

I remember them really egging Harold on.

He takes his dick out in, in the script,

Black man's lasso like, so
it wasn't like spontaneous.

But I remember him
being like, ''Uhh...'' you know?

Even Harold, for Harold, it
was a little like, ''Okay.''

You know, and I remember
them sort of egging him on

and like, kinda getting
him riled up to a point

that he would be able
to like, do that and,

and, you know, be that
sort of gregarious with it

and all that stuff.

But I remember Larry totally
getting Harold riled up.

Like Larry knew how to
get that performance

out of Harold.

Like, holy fuck, like it's the antithesis

of, you know, any sort of
like standards and practices.

And I remember being like,

kinda like, ''Whoa,'' you know?

Like here I am coming
from my mom being like,

yo, you wear two pairs of
fucking underwear

and then like, here's Harold
with his dick out, you know,

like in my face, like
you know, and I'm like,

''Oh shit, like, this is real.''

Like this is, ''Okay, so this is what''

''my mom was talking about.''

Everyone's reaction is real.

Like I think I'm like,
''Yo look at his dick.''

And like, you know, all
the girls are like,

You know, it's pretty, it's pretty wild.

You know, it still was a shock.

Justin was so natural,
it was so easy for him.

And you would hear people
on the set always say it.

''Man, he's such a natural.''

Yo, Ham.

That attention, like lifted him up.

It lifted him out of all those

traumatic experiences as a kid.

I mean, I remember
towards the end of filming,

like Justin was getting into trouble.

I think Justin saw that the
end was near with the film

and he didn't want it to stop.

He got arrested in Washington Square Park.

The cops arrested him and then

the production people had to bail him out.

I think that was his way of saying like,

''I don't want this thing to stop.''

Justin had this other flip side, right?

Because when he would drink too much,

that shit would cause fights all the time.

And we would always have to
pull this motherfucker out.

That was scary and
raised concern, you know?

Your brothers and sisters
are there for when you fall.

They catch you, they got you, right?

Something was missing and it was hurting.

Then I found out that he
didn't have his biological dad.

Justin had his mom, and you
know, when she remarried,

the connection fell apart, you know?

And he had the bottle to cope with that.

So when he told me how he felt abandoned,

it made total sense.

I remember one time we talked about it

and I was just like, ''Hey
man, I don't have a dad.''

''My dad's alive, but he's not around.''

''You know what I mean, it's the same.''

He's like, ''But at least
you know where he is,''

and that hit me hard.

It's very significant
when you're a 14-year-old,

15-year-old boy, you never
even knew your biological dad,

your mom remarries, you
hate this motherfucker.

You don't connect with
him because he's abusive.

Clear and Present
Danger was dope, yo.

I can relate to the
abuse, and I'd seen myself.

When my mom got addicted to crack cocaine.

I never noticed the violence
between her and my father.

I didn't get turned on to
that 'til I was about nine.

Then I saw it.

I walked into the kitchen
and he was beating on her

and I pulled out a kitchen
knife and I told him to stop.

I can relate to that condition.

I can relate to what he's going through.

Nothing else to be
said, we got each other.

It was just like...

We finished filming around in the summer.

And then way later, Larry
invited the whole crew, right,

To this private screening
studio in Tribeca,

and we got to see it there
before it was released, right?

And that was bugged out, in a good way

because it was, for me, it was empowering.

And it was empowering
because the whole theater

was filled with us.

Every time any one of
us appeared on the screen

for the first time, the entire crew

just like screamed and applauded.

And that, that was honestly
the best part about it

'cause it did feel like
we were in it together.

So even if my one line in the movie was,

I think he was like, ''I
have sex and I like fucking.''

''I don't give a fuck,''
which is just not the thing

that I was excited to be known for.

So even if I had goosebumps of
deep shame and embarrassment,

at least I wasn't alone in it.

We were all together, and like
we were supporting each other

and that was really cool.

And after that, we went to eat.

There was like this crazy buffet of food.

The layout was insane.

Me and Harold was so happy, we was eating,

and the food, fresh fruit
and just everything.

It was like paradise there.

Then they came around
and they like,

they came around and gave
us these bonus checks.

And I think that was because they knew

that like this movie was going to come out

and be a big deal, and
so sorta like hush money,

kind of vibes.

He had like hundred dollar bills

and he counted out 10 hundred dollar bills

and put them in my hand.

And I was like, ''Sweet,'' you know?

But I remember we signed something.

I remember thinking like,
''What does this mean?''

And like, ''This is strange.''

I remember Harold was like crazy psyched

on his bonus check and went
and bought the Air Max 95s,

which had just come out,
and everybody wanted them.

Literally after the
film, it was just like,

''Okay, back to skating,
back to what we know.''

This guy Steven Collins?

That's good, no that's good.

Steven Collins, Jeff
Ping, break out the center.

Mad, though.

My favorite skaters.

- Just drilling, yo.
- Whatcha doing?

Ivan, definitely Ivan.

Ryan Hickey.

Ryan Hickey, definitely.

We were only concerned about
the basic needs to survive.

Where's the next meal coming from?

Where's the roof over my head?

What's next, you know?

We were left where we started from.

After that I didn't see Larry at all.

Larry was hanging out with
us every day for years,

and then just he was gone.

Then I done heard it's gonna be

at the Cannes Film
Festival, which is great.

Nobody was invited, not even Justin.

None of the kids was invited.

That was like a slap in the face.

When it came to those award shows

and all these accolades coming,

crickets, crickets.

Larry and Harmony, those were
the representatives of Kids.

The press conference after
the showing of the movie Kids

that I'm sure you saw in

this morning.

You have a question to ask,

please signal ahead of time.

Go ahead.

Mr. Clark, Carlos Balard from Columbia.

Does youth in New York
have other values than sex,

and other interests in life?

Well, I think when you're
a kid at a certain age,

that's what you think about,

you think about sex all the time.

Richard Brooks, from the London Observer.

Can I just ask Mr. Clark a question?

How old are some of
the actors in the film?

- Well you saw the film?
- Yeah.

They're all like, you
know, different ages.

As regards some of the
more explicit scenes,

what age are some of the
children, the youngsters there?

Which scene?

Well, some of the harder-hitting scenes.

You said earlier that
teenagers only think about sex,

And violence, I said.

And violence, but particularly sex.

And I think we've all been
teenagers at one time or another.

So we all know that we've
all thought about sex,

like crazy teenagers.

Right.

So what's the purpose of the movie?

To make a good movie
and entertain you.

- Yeah?
- Yeah.

When you say an appropriate
age, what do you mean?

I mean, they were, you know,

they were the right age for the movie,

I don't know what you mean.

What does that mean?

What age?

Yes, were they underage?

Which people, you know, specifically?

Well.

Have the actors really used
drugs during the shooting,

or was it just pretending?

You talk, are you asking me?

There was no drugs.

No drugs were used,
no, absolutely not, no.

Not even real whippits?

Sir, was it easy to put together a cast

where you would have young girls

that would have to appear naked?

Listen, if I sound angry,
I hope I don't sound angry,

but I haven't done this before.

And some of these questions
sound like challenges, you know?

Like, ''Why did you do
this, why did you do that?''

Fuck, I don't know, you know?

- Well...
- It's a movie, man.

It's like, you know, movie, movie.

Ladies and gentlemen,
thank you very much.

There's a new film in some
theaters around the country.

This one is called Kids.

This weekend, Kids opened in big cities

around the country.

Picked up and released
by the Weinstein brothers,

It's a little movie which
cost a million dollars to make

about kids in their middle teen years,

crashing through life without supervision

or structure in New York City.

It was my life basically,
that's how I grew up.

They had it down to a T.

Justin was here when the first

magazine article came out about it.

He was just like, ''Oh,
look at this, look at this.''

And it was dope.

We knew things were gonna
happen because of it,

and he kind of felt that way too.

I was really excited for him.

Editorial write-ups and
reviews it got, it was insane.

- It has an authenticity to it.
- Yes it does.

Just kind of blows a
lot of other fiction films

out of the water.

What's making news in
America tonight? Kids.

It's the unexpected hit of
the year, moving to over

160 locations around the
country this weekend.

But I'm like, ''Whoa, people
really want to see this'',

''this must be doing well.''

Well, people just started
saying things to me like,

''You're the girl who was in that movie.''

And I remember realizing that, ''Oh my God'',

''this is actually a really big thing.''

It was like on the cover of Newsweek.

''KIDS'' A wake up call to the world
And I remember like people being like,

''Do you know you're on
the cover of Newsweek?''

The movie's huge.

So we go see the film,
the lines was still around

the block long, and this is
my first time in the public.

And I'm sitting there
and we're all together,

we're watching the
movie, and I'm just like,

I'm, I don't know, I
don't know what to think.

I see myself giving a
tutorial on how to take cigars

and take out the tobacco
and then replace it

with marijuana, on a screen.

And everybody's coming outside
and everybody was like,

''Oh, that's them, that's
them,'' da da da da da.

Everybody's like, ''Hey,
that's them from the film.''

The initial reactions
to this film by people

who just saw it were interesting
because they related to it

as if somehow it was a documentary.

- Yeah.
- They didn't believe that those were actors,

and that that was dialogue.

Most people thought
it was a documentary.

Most people.

Very scary, it's very scary.

It is not a pretty picture.

They hang out, act out,
skate fast, go nowhere.

They swill beer, swear,
smoke dope, have sex.

It's a deeply shocking
and disturbing film,

which feels absolutely authentic.

And everywhere produced
lively arguments.

Is this real?

You want to pound this kid.

Yeah, I hear what people are saying.

I felt somewhat sort of exposed.

Not in a good way though, you know?

And not in a comfortable way.

Maybe my own insecurities
with myself, right?

This isn't gonna work for me.

Well, get him outta here.

I have no control.

Hey what, what, what?

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
- Get out of here, enough.

Go take your board,

get out of here.

I felt like I was being judged.

I'm starting to feel like, that aggression

from where I'm growing up.

I might get violent, and I
didn't wanna get violent,

but it was there.

That's gonna turn me in a direction

that I cannot turn from.

I need to get away.

How is this wrong,
what's wrong about this?

No, let me just, here for it, man.

But Harold wanted to
be in people's minds,

and remembered and spoken of.

- Hey, great movie.
- Thank you very much.

Excellent job.

Watch this.

Right ‘cause I recognize you.

Right on.

But you know, obviously you don't
know him the way he knows you.

It's okay, tell him I said, “What's up?”

All right.

I see you around the neighborhood,
and she said you were in the movie.

I haven’t seen it yet.

Right on.

How did you get in the movie?

My boy hooked it up.

Harold?

Nah, my name's Chris.

Yo, where Telly at, man?

You played great in that movie, yo.

I was like, ''Yo, did you see,
that's my boy Harold, dog!''

Aight.

What are you girls doing tonight?

- You are Harold.
- That's Harold.

It was really big in like London and Japan

- and all that stuff.
- Know that, word.

I don't know, I think, I think I could

do any fucking film,
I think I could blow any film.

Like I could bust like Samuel Jackson.

I'm just telling you straight up.

I could, I could, I know I can do it.

I know I could just have people,

and get attention from all people

from all across America, around the world.

There you go, there you have it.

I have some animosity towards the film

because it's part of the reason why

a lot of the guys from the
crew kinda stopped skating

and started hanging out,
you know what I mean?

My friends were going out
a lot and partying a lot

and going out, starting to go
out to clubs and stuff a lot.

At the drop of a dime, they
would sell their set up or something

to get money to go out that
night, you know what I mean?

I didn't like people
from outside the circle

that didn't skate, they don't understand.

We all came from fucked
up family situations,

like the reality of all of that
shit, you know what I mean?

They just see like these, these,

these cool fucking dudes in a movie,

not a care in the world.

It always seemed like those people

brought some bad shit to the mix,

bad influences and whatnot.

And I still wanted to skate.

People started changing, man.

At the age of 19, our next
guest wrote the screenplay

for what has turned out to
be the most talked-about

film of the year, it's called Kids.

Ladies and gentlemen, here
he is, Harmony Korine.

Harmony, come on out and
say hello to the folks.

I heard through the grapevine.

Harmony got like some three-picture deal.

That's dope, got his success.

And you, you wrote it
when you were 19 years old,

and how do you get it
turned in from a script?

How do you get it turned
into a motion picture?

- Well I'm not sure.
- Yeah.

Audience laughing

I mean, Harmony lived
right around the corner from the shop.

We would see him like
occasionally walk by and say hi.

I felt him distancing
himself from the crew.

It wasn't like Washington Square Park,

we would hang out, and
skate with us all day.

It was like, ''Yo,'' gone.

I remember watching Harmony transform

into like a person that
I didn't recognize.

At first I took it a
little personal, right?

I felt betrayed, I felt used,

We didn't treat each other like that.

Then I was like, ''Yeah whatever,
I'll just keep it moving.''

You know, ''I got my brothers,
do what you need to do.''

You know?

We was once slumming for a long time,

but we're doing, we're doing okay now.

The 1996
Independent Spirit Awards.

Whoo, ladies and gentlemen,

we're here today to
celebrate independent film.

The leading roles created
an opportunity for themselves.

There was an avenue open for them

to pursue a career in acting further.

And the Spirit award goes to

Justin Pierce for Kids.

I'm supposed to say
something right now, thank you.

- I'd like to thank my mom first, obviously.
- Definitely.

For Larry Clark,
Harmony Korine for writing this,

who this award really goes to, obviously.

Because I wouldn't have said
nothing that he didn't write.

So, now it's Harold's turn to talk.

I'd like to thank my moms.

My dad, he locked up in LA.

And I'd also like to
thank my family.

That's basically it.

Peace.

Thank you.

I remember him talking to me about it,

you know, that he's going to move to LA

and things like that, you know?

'Cause he wanted to, you know,

see how we would react, you know?

And at first he was kind of like nervous,

but all the homies was like,

''Nah dude, you gotta be
out, you gotta do it.''

'Cause he didn't want to leave.

He didn't want to leave New York.

He didn't wanna leave his family.

This is real, Justin
breaking niggers down

like Evander Holyfield, chill.

’Til the next episode.

What could he do to get
from point A to point B?

And point B is, you know,
having food, clothing,

and shelter, some sense
of normalcy and safety.

Assumed he could find that in acting,

and you know, what better place to go

than the West Coast to do that.

You got 120 selections
that I feel with the beat.

I'm in New York City, got the tickets.

You can't even buy this good in New York.

Justin moved out here way
before, like anybody else did.

Justin was kind of like the pioneer.

Yeah Justin, you ready to break out?

I'm ready, dude I can't wait.

I would come out here,
hang out my girlfriend,

go back to New York, you know?

And same for Harold.

You running one of those
max things, whatever?

I mean like, a...

Sort of like this free flowing,

New York to LA kind of vibe.

- So we stopped like...
- Hi, how are you?

Everybody here is from New York
right here, except for like, two.

After a while, you
get used to some shit.

That's fucked up.

Just take your dead
ass, take it on the run.

I ain’t even fucking with this, kid.

I remember Harold, like just
going up to everybody like,

''Yo, I'm Kids,'' like,
''Yo, what's up,'' like,

''Let's work together, you
know, put me in your movie.''

''Oh hey, nice to meet you, man.''

''Phenomenal penis in that film,''

''we should talk about working together.''

You know, you're like, ''What?

What the fuck is going on?''

Now get this guy, get this guy.

Laughing.

There's that much raw unadulterated

brilliance and talent in that life.

You know, Harold would get
auditions, and I would like

have to help him, like studying
for auditions and stuff.

'Cause some learning issues,

I would help him out, help
him memorize the stuff,

help him go over it, you know.

Obviously Justin was
getting a lot of attention.

You know, Justin would
get all these movies

and all of sudden it's like,
you know, he is famous.

Everybody right is
pretty much, represents.

So we're going to represent
like we down South East.

New York.

San Francisco, exactly.

I’m pretty much Southern
comfortable right now.

Girl laughing

I started getting calls
from Justin, right, from Cali.

Yo, he'd call me.

And we would talking
and chopping it up, right?

''Yo how's it going, I'm
doing well,''

I could hear, I could hear
it that he was lonely.

- Hey.
- What up, beat.

Hey yo boss, what's the beat.

We all knew he was super lonely
because he would tell us.

The drinking didn't help.

It stimulated more animosity and rage.

Yeah, I lost my dad at 12
and a half, but I knew him.

But he didn't.

He always felt alone.

How do you think you would
feel, your friend is,

comes from the bottom
and is starting to

make a better life for himself and have

all these opportunities,
and he's telling you that,

''There's something bothering me so deep''

''that I don't even want
none of this shit no more.''

That's heavy.

Larry started doing art
shows with all the photos

he had taken pre-Kids.

Went to this gallery on Prince Street.

I remember walking in there and I seen

a picture of me, and pictures of Harold,

pictures of all of us, just everybody.

Like the walls were lined
with pictures of us.

I think I counted about 51 photos.

They all had sold out signs next to them.

I was like, ''Whoa, that's crazy.''

And the prices were like 3100, 2800, 42.

I was like, ''Damn, this dude
is killing it,'' you know?

I just assumed there
wouldn't be any pictures of me

'cause I don't remember
him taking any pictures.

And then when we went
down and looked at them,

they were all kinds of
pictures of, of us, you know?

And that was interesting,
'cause I was like,

''Wow, I don't remember this at all.''

He never reached out to anyone and said,

''This did so well, here,'' you know?

Like, ''You live in the
projects, like on a fucking''

''foam sofa, that's in
your hair half the time, like...''

''Here's a little
extra or something.''

No, that never happens.

He got what he wanted.

Okay, we get that feeling like,

''Yeah, we... yeah!''
Great, loved it.

That was gratifying too,

but there was also a flip side.

So now the movie's huge.

It grossed 22 million.

1.5, and get back 22?

Somebody's eating.

That's a, that's, that's a lot.

''Here's your thousand dollars,
and we own this, later.''

It was clearly calculated
by someone with experience

on how to manipulate us
into giving up so much

based on where we come from
and what we've experienced.

That felt off, you know?

That's when that resentment

really started to build up, you know?

What the fuck.

- We are in...
- How you doing?

Long Beach, California.

Harold was frustrated, and
he was trying different things.

But things weren't hitting for him.

Harmony, Rosario, Chloe,
they were doing great.

I mean, they just catapulted.

They had this support system,

we didn't have any of that.

And he wasn't necessarily jealous of them,

he just wanted to be like

where they were headed, you know?

That Kids cloud was hovering around us

forever now, you know?

So our crew ended up being
all the kids from Kids.

That's what we were labeled as.

You know, he would go out all the time

because that's what he did.

Now we go to parties where like, you know,

Leonardo DiCaprio are hanging out

and all these big wigs are hanging out.

Leonardo DiCaprio is like,
''Yo, that's my favorite movie.''

And you know, Harold is like
swept up by Leonardo DiCaprio

and his crew of people.

Man, Leonardo DiCaprio
is downstairs and shit.

We're gonna hang out.

You know, there's a
million fucking sycophants

and there's people that are like,

''Oh, you know, I'll sell
you the fucking world.''

''I'll sell you fucking dreams.''

And I think Harold got
caught up in that for sure

and liked it, you know?

I mean, Harold liked it.

So this a high class fucking place.

They're doing drugs and shit.

They're doing drugs
and they don't want get

the behind the scenes shit.

He starts getting
into drugs and alcohol.

Had a rough night.

Somebody's going to
get hurt from this shit.

'Cause he don't have
no parents to send him

to Betty Ford and clean up.

And that triggered off a lot of concern.

When I moved to Los Angeles in 1998,

I was going there to do Teach for America,

and to teach in Compton.

We went to this party
in the Hollywood Hills

and Justin was there.

And, and Justin was there with
his, with his girlfriend, Gina.

She was super nice.

And I remember feeling so happy,

and he seemed really happy too.

So I ended up living across
the street from them.

Justin and Gina were so welcoming

and they had this awesome
house and they had a backyard.

They were like boo’d up.

You know, they were like
living their romantic,

like happy domestic life together.

I was skateboarding a lot,
and I was going to LA a lot.

So I would always stay with Justin.

I would even read with him sometimes.

Like I was a big supporter of
it, did a film with Ice Cube.

He was trying out for Lord of the Rings.

And I was like, ''Yo, Lord of the Rings.''

''Yo, Lord of the Rings.''

I was like, ''Wow, that's sick.''

I was like, ''This kid is going up.''

''He's going, and he's not stopping.''

So how does that work?

You're hanging around in
Washington Square Park.

You're on a skateboard.

And then you're at a movie,
and now you're in Hollywood

and you've made two more pictures?

A Brother's Kiss movie
will come out in the fall.

Uh-huh, so you're an actor now.

Now I am, yeah.

Uh-huh.

Marker.

Acting was good for him.

Like I used to make fun of
him all the time for it.

'Cause like, you sit there for a second

and get into character like,

''You fucking cheesy motherfucker.''

Like you know, I used to make fun of him

all the time for it, but
it was really good for him.

Where do you see yourself
in, like five years from now?

Well do you think you're still
going to be doing acting?

Oh yeah definitely, definitely.

Made up my mind, and
I'm not gonna give up.

It must've been like 4:00 and 5:00

in the morning or something.

Gina and Justin, and
they seem like a little,

maybe they were tipsy
or drunk or something.

They were like ringing my
doorbell and telling me,

''Hey, like come with us to
Vegas, we're gonna get married.''

Like they were so excited
and they were not only

like happy together, but they
were like giddy, you know?

And it turned out that Gina was pregnant.

He was like, ''This is so great.''

I was like, ''This is so
great, this is so exciting.''

And Justin knew he
needed it, he knew it.

And a father is a way for
him to fill himself up

and he was happy because

he was starting to gain stability.

In his day-to-day life there was,

there was a lot that looked to be very

like comforting in ways that like

he hadn't really had before.

They always just seemed really solid.

And then, and then she lost the baby.

They were so devastated.

One day Gina called me
and she was really scared.

And she asked me if I could come over.

She was like, ''Can you come over?''

''I really need you to talk to Justin,''

''and I'm feeling scared.''

I think he had like pulled a knife on her

or something like that.

So she had run away, but she was like,

''Can you please go over there?''

Like she was worried about him.

I went over there and
he seemed really upset

and like upset at himself.

That's the sense I got was like,

''Oh, shit like I'm fucked up.''

''I'm fucked up in the head,
and like, I fucked up.''

I remember saying, ''You know,
sometimes in the moment'',

''things seem really, really
hard, but then like, you know,''

''if you just like go to sleep
and wake up the next day,''

''like you feel better.''

He was feeling really afraid

that things were not gonna work out.

What I felt inside for
Justin was deep, deep sadness

around how much pain he was in.

Like he was in just a
tremendous amount of pain.

Their relationship fell apart.

So now you alone to deal

with your darkness and you can't.

I remember talking to me about it.

He said, ''Yo man, I feel
like killing myself.''

And I said that, ''That shit is selfish.''

''You know what I'm saying?''

'''Cause you're trying to run
from something that you can't.''

''We can't run from things,
we have to face them.''

''So where are you gonna go from it?''

And I could hear that I confronted him

like how Harold confronted me.

But 'cause, but that
was the tough love part.

And that was the part like,

''Yo man, all the stuff you've been doing,''

''you're doing really well, man.''

''Like you such a powerful individual.''

''Get a grip bro, get a grip.''

''Like we all have to find that grip.''

''And dude, you're on a whole
‘nother level energy-wise.''

''You gotta grip up, man.''

Justin Pierce, who rose to notoriety

as a skateboarding delinquent
in the 1995 film Kids

was found dead in his Las Vegas
hotel room Monday evening.

County coroner Ron Flood confirmed

that quote, hanging is the cause of death,

and the manner of death is suicide.

Pierce was just 25 years old.

''Peter, you got a phone call.''

And then he told me, “Yo, Justin died.”

And it just crushed me, man.

He didn't mean to do it.

Like he was just acting
out like, that's it.

Like I know him, like this
was not what was meant to be.

He's not one to be alone, like especially

when he's fucked up, and
especially if he's hurting.

It's really fucked up.

I think if Justin didn't go
to LA he would have been okay.

We were each other's
support system for so long

that things really did start
to fall apart after that.

I don't think if the film happened,

I don't think Justin would've been dead.

So I wish it never happened.

I thought all of this
stuff was supposed to

make our lives better and enrich us,

you know, and take us further.

All this notoriety and fame,
all this stuff, it's over.

This whole, ''We this, we that,'' it's over.

It's over guys.

It's done.

I'm gonna take this as a sign to grow up.

Harold bugged out.

And from that moment, I
don't know what it was,

but I saw like, yo, this dude,

whatever he does from this point on,

he was gonna do to the fullest.

Yo, Harold!

What's going on, man?

- Hey man.
- What's going on?

I separated myself from
everything revolving around that

'cause I have a family
and a whole new life.

That was a really daunting
and troublesome time for me.

Dealing with your dysfunctions as a kid

and how that's rolling
over into your family.

And I was petrified.

You know, Harold's skating
less, he's partying more.

He's drinking more, drugging more,

and he's not getting work.

You know, like acting work.

You know, he's walking
around on the strength

of his name and how he treated people.

So when he started to
break down, and needed

a new coping mechanism,
it made total sense.

I'm a college student, I'm a
fucking college student.

Sounded depressed, right?

Sounded real depressed
right now, don't he?

I need a motherfucking
beer right now.

I feel like people took
advantage of the situation.

They would do it in such a slick way

that he thought he was coming up.

I'm 15 a month, I could
get along with that, right?

I could get along with
that, on the low, right?

Because he wasn't educated

society’s gonna take advantage of you if
you don't know what the fuck you're doing.

This fucking drug dude in Milwaukee,

wants me to write for his company,

and be sponsored by one of
them companies that they,

like they ain't doing good, right?

He thought it would pay off eventually

for him some how, some way.

People ripped him off and
they did a good job at it.

I put on mad companies, mad companies.

So whatever all would that do?

Mad sketchy companies like the one dude

with the coke habit.

What happened, yo?

One dude, like did so much coke

that he fucking spent all his money.

Instead of giving him money,
the money that he deserved,

they gave him a bag of coke.

Shut the fuck up.

And I got mad at my brother
because we're men now.

We're not fucking kids.

And those motherfuckers that
do that type of shit, they win.

'Cause I wanna get paid, fuck that.

Are you writing with somebody now?

One day, we was in
front of Supreme, right?

So Harold said to me, ''Yo,
you got five dollars?''

So I said, ''Yo, why are
you asking me for money?''

''You got money in your pocket, yo.''

''Yeah, 'cause you're gonna buy coke,''

''so you're asking me for five dollars?''

'Cause he's addicted to it.

And then that flashback of when
he screamed at me in the park.

Just like how he confronted me,

I could do that too.

''No, I ain't giving it to you
because that's some bullshit.

'''Cause you be around
all these other people

''and now you around the
family and I'm telling you

''I'm confronting you,
so what you want to do?''

''And I have the right to say that.''

''And I have the right to
feel this way to say that''

''just like you had the
right to feel that way''

''and say what you said to
me, which impacted my life.''

That was my way of saying,
''Yo, I care about you bro.''

Harold is gonna do what
Harold is gonna do.

Fine, he's entitled to that.

I know he knew where I was coming from.

But as far as skating and
acting, that was washed up.

Now he was reduced to nothing.

How you doing, I'm Harold Hunter,

and you're watching armpit TV.

He had to go back there, Campos Plaza

on 13th street between
Avenue B and Avenue C.

That was always where he ended up at.

I remember he would tell
me, you know, he was like,

''I don't want to die
in the projects, man.''

''I don't want to die, you
know, I don't wanna die.''

And it's that, that
cycle, that vicious cycle.

The guy on the top, the guy on the bottom,
and Harold was on the bottom

and he didn't like being on the bottom.

And he used to being open about it.

I know he's not my
friend anymore, you know.

- Damn.
- I think he's a little nuts.

Dog, don't let anybody use you
in this world, all right?

He starts to build up some resentment.

Harold's that dude, he'll say it.

He'll say it straight.

And action.

Yo, this is Harold Hunter,
and this is my story.

But with all the
connections that you had

from like Kids and all the
people you worked with,

you can't get work?

- I mean having connections doesn't help?
- They're trying to look out, man.

They're only looking
out for their self, yo.

After the movie was over,
it was weird, it was like,

we were stars, but we had nothing.

I made $1000 off that
film, it was non-union.

- That's all you made?
- I made $1000.

At the time I was like, ''Wow, $1000?''

Right, but that ain't
shit for what movie...

That shit ain't nothing, dogs.

And me and my man
Hamilton at the time was like,

''Yo man I can't, yo
I didn't eat today or nothing.''

''Can I get some money for food?''

He always had his hopes up.

''They're not going to forget about me.''

''They gonna remember me,
they're gonna help me.''

''Those are my friends.''

They just didn't come through.

What's going on right there?

Every time I tried to talk
to them about drugs, like,

it's either like, ''Mind
your business,'' or like,

''Nigger, you do that too,''
you know what I mean?

But like I learned my
lesson, so why the fuck

I would do some that'd kill my mother?

Right now I didn't want
my brother to disappear.

You know what I mean?

Like me and my brother
had a crazy argument.

Like I'm telling you, like
we're about to kill each other.

And then my son walks
into the living room,

he starts playing with my son and he goes,

''Yo, chill out Ron, your kid is here.''

I'm still mad, but now he's
throwing my son in the air.

They're laughing.

Like bro, we just had a fucking,

we just had an argument.

Like this is serious right now.

And like, I just walked away from him.

He went to a party, and I remember
him coming back, it was like,

like 10:30, 11:00 at night, and.

The nigger was like,
''Yo Ronald, I love you.''

''I love you, love you.''

Yeah, so um...

I think, uh...

but I remember checking on him and I like

bugged the fuck out.

You know what I mean?

You know, I shook the
nigger mad times.

GUIDETTI FUNERAL HOME, INC.
CRESTWOOD MEMORIAL CHAPEL, INC.

Like, are you fucking kidding me? Like...

just guilt and sadness.

And then it's like oh,
we all know what to do.

We all meet up, and we
all drink and we all cry

and we all go to the
wake and we all bury him.

And it's the same thing
again, the same fucking place.

Like it's just, it's
just too much already.

He passed away in the projects.

That for me is tough.

It's tough, you know?

This line of people walking
up to pay their respects,

to see Harold.

People from all over, it was incredible.

What is it about Harold that he's able

to connect with all these people?

What is it about this guy?

What special quality does
he hold, does he contain?

I say yo Harold should
have been the most gulliest

criminal out, being in
a movie that becomes

a fucking cultural classic.

And you end up going back to 13th Street,

between Avenue B and C, apartment 5C,

And still have a smile on your face,

and still wanna make people happy,

and still wanna stay out of trouble.

Yo, that takes a lot of strength to do.

And with all that, this still happened.

There's no escape,

'cause you've got no
one around to guide you.

You're vulnerable.

This is years, I'm wiping
years out of my face.

Years of pain, years of lessons.

It's so hard to be vulnerable,
you know what I mean?

And this world doesn't allow
you to be vulnerable.

If this happened to Harold,

what's going to happen to the rest of us?

I need to heal myself
from all of this, man.

All these traumas man, you know?

I need to fix it up because,

Hey Cosmo, stop watching the movie.

Now I'm a father.

Cosmo.

It's my duty for my son
to be there for them.

I need to teach them what I've learned,

what I've learned from Harold and Justin.

- Keep going.
- Okay.

I'm gonna keep going.

Stuff they were never able
to learn from their fathers.

Okay, one second.

Yep, whenever you're ready.

So, my name's Michael
Hayes and I'm from Canberra.

I'm Australian, and I'm
the biological father

of Justin Pierce.

It had been 35 years since Justin was born

when I found out that he
had actually been born.

The story goes back to the 1970s.

In May of '74 I lived in a
house out in West London.

Before I knew it I'd
fallen into a relationship

with a young Welsh girl, Meryl.

Meryl was quite a character.

She loved to sing, loved
to party in a good way.

We enjoyed ourselves for a few
months and then parted ways.

“I'm gonna go back to
Australia and go to university

“and get a career.”

I headed back here and did exactly that,

and completely lost track of her.

Time went by.

I'd been married and
I had two kids by this stage.

It was coming around to
my 60th birthday party,

and then a couple of
people turned up very late.

And these are a couple who
had been over to London

probably about a year
after I'd been there.

We got chatting about old times as you do,

and they mentioned that Meryl
had died six years back.

And I said, ''Oh I hadn't heard
that, that's terrible.''

Went on to say that the
tragedy was really double

because not that long
back, her son had also died

and they thought oh, maybe she died a bit

of a broken heart because
they said she'd been

completely destroyed by
the, the whole thing.

I said, ''What do you know about him?''

And he said, ''Oh, oh,
oh, I can't really tell you''

''very much about that, except he looks''

''a hell of a lot like you.''

And I went, ''Whoa, okay.''

I said, ''Do you even have a name for him?''

Yeah, I went straight
online and Googled the name

Justin Pierce, and up came a photo

that I swear was, it could've
been me at the same age.

So I stared and stared at it and thought,

this can't be real.

As soon as I found out the dates,

I figured out straight away,

there is a strong
possibility that he was mine.

Not too long before his mum died,

she came back to Wales
to be with her family.

And she knew she was dying
there from, from cancer.

And shortly before she died, she said,

''Oh look, there's one thing
I want you to do for me.''

''That if you ever see Michael again,''

''please tell him that he had a son.''

That secret, it robbed two people.

An awful human tragedy,

that he was never able to find his father.

But Meryl had her own reasons.

I guess she was very protective

of the one little boy she had.

Probably not a lot of point
in me trying to work out why.

I'd lost two brothers already,

and then to find that
I'd lost the son as well

was just another knife being twisted.

It cuts me deeply, that
I was not there for him.

I just wished I could
have had him in my life.

But you know,

yeah it's hard.

What more can I say?

When you're breaking a cycle,

the only way out is through.

That there's no other way to it, but that.

'Cause people think
people from the projects

are inferior in society, and
because you come from poverty

and you know, you don't
have both of your parents,

you can be used at the disposal of those

of some type of social
and economic status.

I appreciate that I've experienced it.

I also appreciate that I no
longer need that experience

so I can peacefully walk away.

Leaving New York, moving
to the Netherlands

was not a easy ride.

Make no mistake, it was hard.

Justin and Harold are superheroes to me.

You know, those are my superheroes.

They made it possible
for me to keep going.

I have many dark periods, which we all do.

Years of pain, and people
are still struggling with it.

Justin is remembered as the
guy who committed suicide

by hanging himself at
the hotel in Las Vegas.

I heard that Justin Pearce
was working the graveyard shit.

Harold's legacy is remembered
as the guy from Kids.

Yeh he died of a heart attack due to cocaine...
- Who died of a overdose.

He died from o.d on coke

cocaine-induced heart attack. double sad.

What about those other experiences though?

Just because your, your
friend can't take it no more,

they don't want to be here no more,

doesn't mean you failed.

That person is a
reflection of us all.

That's an opportunity for you.

It's almost like them
sacrificing themselves for you.

That's legacy.

Fast forward to today, some
of us have families of our own

and it's like people who had
these dysfunctional upbringings

doing pretty well right now, you know?

And they've acquired a certain knowledge

that they passed on to
their children, you know?

What's gonna be their legacy?

Making this place a better
place for our children.

Memories and experiences,
that's what we grow from.

Far as I'm concerned, Harold
and Justin's legacy is us.

Larry Clark and Harmony Korine
declined to participate in this film.

Hey Larry, how's it
going, man, it's Hamilton.

Who is this?

It's Hamilton.

Let me call you back.

Michael Hayes is in
contact with Justin's friends.

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