Showbiz Kids (2020) - full transcript

♪ I've never been alone ♪

♪ Long enough to know ♪

♪ If I ever was a child ♪

♪ I was tied up like a boat ♪

♪ On a button like a coat ♪

♪ Set free for the wild ♪

♪ I'd jump ♪

♪ To jolt my clumsy blood ♪

♪ So, I... ♪

♪ Won't ever wanna touch ♪

♪ Your heart too much ♪



♪ Or hold you too tight ♪

♪ I saw ♪

♪ Behind my brain ♪

♪ A haunted stain ♪

♪ Will never fade ♪

♪ I hunt ♪

♪ For the kind of pain ♪

♪ I can take ♪

♪ I... ♪

♪ Never was alone ♪

♪ Long enough to know ♪

♪ If I ever was a child ♪

♪ ♪

Well, it was just
one of those things.



I didn't know what
a regular kid was

because I didn't
have any friends.

There were certain
limitations.

I didn't know there was another world out there for children.

And the life of a child
was not my life.

♪ ♪

As of 1920,

I started to work.

I was born in 1918,
so I went to work at two.

I didn't realize
it was so special.

I thought every parent
had worked as a child

for their parents.

I had put that together.

It was a piece of cake as far
as a director was concerned.

Anything they told
me to do, I did,

you know, without any fuss.

My three big feature films
were very successful.

So I went on with my
career for quite a while.

We had employees,
we had a chauffeur,

and we had maids,
and we had a cook,

and this was because
we couldn't function

as a star

without those
accoutrements, you know?

They even had
a doll made for me.

They featured me as
the million-dollar child star.

Every film was gonna be
a million dollars.

But my father discovered

that he would not
be cut into the profits,

so my father got furious.

So, he quit.
He broke the contract.

And my career
was over at seven.

Hi.
My name is Marc Slater,

and I'm reading for
the role of Proud Peacock.

Born to a family
of former heroes

in the veil of
the great spirit...

With the kids, I feel like
the rings around Saturn.

I feel like he and I,
at this point,

we're on this outer ring.

Your physical appearance
and your parents.

Good.

I know they say
for every 100 auditions,

you're gonna get one.

Okay, so if we're on
the outer ring of Saturn,

how long is it before we get
to the second ring closer

with the callback ring?

Okay, this is the callback
ring of kids

that have done this or that--

So, it goes-- So, lemme get this straight.

It goes--
it goes audition...

callback, booked,

and the planet is the job. Got it.
- Right.

♪ ♪

We came out from Florida.

This is our second year,

and Marc had
expressed interest

that he wanted
to be an actor.

You know, he watched movies ad
he was always trying to portry

that character in the movie.

And so,
when he portrayed that,

he would do really
good imitating.

The imitation was...

amazing, so...

You have the--
the stage moms,

you know, and I don't
ever wanna be one of those,

because you see them,

and they have told me
that I was a bad mother

because I let him
go to karate.

- Ah!
- I let him spar.

Okay, they said,
"This is the moneymaker."

- "Moneymaker! Moneymaker!"
- Don't let--

Well, I mean-- and I,
you know, I'm horrified.

I'll... be...

right... here.

Acting scared the hell
out of me. Like, I--

I pissed my pants first
time I was on stage.

Like, just outright.

And then, as I was
sitting in the wings,

waiting for my pants
to dry, I thought...

"It's not so bad.
I don't think I'll do that again."

I grew up in south Texas,

sort of in a rural community.

Being an actor wasn't
really on the radar.

Like, there weren't
a lot of guys

going off to Hollywood,
like, in my neighborhood.

The only kind of show business was, like,
rodeo show business.

My piano teacher was

the musical director
for the local theater.

She got me involved
in acting,

and I thought
it was great

because it took me
out of piano lessons.

I thought, like,
I could do this.

I could do this acting thing.

Mama, did our
daddy love us?

I mean, I was-- I was acting

and I was reading lines
and doing all of that,

but I still didn't really have
an idea of what I was doing.

And nothing about
the film industry.

We didn't know what was
fair or what was right,

and you hear all sorts of
horror stories, of course.

Hollywood tales, right?

Breaking news from Los Angeles
where '80s teen heartthrob

Corey Haim has died from
an apparent overdose.

Troubled pop singer

Britney Spears has been
carried out of her home

on a stretcher
and taken to hospital.

Shia LaBeouf taken out
of a Broadway theater

in handcuffs
after an outburst.

Lindsay Lohan spent her first
night in jail Tuesday on charges

of parole violation relating
to a 2007 DUI conviction.

That's 90 days in jail.

The court's also
going to order...

My parents knew nothing
about the business.

Not even a little bit, um,

it kind of scared them,
I think.

It was kind of, you know,

'cause you hear
all these horror stories.

Hey. I'm Cameron Boyce
from "Jessie,"

and you're watching
Disney Channel.

I was actually gonna
ask if I could cuss

in this thing
'cause I was like...

I don't know. But like, for a Disney kid--
- Yeah, of course--

No, I know. It's HBO. No, I know.
Fuck, right? Yeah, yeah.

But, like, from a Disney kid,

I'm thinking about that, right?

I'm like, Oh, should I...
should-- you know?

Didn't anyone ever
teach you to knock?

I did knock.
You did not hear it.

After this, knock harder.

I hated it, to be honest.
I hated working.

I hated going on set.

You know, I was--
I was 11 years old.

I was really a little girl
that wanted to play with dolls.

Well, I always wanted to be in
show business since I was kid.

I used to watch
"Sanford and Son,"

and I liked television and I wanted to be on television.

I told my mom from
the very beginning

that I was gonna be
an actor on television.

♪ But they got,
Diff'rent Strokes ♪

♪ It takes
Diff'rent Strokes,

♪ It takes Diff'rent Strokes to move the world ♪

I did the first Parkay
Margarine commercial

that was ever made
where it goes "butter."

Butter.

- Tastes good.
- You are butter.

Parkay.

- Did you say that?
- No, it was the Parkay!

The songs that I would make up,
the stories that I would make up,

and the performing
that I would do,

people actually wanted
to watch you perform.

It wasn't you,
you know, holding--

it wasn't you holding your
family captive on holidays

to-- to, you know,
see the show that you made up about it.

That was when I kinda put that
together and I went to my mom

and I told her that
I wanted to act.

And a-one

and two and three
and four,

quietly.

Five and six,
seven and eight.

One and two,
three and four,

five and six
and seven and eight.

Yeah, you're on
the little toe on this foot.

Quietly. Other foot.

I'm Demi.

I'm originally from
Baton Rouge, Louisiana,

and I moved to New York
when I was three years old.

Good afternoon, Times Square.
How is everybody?

Early on, I knew

that she wanted
to perform.

♪ I saw the cover
and I judged the book ♪

♪ I turned away
without a second look ♪

Before I started acting,
I wanted to be a pop star.

I think before
I started singing,

I wanted to be a ballerina
or a gymnast.

What was the first
thing you booked?

- What was the first...
- Well, the first big thing

- was "School of Rock."
- The first big thing was "School of Rock."

- Bring it in.
- Yeah!

So, I was in it
for 10 months,

if you include
the rehearsals and stuff.

It was a lot of fun,
and I made a lot of friends.

♪ Stick it to the man ♪

She left "School of Rock,"
and then, two days later,

she booked "Lion King."

And how long were
you in "Lion King"?

- Six months.
- Just six months.

♪ ♪

- And then she left to do the Epix show, so...
- Yeah.

I've been on the street
for 30 years,

and I'm still here.

♪ Just get it, just get it,
just get it ♪

So, she's been really busy
for the past couple of years.

Like, nonstop.

♪ I thought I could get over,
I tried to play safe ♪

♪ But my mom said, "No,
no way, uh-uh, forget it" ♪

I was three years old
when I started performing.

I would perform every, um,

holiday for my family.

I would gather my cousins, and,

you know,
construct different plays

and, oh, play something
on the piano for Christmas.

It was always some
kind of holiday show.

My grandmother made sure
I was in dance class,

tap dance, ballet, pottery,

piano lessons,
singing lessons.

My Saturdays
and my after school

were full of learning different skill sets for the arts.

My mom wanted
to be an actor,

and wanted to be a model.

- And the way she tells it...
- Jesus!

She didn't get
a lot of support

from my grandmother.

And, in my opinion,

she went maybe a little too far,

uh, encouraging me,
um, uh,

to go into the industry
that she wanted to go into.

'Cause it was never
really my idea.

I don't know a seven-year-old
who's like,

"What I wanna do
is go to work."

You know somebody's
a child star

when they're really
good at juggling,

and Hacky Sacks

and, like, the string game.

Like, any kind of weird skill

that you had to master by yourself,
I think I have.

And everyone's like, "Well,
how do you know how to do all this weird stuff?"

Because I spent a lot
of time alone on set

in a trailer,
doing school in a trailer,

- being alone in hotel rooms.
- I'm gonna go home.

You know, you're very much
isolated most of the time,

and it's a very fulfilling
but lonely experience.

It's, like, it's a lot
of time alone.

Usually, you audition for
an agency and you get an agen.

You take lessons,
stuff like that.

But in my case,
my mom taught me,

and she was an actress and an acting coach.
She was both.

And also a manager.
She does everything, so...

Don't you look
wonderful, Willis?

But,
why the sunglasses?

So nobody recognizes me.

♪ ♪

I started out with
a lot of commercials,

and then I slowly got
a lot of different roles.

Would you rather be black
and live to be 100,

or white and live to be 50?

And you weren't
really a child there.

You were more of a mini-adult.

You know,
that's kinda how it was.

And my mom was, you know,
she was a real mom.

You know, I got
to do kids' stuff.

You know, I got to play
Little League baseball,

got to play
Pop Warner football.

Even though I was working,
I still got to do all that.

It kind of-- I was able
to be a regular child

than most other actors
were not able to do that,

but I was able to be
a regular child.

Most child actors don't get a chance to be regular children.

I had that chance to be that.

There was this sort of
snobbery in our family

about acting and about
the right way to go about it

and the right way to
present yourself in that

we weren't gonna be
the cutesy, like, child stars.

We were serious. You know,
this was-- We were gonna do this right.

It was about doing great work,

working with great people,
and like...

We were kinda snobs.

I came from
a family of artists.

I grew up in Raleigh,
North Carolina,

and my father ran
a regional theater.

Still runs the theater there.

My name is Cobweb.
This is Mud. We're fairies!

I'm not Mud!
I'm Moss Ladybug!

It was just kind of normal.

It's just something
that I did

'cause everyone did it.

♪ Oh yes, it's in his kiss ♪

That's where it is!

- Having a party!
- Oh!

Look what you girls
have been up to!

There was a part of me

that just really
wanted to play,

and it was really
apparent early on

that you would get in trouble
if you wanted to play.

It would be very
disappointing to people

if I didn't want to do this

because I was talented.

I just, at a very
young age, I guess,

connected to something,

and was able to communicate through this medium

in a way that...

if I didn't wanna pursue it,

the vibe was "What a--
What a waste.

"Like, what a waste.
I can't believe you won't-- you won't do this.

You won't pursue this.
You're so good at it."

And so I didn't feel like
I could stop because I was good.

So, I just did it.

If you get cast,

I think they're gonna
let these chefs,

they're gonna try
to make your dish,

and then you get
to be the judge of what...

- Today?
- No, I don't think that's today.

Oh, that's gonna be on the show if I get it.
- Yeah.

Jeff, my husband, sat down,

we had a conversation,
and I'm like, "Can we do this?"

Last year, it was easier

because he had
a better job last year.

He just changed companies.

This year, we've had
to go into savings.

- I've got my drawings right here.
- Alright.

I think it'll be
easier for us

if we make it than if we don't.

You know, we're spending a lot of money,
and we're working hard.

We're both doing the equivalent
of two jobs in some ways.

Good? Okay.

Wait, I wanna take a picture over here.
- What a day.

Good. Okay.

- So, how'd it go?
- Great.

I spent nearly every day
after school

driving into Hollywood

for auditions and going to the agency and all that stuff.

I'm the oldest
of three kids.

I'm the only one who was
put into show business.

I was a really successful
commercial actor.

I was really good
at taking direction.

..."Return of the Jedi"
collection.

How's business?
- Not bad for a bounty hunter!

Chewbacca, Princess Leia,
new AT and AT-ST driver

action figures.
Each sold separately.

I had been cast
in a commercial,

and what they
wanted me to do was, like,

take a big bite of this brownie,
and then sing the song.

And-- so, I was doing
what I was told to do,

but there was
brownie in my teeth.

And this director kept
yelling at me about it.

So, I was like
eight or nine years old, right?

This guy's just yelling at me,
and it's super abusive.

But, I'm nine or eight
or whatever. I don't know.

I can't express that.
I don't know how to do that.

What I ended up doing is
getting through the day,

finishing the job,
and then saying to my mom,

"I don't wanna do commercials anymore.
I wanna do movies."

So, I stopped going on
commercial auditions,

and I started going on

theatrical auditions.

I am Landon Olsen.

Hi, my name is
Natalie Parker.

- Kaylee Mullins.
- Karsyn Cameron.

Nigel Gonzalez.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- Hello.
- Hello. My name is Tam.

And I am eight years old.

- I'm four.
- I'm 10 years old.

My age range is six to eight.

And reading the role of Alex.

What do you think you're doing?

What do we look like,
frickin' Charlie Brown?

Juiciest, freshest tomatoes
made in our bottle.

June and those kids have
been harassing me at lunch

every dang day,

and I hit her.

That may be, but instigators
will not be tolerated.

I'm suspending her for a week.

You can't do that.
I'll miss band.

My mom and my brothers,
they set up this kind of,

like, mock audition for me,

where they made me
say certain lines,

and then told me at the end,
"Okay, you were very good,

but you didn't get the part."

And I said, "Well, that's okay.
I can just go on another one."

♪ ♪

I was born and raised
in Burbank, California.

Growing up in Burbank,
California, meant that

you were going to see other
kids going to auditions

the same way you did.
It was--

It was just kind of like the way
that other kids did youth soccer

or-- or, you know, Girl Scouts
or things like that.

I was a Girl Scout
and I went on auditions.

That was what it was.

It felt kind of normal,
and I don't think my parents

would've let me do it

if they had ever though that

I would be cast in movies.

I think they would've wanted to keep it,
you know, very small,

sort of just, like,
putting away money for college kind of.

Have some fun with it,
but nothing really that big.

So, I was a dancer originally.

At, you know, six years old,
I was taking dance classes.

♪ That's life ♪

We had, like, a little recital
at the end of the year,

and that recital was
sort of the thing

that lead my parents to go,

"Oh, he might be able
to do that.

He seems like
he's having fun."

I was the only kid who
seemed interested at all.

Everyone else was picking their nose and,
you know, digging in their butts.

There were plenty of times

where, you know,
you'd go on 1,000 auditions,

and you book none of them.

And my dad is going,
"Why am I pulling you out of school two hours early

just so you can go
and fail at this audition?"

I'm gonna
have to take you.

Once I started booking things,
it made a little more sense.

Just sort of became
a part of my life.

A big, big, big part of
my life for a long time.

I was not following
you, and no.

Dad would not let
you keep a falcon.

I always say genius
skips a generation

'cause my daughter's
this incredible actress,

and my mother's this
incredible actress,

and I have to work
so hard to, like, find it.

♪ ♪

I grew up
in California mostly.

I was born in Russia.

My father was a doctor,

and my mother
was a movie star

in the former Soviet Union.

My parents
ended up finding a job

being a cook
and a housekeeper

at this big mansion
up off Mulholland.

All these movie stars

and big directors were
staying there all the time.

My mom was pretty much expecting

that she would walk
into the room with food,

and they'd be like,
"Put the tray down!

You should be sitting with us!"

You know,
and that didn't happen.

My mom pretty early on

realized that,
in a sense, like,

I was her ticket out.

You know, being an actress,

she kind of tried to teach me
what she knew.

♪ ♪

I started going
to dance class

and taking guitar lessons
and piano lessons

and acting classes

and tried to find me an agent

really quickly,
and, you know,

started slowly
going on auditions.

But, you know,

I just wasn't a good actress.

You know, a lot of people
just talk about how

you know, just intimidating
the business could be for them

at a young age,

and I just feel like
I'm very grateful

that I had the adversity
that I had

before I got to Hollywood

because I was prepared

for all the slick stuff

people were trying
to pull, you know.

I've had so many
people at a young age

try to play me as
if I were gullible.

I was just like,
I'm not the one.

I'd survived the streets
of Baltimore,

so as far as I was concerned,

this was kind of a Disneyland.

♪ Tell me that you love me...♪

There was a belief
in Hollywood

that children were rubber.

They were flexible.

♪ To hear,
a little something... ♪

We were flexible,
but not-- not willingly.

♪ Always will be
true 'cause you know ♪

♪ That I do, dear ♪

was hard work.
I found that I was adaptable.

I had the talent.

That was my genius.

People said, "She's a genius."
You know, well.

The only genius was
I stayed on my feet.

And my family kept
eating, you know?

♪ ♪

♪ Don't care what
other people say ♪

♪ It's you I think
of every day ♪

♪ Makes me smile
when you're away ♪

♪ From home... ♪

You start at age three.

Seems very normal.
I thought everybody worked.

I didn't realize
in the Depression

that a lot
of people weren't,

but I just felt it was
a normal kind of thing.

What's going on around here?

- Oh...
- Kid, come here.

Come on, I'll give you
a free ride. You do it again.

Show this boy. Go ahead.

My mother was, uh,

was smitten
with show business.

Terrific, kid,
that's terrific...

In the '50s, after the war,
television got started.

They'd just bring kids in and stick them around like,
you know, plants.

And now, back to
"Kids Are People Too"!

It must be kinda weird for you
to watch TV in the afternoon

where they're-- they're
showing "Happy Days,"

and they're also still showing
"The Andy Griffith Show."

- In some spots, back to back.
- Really?

- Who are you?
- Opie. Opie Taylor.

Does it bring back
those memories

- of being that young?
- Oh yeah.

Tremendous memories because

you know, the real fun
of a situation like that

are the relationships
that you develop

- with the people.
- Yeah.

And the things that were
going on in between.

The first thing Drew Barrymore
ever says to me is,

"How many movies
have you been in?"

He's really real.

And I say, "Uh, just one."

She goes,
"Oh, you poor thing.

I've been in four."

- How old was she?
- Six.

Now, young man, I understand

that you have an alien
somewhere in this house.

Is that true?

I really, I have all
the authority to take him,

and, I gotta tell ya,
I'm gonna take him.

- You can't take him.
- Well...

I'm afraid I have to, son.

You can't take him away!
He's mine!

But it's not my choice.

The President asked me
to come here and get him.

I don't care
what the President says!

He's my best friend,

and you can't take him away!

Okay, kid, you got the job.

"E.T." came along...

E.T....

home... phone.

It was intimidating on set...

♪ ♪

because there were
all these kids there.

Suddenly, you're not, like,
the kid coming in, hitting your mark,

and saying your line.

You're watching
other kids do it,

and you're watching how they
work, and you say, "Oh...

Oh, why didn't
I do it like that?"

Or "Was that how I'm
supposed to do it?"

He gets a little tear in his eye.
Just pretend there's a tear.

Then you'll wipe the tear
away from E.T.'s face,

and we'll play it
that way. Okay?

Real softly, gently.
No rush.

I felt like I had just
robbed a bank or something,

and I was gonna get caught.

When I was, I think 10,

I was cast in a film
called "The Buddy System"

that was a pretty
big studio picture.

Emily was a struggling mother,

raising a kid who
already knew too much.

Roger Ebert hated it,
and hated me.

Um, which I took
super personally

'cause I didn't know how not to.

As soon as you hear
the little kid's first few

obscenity-filled wisecracks
when he walks in, you think,

"Let me out of this theater."

Gene, I think I liked it
even less than you did.

No, you didn't.

A thing that I think
people forget,

at least in my
experience people forget,

you're not just
talking about an actor.

You're talking about a child.

You're talking about a kid
who is giving up their childhood

to be in this thing
that you're reviewing.

No individual
could be this stupid.

This is a very bad film.

Think that just about
covers "The Buddy System."

- Our next movie is...
- But,

the next thing after
that was "Stand By Me,"

and that kinda
changed everything.

♪ When the night
has come... ♪

When I was cast,

and all of us met for
the very first time,

Rob brought us up to Oregon two weeks before production

and put us in a little
drama school.

And took the four of us
through some technique.

What we were learning to do
was get out of our own way,

stop thinking about things,
and just be kids.

- Sleeper hold! Sleeper hold!
- Stop it! I'm serious!

No one gets out of
a sleeper hold!

And one of the reasons

"Stand By Me" is such
a successful film

and one of the reasons
it connects with people

so honestly

is that Rob cast four kids

who very much were

the kids we played.

The thing about Mara Wilson
is she was completely new.

She had not done any theater.

She had not done any film work.

She'd done a couple
of commercials.

She was like taking
a real person

and putting her in
front of a camera.

Daddy!

I got called for an open call
for "Mrs. Doubtfire."

- Your name is Mara.
- Mm-hmm.

- What a beautiful name. Do you know what my name is?
- What?

Euphegenia.

- Do you know what that means?
- What?

I don't.

Everything kind of, you know,
snowballed from there, I guess.

I got cast in that, and then
I got cast on "Melrose Place,"

and then I got cast in
"Miracle On 34th Street."

That's a good one.

And eventually "Matilda."

♪ Tell you a story ♪

♪ Happened a long time ago ♪

It all happened
very, very quickly.

This happened from, like,
five to seven, this all happened,

and I kinda didn't know
how I felt about it all,

but I was having fun,

so I wanted to keep going.

Don't be phony. Be truthful.

Be real.
Don't be like, "Ah!" Be real.

Act like this is real life.

As funny as it is,
I could act,

but I couldn't lie.

There was this separation of

this is what play is,
this is what lying is,

and this is what acting is.

♪ Hey, Jessie! Hey, Jessie! ♪

I booked "Jessie"
when I was 11.

- Who wants a brownie treat?
- Ooh! I do! Luke does!

Four years,

we did a hundred-and-something
episodes of the show.

You guys are gonna see

your favorite cast
members from "Jessie"!

Being on set when I was a kid

because that's sort of
naturally who I am,

I wasn't one of
those kids who was, like,

you know,
causing trouble for anybody.

I wanted to do it right,
and I wanted to do it well,

and I wanted people
to be impressed with me.

- Action!
- Hey, give it back!

And hit!

Or keep her.
- No one was scared of me.

That's the key, right?

If a child actor comes on the set and they're 13 years old,

and the crew's
scared of them?

And they're like, "Oh,
that's the star of the..."

No, fuck that shit.

These people were like,
"Listen.

"Don't do that. Do do that.

"Respect these people and
ask questions and be nice,

and that's what you do."

And because of that, I think

I was so much better off.

So, I was just
sort of lucky to be

in that little bubble of,
like, you know,

"Everything's good,
everything's fine."

But, yeah, a lot of other
people didn't have that luxury.

- Did you learn your lines?
- Oh yeah.

Did you know
what action

or how emotionally you're supposed to feel when you give those lines?

Well...

- Well, no. Good.
- She's gonna work with you on that, so.

- Hi, how are you?
- Hi. Good.

Hi, sweetheart. Come on in.

- Hi. I'm Marnie.
- Hi.

- Nice to meet you. Come on in.
- Nice to meet you. Thank you.

- So, if you wouldn't mind coming back in an hour.
- Okay!

- That would be great. Thank you.
- Sure. Thank you.

"Anything everywhere.
I just, I don't know.

Maybe I don't belong here."

Okay.
Let's stop for a second

because I'm hearing
the words too much.

Do you know what
I mean by that?

- No...
- Like, I can hear the writer's words,

and I don't wanna be able
to hear the writer's words.

I wanna be able to hear you.

Okay.

Do you like
doing this stuff?

- Mm-hmm.
- Do you?

- Mm-hmm.
- Then why are you yawning so much?

Did you not sleep
very well last night?

- Not really.
- No?

- Is this interesting to you?
- Mm.

Sort of,
or are you...

- Mm...
- Okay. Well, that's honest.

I like your honesty.

We're gonna
explore this, okay?

But if you don't fall
in love with acting,

then you need to

talk to Mom and say,
"This is not my cup of tea.

This is not something
I love doing."

You know, I've offered
plenty of times,

"Do you wanna stop?
We'll be done. Let's--"

"No, no, no!" And then,
it's like, I mean, he...

is passionate
about what he does.

I've given him the choice.

I always am clear with him,

if anything,
he didn't like anything,

or there was something
he would be upset about,

he always has
the choice to stop.

You're a kid.

You don't have
to work, right?

Do you have to
pay your mortgage?

Do you have to pay your rent?

No. That's a good thing.

You get to be a kid.

- I have to pay my taxes...
- That's right!

- And understand taxes...
- That's right! All this stuff

you have to do when you're older
that you don't have to do now.

How cool is that?

- Yeah!
- If you want to do this,

then we have to put in
a lot of the work.

Drama-- drama may be not...

it may be not my thing.
Comedy is my thing,

but I'll still have to try.

Try and try. You'll make it.

Try and try.

- Okay.
- Mm.

As long as you're happy,
I'm happy. Whatever...

You good? Okay.

♪ ♪

Sometimes, I'll feel like there were kind of gaps in my childhood.

Like, I never really
learned how to ride a bike.

Or I remember going
back to school and being like,

"What is this kickball game
that everybody's playing?

I don't understand it."

I didn't really
do well in school

because I wasn't used to
setting my own schedule

because you don't have
to develop a work ethic

when everybody around you
is telling you what to do

at what time all the time.

When you have people escorting you to hair and makeup

and to, you know,
to the set back and forth,

telling you they're
ready for you...

Right this way, please.

Yeah, you see here we go this way.
- To the set.

It's gonna be hard for you
to set your own schedule

to do your homework
and to be doing these things.

Kinda miss only having
a four-hour work day.

You go to school for
four hours a day,

and then you work
for the other four.

So, we kinda miss that.

How do the kids in
school treat you, Henry?

They-- most of them
treat me alright.

They treat me normal, um.

But some, you know, they--

they tease me about "E.T.,"

and, you know, some other movies.
- Mm-hmm.

The school thing
was the biggest...

the biggest mix-up for me,

and that was
the hardest thing about

working as a kid.

I mean, they called me
Hollywood or E.T., you know,

but I had been designated
as being that guy,

so I was always
gonna be that guy.

I just didn't realize it
at 13.

I thought I could not
be that guy anymore, and--

but just have friends
and go to school

and do normal things.

I had to finish my
sixth grade year on set.

And seventh grade
was the first year

that I went into
homeschooling.

And so that was sort of
the beginning of

instead of 35 kids
in my class,

I have three.

And they're all different
ages than me.

Like, it's just not, like...

it's just not
a normal experience.

When Demi first started,
I made it a point

that she had
to go to school

and, like,
get a proper education.

As of right now,
this is something I wanna do

for, like, ever, um.

Yes, I'm gonna go
to college, but, um...

Yeah, she can take a little break.
Four-year break.

Yeah, but, uh, yeah.

I really think that this is something that's gonna last, so...

What are you gonna
do this summer

- if you're free?
- Summer camp.

I wanna go to sleepaway camp
because I've never been.

I was gonna go the year
I booked "School of Rock,"

but then that didn't happen

because I was in
"School of Rock."

I really, really wanna
go to sleepaway camp.

- This might be her first free summer in a while. Yeah.
- Yeah.

If I don't book anything,

this might be, like,
my first summer

where I'm not
doing anything.

You know, it was tough.
Like, some of the-- I--

I was in an adult acting
class when I was nine.

And so, that started at like

7:00 or something,

and didn't end until
11:00 some days.

And then I needed
a new acting headshot,

and the photographer,
at the end of the shoot,

just had them kind of
put more makeup on me, and...

like people freaked out
over the pictures

'cause I looked
really grown up.

And I always thought
I looked like a monster

when they were
finished with me

because it was, like,
the late '80s.

You know, it was like
all that crazy makeup,

and photographers loved me.

I was like this
little Lolita.

It was all just so risqué and so bizarre working with a kid.

I mean, you'd never
get away with it today.

♪ ♪

Photo shoots and stuff
were like really...

Maybe it's more of
a girl thing, I don't know,

but, like, that stuff
was much more traumatizing

than filming for me.

I didn't wanna be in dresses.
I didn't wanna be in heels.

I didn't-- I was a tomboy,

and that stuff was
really forced onto me,

and it's forced
onto a lot of girls,

and we're starting
to reject it now.

You're seeing it more.
But, like,

I also know that so many
people have been pressured

into staying into the closet

and conforming
to certain gender norms

that are really prevalent
in the film industry.

How old were you when you
were picked for this picture

- by Mr. Kubrick?
- I was 14.

Did you know what the story was about?
- Yes, I did.

My mother had read the book,
and we discussed the story,

and she knew of
their previous work.

She knew that Mr. Harris
and Mr. Kubrick do

very artful pictures,

and that they are not
a quickie film company.

She had quite a bit
of faith in them.

How old are you?

Jodie Foster loves her life.

Even though she has
worked since she was three,

she doesn't feel she
has missed anything.

On the contrary...

I missed all
the bad things, really.

I missed all the pimples
and insecurities, and,

"Oh, what am I gonna do?
He doesn't like me?"

You know,
I missed-- I missed all the bad things about growing up, really.

♪ ♪

Do you see yourself as a...

a 12-year-old girl,
an actress,

a model,

an adult, a kid?

- What do you see--
- I see myself as a 12-year-old kid.

But that just has
maybe more privileges

and has experienced more
than another 12-year-old kid.

♪ ♪

Leon...

think I'm kind of
falling in love with you.

It's the first time
for me, you know?

I just knew that that movie
was nothing

without the casting
of Mathilda being perfect.

I don't think the director,
Luc Besson,

fully understood
that at first,

how big a challenge it was gonna be to find parents

that would let their 11-year-old daughter play this part.

Hi, Mathilda.

Hi, piggy.

- How you doin'?
- I've seen better days,

but I've seen worse also.

Speak up,
I can't hear you.

It's a belly button ring!

How else can I say it?
I don't speak no other languages!

Oh, and you wanna
know what that is?

That is a tongue ring.

It's that dichotomy
with art, of,

well, teenagers
do have a sexuality,

and there's a part
of me that believes

we should
explore that in a way

that makes them
feel less crazy

and more in tune
with themselves,

and also sometimes,
if it's done right,

it can be a really
beautiful exploration

of innocence
and coming-of-age.

You need them to be sexual,

but you also need
them to not be sexual.

Um, you need to push
the boundaries

while not pushing
any boundaries.

And you're navigating
this super adult world,

which is just kind of being
dangled in front of your face

while being told to stay a kid.

It's like, that's--
that option is gone already.

Kids talk about sex
all the time, but...

truthfully, I still
think it's kinda gross.

I also, like,
knew about my sexuality when I was about 12.

Um, I'm bisexual.

Uh, and that was really interesting to navigate as well.

When I started doing better
in the industry, yeah,

and I was sort of
prepubescent,

and you're put in
these situations,

a lot of them are
your first experiences,

and they're, like, on camera.

You're put into an environment
with a lot of adults.

You end up becoming
very friendly

with a lot of adults,
and, you know,

your mom can't
always be there.

And, of course, especially
in your teenage years

where you're also
pushing your boundaries.

"Am I a girl?
Am I a woman yet?

"I wanna be a woman, but, like,

you know, my mom won't
let me" kind of thing.

I mean, I got myself
into some messes

with-- with guys for sure,
older guys.

I mean, when I think now, like,
what were they doing with me?

I'm like, jeez, what, you know,

schmucks and what creeps,
you know, but at the time,

I just thought, you know,
because I'm so special

and I'm so mature
and this and that.

And I guess I was, you know!

I was like this magical little creature at the time.

You know, it just saddens me

that people would wanna
take advantage of that.

♪ ♪

- You're so lucky!
- Thanks.

Thank you for signing!

- Thank you!
- Thank you so much!

Okay, thanks.

After "E.T." and two
weeks in the theater,

it was kind of a sensation
for a few months.

"E.T." is a phenomenon,

the biggest thing ever
to hit the cinema.

That seemed like
forever as a kid.

I was in San Antonio, Texas,

and people were like,
"Oh my God!

It's the kid from 'E.T.'!"

And I wasn't set up for that
at 10 or 11.

The best way I can describe
it is for a long time,

to me, being
recognized felt like

the way it does when
you're in a restaurant

and they sing to you
on your birthday.

Just that, like,
"Oh God. This is nice,

but I don't feel
comfortable with this,"

and "Oh, in front of everybody
and everybody's gonna know.

It's nice, but, oh, okay."

That's-- that's kind of how I felt about being recognized.

Hi, I'm Wil Wheaton, and...

My experience switched.

I stopped being
a kid who was an actor,

and I became a child star.

And that fundamentally
changed my life.

♪ ♪

I was all of a sudden
getting letters

from people from
all over the country.

Those of you who write hate
letters, please spell correctly.

I was recognized when
I went places for my work.

All of a sudden,
these expectations for me.

People wanted me
to talk about stuff

that I knew nothing about.

Wil Wheaton!
You're our guy. Come on.

I turned into, like,
a teen magazine

teeny bopper idol kid.

I hated all of that stuff.

I didn't like it at all.

It was way outside
of my comfort zone.

It was not what
I wanted to do.

Am I famous?
I don't think-- Am I famous?

It created this reality
for me

where I kind of had
to play the role

of the young celebrity.

The adults in my life

who should've been protecting me from that were like,

"This is the dream!"

And, like, kept pushing
me in front of them

and pushing me
into these places where--

where I didn't feel safe,
and I felt really afraid.

You shouldn't have to
deal with, you know,

all the responsibilities
and all of the eyeballs

when you're that young.

Everybody has an idea of
what they want you to be,

and, at that age,
you don't even know what the hell you wanna be.

It's fucked up
to think about, you know,

your entire adolescent life

is documented for
the entire world to see.

That's crazy to think about.

That's when you go through
your awkward phase.

That's when you go through,
"What am I?

I don't know what
I want in this world,"

and everyone's watching you.

Everyone has something to say.

Everyone has an opinion about
what you should be doing,

what you shouldn't be doing.

People would just
not tell the truth.

Just say whatever
they wanna say,

and they're believed by, you know,
whoever their followers are.

When you get a like
on social media,

you get a little
hit in your brain,

and it becomes this
self-perpetuating,

self-reinforcing thing.

But, what are we doing?

You're blogging for, like,
the YouTube channel.

It's like the Smith
family vacation.

But it's not a vacation
'cause we're working.

Just dealing with
the pressures

of social media alone.

If I had to cultivate my
career as a young person

under the spotlight in the way

as young people have to
cultivate their career today,

I don't know...

I-- don't--
I don't know

who or what I would've
become, honestly.

♪ ♪

We're doing the best that
we can do on the set,

but we also
have to do it in public,

and we have to live in public,

and we have to get attention
from people in public,

and then, one day, it's gone.

And you don't know
what to do anymore.

And that's how you end up
on a shitty reality show

because you're like, "Please,
just somebody pay attention to me,

'cause that's the only
way I know how to exist."

Ooh! Can I get
my face painted?

How about we wait till
the line's a little shorter?

We'll come back.

We are professionals.

Manny? Manny!

We are, probably, a little moe
mature than the average kid.

Uh, socially, we probably
have more skills.

But, we still don't know
jack shit about the world.

I understand that you
see me in a certain way.

People put you on a pedestal.

People think you're really
smart and, you know,

"Oh my God. You're so clever and witty and,"
blah blah blah, whatever.

But that's just because
you're a child actor.

They don't actually know you.

You might recognize Mara,
by the way, from--

Barbara, can we
swap over here?

Just swap Mom.
No, come in!

- Scooch. Just scooch right over.
- Scooch over.

But, uh, you may
recognize Mara

- from "Mrs. Doubtfire," and...
- Yes!

It felt very out of control to
have everybody know my name,

and I didn't feel like
I could trust anybody.

And that's still a problem
that I have now sometimes is

because I-I don't know
when people want me

because they think
I have connections,

or they-- they,
you know, like me

because of an image that
they have of me as a child.

Evan, how did it
feel to get nominated

for a Young Star Award?

It's wonderful.
I was nominated last year,

and I had such a fun time,

so I'm really looking
forward to going again. Yeah.

The better I did,
the more I felt like

who I was wasn't acceptable.

And I don't think that
anybody did that on purpose,

but suddenly, I felt like

I didn't belong
to myself anymore.

I was a commodity that
needed to be monitored

and groomed and I had
to look a certain way

and present myself
a certain way.

And then bring your hand up--
There you go. Excellent.

My voice just kept getting
quieter and quieter.

After a while,
you don't really know, like,

do you wanna be my friend
'cause you wanna be my friend,

or do you wanna be my
friend because I'm on TV?

And, you know,
that's-- you gotta figure that out for yourself,

and at 13, how do you...

you don't have
the social skills yet

to sniff out a social climber

or a person who's
trying to use you.

And I got used.

All of a sudden,
all of my cousins

who've either ignored me
or tormented me,

are treating me
like I'm a big deal.

And I knew that it
wasn't because of me.

I knew that it was
because of the movie.

And I remember kind of resenting that and feeling like,
you know,

I imagine like it would've
been better to be like,

"Yay, they finally
care that I exist,"

but I remember feeling like...

like, this is all bullshit!

Like, this isn't about me.
This is because I'm famous.

And that was the beginning

of not being able
to trust anybody.

Professionally,
it made me, like, the It Kid

that every casting
director wanted to get

a Henry Thomas-type
for the next role.

Help, police, murder.

I remember I was getting
scripts with straight offers,

and we had to
listen to an agent.

- It was just a strange time.
- Action.

And I also felt like

I really didn't know
what I was doing still,

but now everybody
was acting like

I did know everything
about what I was doing.

- 54 Henry, take two.
- We're rolling!

Marker.

It's a funny dance,
I think, when you're a kid

because...

it hits you all at
once, and emotions,

for me as a kid,
were so overwhelming and palpable.

That sense of-- of pressure,

of "you have to perform now."

Go.

Hey, Ricey! What's the matter?
Can't shoot straight?

Oh, wait.
- "Can't you shoot straight." Cut.

- Go.
- Hey, Ricey! What's the matter? Can't you str--

Child stars never
earned any money at all.

It was just considered
taking candy from a baby.

So at 10, I retired,
having made for my family,

between films and vaudeville,

two million that I'm sure of,

and another million that
I'm not quite certain of.

Jackie Coogan was
a victim of being exploited.

His family had exploited
him terrifically.

He endures everything.

I had...

innumerable
outside interests, uh,

endorsements of, uh, of product

and food and clothing.

So that I was earning about

a million dollars
a year, all told.

Coogan had success
as a child star,

and he ran a full course.

But he was destitute.
He died broke.

♪ ♪

I had money, but not
the money I should've had.

My dad didn't tell us
something he should've told us.

That these people were
ripping off his clients.

My dad didn't tell
us for three years,

and they got most
of my stuff, too, so...

And, you know,
the unfortunate part,

when they come to get you,
they come in a little...

They don't come by themselves.

They come in a little minivan
full of people,

and everyone's
doing something different,

working a different angle.

And it's all to get your
money out of your pocket.

That's what it's all about.

The money that
I earn from movies

goes into a savings account,

but I get my allowance.

But what people don't realize,
no matter how little

or how much money
that the child makes,

that it is the child's money.
It's not our money.

I think I felt
an enormous pressure

on myself, like, to...

sort of stay at home and--
and make that peaceful

and have a degree
of normalcy and...

But, there was
an ongoing existential

"now what" with the family.

My mom was there
with me all the time.

My dad was still working
and...

she basically came
with me for the next

four years, five years

on all of my films,

until I was 17.

I think she, uh,

she resented me for that

for years afterwards, but...

you know, when you're a kid,
you don't really think about

what everybody else has
to do to accommodate your--

your burgeoning film career.

We try to keep him, you know,

halfway normal.

He just wants to be regular.

She was coming at it
from a place of...

ignorance, of...

"I don't know this world,
and it's scary to me,

"and I feel like people
are trying to rip us off,

and, possibly, hurt us." So,

that was her front and that
was her attitude, and...

I don't think
it necessarily, like,

did me a lot of
favors, career-wise,

because I think she was labeled

as difficult to work with, and,

consequently, I was labeled
as difficult to work with.

Wait, what?

- Yay! Yeah.
- A callback.

- But, when is it?
- Next week.

You have to
prepare the sides

with a Southern
accent and...

"if the music
director asks

please be prepared to
riff on the songs."

Okay.

Everything revolves around
her right now,

so, like, I don't work

because I follow
her around all day

and bring her to auditions,
and she needs to be on set.

You know, I have to be there,

so we've all kind
of sacrificed a lot

so she could do what she loves.

So, I hope she
knows that, but.

Morning, Dad.

You know, people have
to sacrifice for you,

which I didn't understand
as a kid, but then,

sort of looking back
on it now, I go, wow,

you know, my dad quit his job.

My son is irritated with me
'cause I'm documenting this.

- Why?
- But I'm documenting this

- because I can!
- Great.

My mom was letting me skip,

you know,
my last period in school

so I could go to some stupid audition that I didn't book.

And when it really
hit home for me

was when my sister

would come home from school,

and talk about
how her classmates

would just naturally
associate her with me,

and that's what she was.

I hated that,
and that killed me.

I didn't want her to feel
like she was in my shadow,

or that she was lesser than.

So, there are definitely things that, like,
you think back on,

and you're like that changed
the entire fabric of, you know,

my family
and the way that

we work as a unit.

I think with, especially
with my mother,

she clung to me

during that time

'cause she wanted to
be very protective.

I can't help but think

that I'm sure people
in my family felt like

she started disappearing
with me

when my career
started taking off.

I think it just happens,

and I think we all felt it.

And I think I felt
a lot of guilt for it

that I never really...

vocalized or knew
how to process.

And then, very quickly,
felt like...

whatever struggles I was
going through, or whatever...

I couldn't talk about
because I was where...

I felt like a lot of people
in my family wanted to be,

and so I think I...

I silenced my voice
pretty quick,

and just felt like,
well, I can't-- I don't--

I can't complain about
anything anymore.

Mara clearly has a grip on
playing a dramatic role,

but nothing in her training
could've prepared her

for what happened in the midde
of our "E.T." interview

when she lost a tooth.

Yes. Oh no.

My mother died during

the post-production
process of "Matilda."

I felt kind of lost
and unmoored without her,

and just kinda kept
acting in movies

because it felt like
a constant in my life.

The entertainment industry is
gonna make a decision about me.

Am I a serious actor

who's going to follow a track

that leads to serious work
and serious roles?

Am I an accident

that got lucky in one movie?

My parents put me in
a shitty horror movie...

But here, nothing
is what it seems.

Because they threw
a bunch of money at us

and dangled a trip
to Rome for the family.

Wil Wheaton of "Stand By Me"

must stand alone...

against "The Curse."

At the time, my mother
was being my manager.

In my life circumstance,

her being my manager
was all about her needs

and not about what
was best for me.

I went and worked in a
phenomenally abusive environment

and had a terrible experience,

and I think it really
hurt my film career.

Our next movie is
"Return to the Blue Lagoon."

It is easily one of
the most ridiculous movies

I have ever seen
in a long career

of many ridiculous movies.

I felt so horrible, um,
after reading

you know,
bad review after bad review after bad review,

and it screws you up.

I mean, you're just
becoming a teenager,

and this is, like, your
first understanding

of where your place
is in the world,

how people view you,

and that really put a bad taste in my mouth for acting,

and that really
convinced me that

this wasn't what
I was meant to do.

Like, my mother was
an amazing actress, but...

I needed to find myself.

Very quiet, please.
We're rolling.

You're in this environment of...
- Speed.

- ...a circus.
- Action.

Where everybody's
part of the circus,

and everybody understands,

and everybody's there
to accommodate you

because you're all
in the same world.

You're working together
to do something.

And then you leave that,
and you go back to,

in my case, rural Texas,

where mostly no one has
been on a film set, and...

you start to get
this feeling like,

"Oh, well I don't belong here.

"I belong there
in the circus world.

"So, everything
that fails here,

"I'm just gonna take
this back to the circus,

"and the circus people,

they'll be cool to me."

Let's hug.
Let's all hug and pretend like we like each other.

My mom really felt
like she was

doing the right thing
most of the time.

Um...

but I think where
everyone failed,

moms, managers,
lawyers, everybody, um,

no one ever asked me
how I was doing.

Um, my emotional state

was equated with how
well I was doing...

you know, in my career.

And so, the better
I did in my career,

the more they just
assumed I was fine.

No one really checked in,

especially as things
began to ramp up,

and the fame came in.

No one asked, "How are you?"

You know?
Just a simple question.

The amount of pressure

that young entertainers
have to have it all together

and to not be allowed

to actually be young.

The kind of
detriment that I see

that it has on the psychology

of young adults.

It's a lot of pressure.

One thing that Jaden
and Willow don't necessarily,

they don't have to
figure it all out.

So, there's some pitfalls
that we can see and go,

"No, no, not that."

- We really are proud of Willow.
- Yes.

Money, fame,

glamour,

I have seen people
lose sight of that.

Even Will and I have
slipped into that.

You know, we had to catch ourselves,
and Willow's like,

"I'm not doing 'Whip My Hair' anymore!"
It's like, okay, we get it!

♪ I whip my hair
back and forth ♪

♪ I whip my hair back
and forth ♪

After that whole
"Whip My Hair" thing,

I was just, like, plunged
into this, like, black hole.

- Mm-hmm.
- And I was, like, cutting myself--

What?

I've seen a lot of beautiful
young people and children...

You know, I've seen them...

Yeah, I've seen them...

just be destroyed.

♪ ♪

My parents were
always telling me,

you have to be happy and smiley when we're meeting people.

You have to be
glad to meet people

and you have to be
nice to your fans,

and it could be hard
for me sometimes.

I struggled with it
because sometimes

I just wanted
to hang out with my friends.

I didn't really want to

you know, be signing autographs
and doing all these things.

I felt kind of
uncomfortable with it.

I had some kind of
impostor syndrome.

But, I started
picking up on things,

and it happened
from a young age.

I noticed, like, much older men

being interested in me
and knowing my name,

which felt wrong to me.

I remember Googling
my own name,

which was a terrible thing,

and I saw people,
like, talking about

Photoshopped
child porn for me.

It was hard for me sometimes to talk
to my parents and my family about this,

because I felt like

I was a burden on them.
I felt ashamed.

My parents tried to protect
me from these dangers,

but I could sense them.

I could feel them, and I knew
that there were times when

they just weren't going
to be able to protect me.

Maybe it would be best if
you didn't even mention

you know,
that you came back here

and I gave you all this
ice cream before dinner.

Why don't we just make it
our little secret, huh?

You know something,
Mr. Horton? You're sneaky.

The thing about that issue

when you're young is you're
not able to talk about it.

That's the biggest problem.
The person wants to keep it a secret,

but then you feel ashamed of yourself,
so then you keep it a secret.

Well, I was 12 years old,
and my publicist, he...

basically, got--
talked me into

doing things that
I didn't really wanna do.

I was-- hadn't had sex before,

and he kinda convinced me that
this was the right thing to do,

and kinda told me, like,
"Don't tell your parents,"

you know, and he bought me
a bicycle.

He always kept
doing things for me

that I didn't quite
really understand.

- So he kinda seduced you?
- It started at 11--

Yeah, he seduced me, and it
started at 11 years old to 12.

You know, when I first came out
and told my mom about it,

my mom knew
I was telling the truth.

She could look in my eyes and knew I was telling the truth.

My dad took his side,

and that was the bad thing.

My dad--
It kinda crushed--

When my dad took his side,
that crushed me.

It ruined me, actually,

because then I was on
a self-destruction course

to destroy myself
just to hurt him.

It's something that a lot
of parents need to see

and understand that these
people are right there,

ready to trick you, you know,

and not trick you
out of your money.

Trick you away from your kid,
and that's a bad thing.

In my experience,
I know a lot of, um,

kids that grew up
in the industry,

and what surprised me
when I got older

was finding out that pretty much

all of the young men

were abused in
some way, sexually.

I was at the Golden Globes.

I watched a pedophile win.

I knew. Not a lot of
people know,

but I know that he's molested
boys in the industry.

And I watched him get up
and accept an award,

and I walked out
and just started sobbing.

And a bunch of people ran
after me, and they said,

"What? What? What's wrong?"
And I just was like,

"I don't know if
I can do this anymore.

"I can't keep
watching this happen.

I don't know how to handle this.
This has to stop."

After years of
claiming sexual abuse,

'80s star Corey Feldman
is finally being heard

by the LAPD.

I can tell you that the number
one problem in Hollywood was,

and is and always
will be, pedophilia.

This morning, Kevin Spacey
in a drama of his own.

The "House of Cards" star under fire following allegations

of sexual misconduct.

At least six men
accused Bryan Singer

of sexual misconduct
spanning two decades.

Any industry that has that muh
power and is that competitive,

because after a while,
it starts to become

"Well, who can take
the most abuse?"

Because somebody's waiting
in line to take your place,

so you just start
to allow yourself

to be abused in
some form or another.

Um, every actor
is guilty of that.

They're lying if they say they're not.
- For sure.

Because it's just part of
the deal at this point,

and, unfortunately,
until things change,

there's always gonna be
somebody willing to

- take abuse.
- And stay quiet.

And stay quiet.
Yep. Yep. Yep.

- It happened to me, too.
- Me, too.

It happened to me, too.

People are coming out,
women are coming out

and talking about things
that they've experienced

so that young women,

and young boys, who are
coming up in the game

can have more awareness
that it's not just a saying.

It's actually --
It is actually a reality.

I put a GizmoWatch on him

when I go--
so he can call me.

I mean, if anything happens,
I was like, you call me.

I mean, you hit one button,
I'm in that door. I don't care!

Okay, I can do my...

I'm-- I'm realistic of
what really goes on,

or can go on.
I didn't think that back--

I mean, about children
back then.

Now, you know, the--
always the MeToo thing.

That-- I had some
instances like that

that I had to say
"absolutely not."

I'm grateful that

Willow may not have to

come up against that as well
because it's so--

people are like...

people are talking.

You know?

"Shining Time"?
What does that mean?

Do you want me to get off here?

I had been burned out
on acting for a while,

but...

Hollywood wasn't really interested in me anymore either

because I was pubescent
and deeply insecure,

and I was not
a cute teenager.

I'd been a cute kid,

and I hadn't even realized
that I'd been a cute kid.

In fact, I didn't like being
told that I was a cute kid

because I thought it
was condescending.

I would self-sabotage on
auditions all the time.

Just didn't wanna go to them.
I felt so desperately insecure.

I would look at all
the other girls around me,

which was something that
I'd never done before.

♪ ♪

I had never felt particularly
great at auditions.

But now, I was...

16,

and I was going into rooms

where they were expecting

like, an 11-year-old boy
to walk through sometimes.

And I remember
being at several, uh...

meetings and sitting in
the green room, waiting,

um, and seeing, like,

a producer walk out,

and kind of try
to casually, like...

take a look, and go back,
and then I'd see

another producer
come out, take a look,

go back, and then be
five minutes of silence.

And then a receptionist
would come and say,

"I'm sorry.

"You know, they're not
gonna see you today.

We're-- we rescheduled it."
Blah blah blah.

And I-I realized quickly,
I was like, "Oh.

"They-- they're not looking
for teenage me.

They're looking for,
like, 'E.T.' me."

It's almost as though

you had ceased to be alive.

I had the feeling that
I was a senior citizen at 15.

And it not only happened to m.

It happened to so
many of the children.

They were adorable,
they were wanted,

they were loved one day.

And almost the very next day,

just when they were becoming
human beings,

in a sense,
full adult human beings,

they were told,
"You're finished."

- Congratulations. "Jessie" is nominated.
- Yes.

That is amazing, and you
guys just wrapped up.

- So, how was that, like, on set? How was that?
- Yeah.

It was sad. It was really sad.

It was really hard saying goodbye,
but at the same time,

we're all moving on to bigger
and better things, hopefully.

So, it should be
good for all of us,

and, uh,
it was really sad though because I--

we basically
grew up on that stage.

I think I started to sort
of question everything.

When people would go,
"Are you gonna go to college?"

I was like, oh shit.

Um, no? I don't know. I've--

Like, should I? Right?
I'm, like, confused, and people are...

'Cause that's-- But that's society's plan, right?

My life was do
two jobs at once.

I'm doing school and I'm working.
- Down, up!

And now, you know,
do I do college? I don't know.

Like, why-- why would I?
'Cause I've made money,

but also that-- that would
be good for me,

and I don't know anything
about money, and holy shit.

Then it's just,
like, a spiral of

you know, okay, what--
Stop. What it is...

What-- what is it
that I need to do

to prepare myself
for the real world

because I wasn't living in it.

This is not real.

I really got turned off
to the business.

I mean,
when I was 16,

"A," I moved out of my house.

Listen, I was emancipated.

My mom emancipated me

so I could work adult hours.

You can't say anything
about what I do.

I have my own money.
I'm gonna move out.

I went and got married.

I, like, full on...

just kind of went crazy.

And I understand right now
you're kind of in a tough time.

You actually don't have a place to stay right now,
is that true?

- No...
- So you have no place to live.

Where's all your
stuff right now?

It's at JFK.
In storage.

- Really? It's in storage at JFK?
- Yeah. I've got about...

- 15 boxes.
- What's in the boxes?

Um, well, candlesticks,

- books, uh, picture frames, you know, stuff.
- Right.

- So you just pick--
- A lot of Carltons.

- No.
- A lot of cigarettes...

I did feel like

I had kind of a bad
start in this industry,

and I knew that I wanted
to be an artist.

Um, I knew I had a voice
and I had something to say.

After I turned 18,

and there were no signs
of anything slowing down,

and I had done the film
"Thirteen" when I was 14,

right on the verge
of becoming a woman,

and I was--
all eyes were on me,

and at that point, there was
a tremendous amount of pressure

of what I needed to be

in order to be successful.

And a lot of it went against

who I really was,
and who I felt I really was.

Right, stay there.

Just, uh...

When I hit my early 20s,
I just realized,

"Oh, I have no life skills."

I know how to be
a really successful actor

and do really great work,
and that's about it.

And it all kinda came
crashing down on me at once,

and I short-circuited.

And I also was left
with the question of,

"Is this even really who
I am and what I wanna do?"

And what happens if I walk away?

Born after the original
series went off the air,

Wil Wheaton,
the youngest member of the cast

of "Star Trek:
The Next Generation,"

considers himself,
without a doubt,

to be a fan.

The people from "Star Trek"
reach out to my agent,

and she sent me on the audition,

and I booked the job.

Sir, I know this may finish me
as an acting ensign,

- but--
- Shut up, Wesley!

Everything that I have said
would've been listened to

if it came from
an adult officer.

Generally,
young men were furious

that there was
another young man

on their science fiction
television show.

A hundred million words
have been written about that.

I don't need to
go over it again.

It was like being told this
thing that you spend all day,

every day, working on
instead of being kid,

it doesn't matter,
and we hate you for it.

And then, I turned 18.

I was an adult.
I could make my own decisions.

And I had this revelation.

"Oh, I don't have to do
this if I don't want to."

I don't have to do this thing

that means more to my mom
than it does to me.

I can go live my life.

I can be my own person,

- and I just kinda walked away.
- There.

What do you think
of that, huh?

I think your mom
is gonna kill you.

My mom? She hasn't
been in here

since I was six.

I understand why young people
who aren't ready for it,

and I really don't know of a young kid who is ready for it,

get resentful
and get self-destructive,

and-- and, like, start engaging
in dangerous behavior

because they feel
so out of control.

- I'm looking for a job.
- Hey, man, everybody's coming in here

asking me for a job.
What am I supposed to do?

The transition for most kids
when you transition from that

is you have to
transition into adulthood

and hope that you
continue to work,

but, for me,

I could've made that
transition very well,

but I made it more difficult
on me than it should've been.

When did it start
to-to go sour for you?

Well, it's when
I lost my self-esteem

and I lost my dignity

inside of myself,
and I lost my, virtually,

you know, I lost myself.

So, how'd you
respond to that?

I re-- I responded to it very
negatively, evidently.

I ended up getting myself
in a little bit of trouble.

- You wanna detail it?
- Well, in trouble by using drugs

and doing things that
I shouldn't have been doing.

We the jury,
in the above entitled action,

find the defendant,
Todd Anthony Bridges, not guilty

of simple assault in violation
of penal code section 240...

Wasn't there a time where you actually went to his house, Betty?

- Yes.
- And there you were. You went to his house.

You were all dressed in black...
- He nailed me out.

And you were all dressed in black,
- Mm-hmm.

And you said,
"I'm wearing black because..."

I know you're gonna die.

And I nail-- And he nailed me
out of his house.

He wouldn't let me in.

He actually took furniture and nailed me out of the house.

For me,
I always thought everything was supposed to be fair.

Like, everything's just supposed to be-- well, it has to be fair,

but it just wasn't.

And that's things you learn
growing up as a child.

That you learn things
just aren't fair, you know.

It's not going to be.

From TV star to drug addict,

it's Dana Plato's last chance.

Just one month ago,

former "Diff'rent Strokes"
star Dana Plato told us

she was getting her
life back together.

Now, she's been
hauled back into court

with a judge threatening,

"One more mistake,
and it's behind bars for good"

Poor Dana. You know,
to get people to believe that,

"Oh, you just threw your life away."
It's like, "Oh yeah,

"I chose to throw my life away.
Let me just throw my life--

I'm gonna throw everything
I worked for away today."

No one chooses that.
It's something that happens,

and then, you know,
it's a tough journey,

and Dana had a hard journey.

What can I tell you, Dana?

You're controversial,
evidently.

Are you sorry that
you were a child actress?

No, see, you know, that--
that term really bothers me.

I think a child actress is someone who
only has it when they're little and cute.

You know? I'm better now
than I ever have been.

Acting-wise? Yes.
- And I get better-- Yeah.

I get better all the time.
The fire's still in there.

It is? So, you enjoy it?
- Yes. I'm an actress.

I consider myself an actor,

- not a child star.
- Right.

That really bothers me a lot
- Why?

Because I never was
young and cute, you know?

I got cute as
I got older, maybe, you know,

but no really, I think it's
something that it burns withi.

You know, we all had our share
of things we went through,

but I think for Gary,
it was a lot tougher

because he was also ill
while he was working.

Sometimes when he was working,
we didn't think he should be working at the time,

but, you know,
can't say what the parents

are gonna do
and that's up to them.

If you did, you wouldn't
have done this!

I couldn't imagine being--

like, he had just had a kidney
transplant at one time,

and then he was back on
the set, like, a day later.

And, um,
that's why for a while,

he really resented the show.

It was because he was made
to work when he was sick.

The death of a child star,
Gary Coleman,

who, as a boy, provided
so much amusement,

so many laughs on the hit
show "Diff'rent Strokes"

died today.

My phone rang
and I picked it up

and found out
he had passed away.

You know, the interesting
part is realizing that

the person they thought
would not be here

is actually the last person
standing, which is kinda weird.

It's 7:33 now.
An autopsy later today

will determine
the exact cause of death

of one of Hollywood's
rising stars, River Phoenix.

Today's "New York Daily News"
quotes a paramedic who said

that the actor collapsed
with all of the signs

of a cocaine reaction.

It happened outside
the Viper Room,

a popular West Hollywood
night spot.

Went out the door and, um,

the paramedics were...

uh, working on him.

This young man,
and I didn't, uh,

I didn't know at the time
that it was River.

The, uh...

media wouldn't let
not only River rest,

but they wouldn't
let his family rest.

River and I were real close.

He was a year and a half
older than me,

but he was like an older brother who I looked up to.

I'll see ya.

Not if I see you first.

I looked up to him
as a person,

I looked up to him
as an actor,

and I just treasured
him as a friend.

And then, around
the time that I was...

15 or 16,

he was kind of
experimenting with drugs.

And River and I began to sort
of drift apart from each othe.

Which really made me sad,
but I remember thinking like,

you know, when he's done with
this, we'll be friends again.

♪ ♪

By the time River died,

I hadn't talked to him for,
gosh, a couple of years,

and I couldn't believe
it had happened.

And I was,
and remain, so angry

at the predatory
people around him

who didn't try to
help him.

And I know addicts are responsible for their own behavior,

and I know that,
that it is, you know,

it's important to, like,
hold people responsible

for the choices that they make.

But we also need
help in our lives,

and we need people
to look out for us,

and I don't think there was
anybody looking out for him.

♪ This talk is cheap ♪

I think that's one of
the sort of pitfalls

of being a kid in
the entertainment business.

It's so hard to, like,
go from being a kid actor

to being, like,
an adult artist.

♪ I don't know
how to trust you ♪

I stopped modeling.
I stopped acting.

I went to Europe.
I recorded a record.

At the time, I really
thought it was music

that I was gonna be able to
leave my mark on the world with.

The big turning point for me,
on so many levels,

but especially as an actress,

because I had kind of
written it all off,

was, um, getting
"The Fifth Element."

♪ ♪

I was 19.

You know, to access
a character like Leeloo

that's kind of--
there was no reference point.

She was kind of brand new

and came out of nowhere.

So it was, like, very tricky.

Like, who is she
and how to find her.

Hi.

Of course, when I-- when
I did "The Fifth Element,"

it suddenly gave me this
feeling of control that

I had a talent and that I--

I knew how to...

access it, in a way.

And not all the time. I mean,
sometimes more than others,

and, you know,
that's where you go through your journey

of kind of understanding, like,
what scripts speak to you

when you just feel like, ooh,
I can do something with this.

Like, it feels natural.
You know,

or on the other hand,
wow, this feels so crazy.

Like, I want--
it's a challenge.

Like now, you know,
you get excited

by things that you've
never done before.

Cut!

But, you know, at the time,

you know, it was difficult
becoming a teenager

and having that confidence.

Like, I had no confidence
as a teenager.

You know, it was definitely like
a "fake it till you make it."

Luc Besson said to me,

"You know, look at it
this way.

"Like, your mother
is like an expert table-maker.

"She makes the most
amazing tables ever,

"but you...

You make great chairs."

And I was like, yeah.

I like that.
It's true, you know?

And it was interesting
to be able to help me

kind of appreciate my mother,

but also separate
and appreciate myself, too.

Now with Mara Wilson.

You undoubtedly know
her from "Mrs. Doubtfire,"

"Matilda,"
many other movies.

She's now revealing though the ups and downs of childhood stardom

in her new book,
"Where Am I Now?"

It wasn't really
until I was in my 20s

and I was doing other
things that I could finally

make peace with it.

And, eventually,

I ended up writing
a book about my life.

And I knew, I'd always known
that I wanted to do that.

I understand you're
thinking about becoming

- a screenwriter. A scriptwriter.
- Scriptwriter.

You wrote a piece that was picked up in "The Huffington Post."

- Mm-hmm.
- And it really was about childhood fame,

and in it...
- There's a lot that I still want to do,

and I'm not limiting myself,
I think, into it,

but for many reasons, I probably won't be,
you know, a screen actor,

you know, a big star like that,
ever again.

And I'm okay with that.
I mean, I have this...

I have a very devoted fan group,
and that's nice.

I haven't done a Disney
project in over a year now.

The people who
watch me are still,

a lot of the times,
really young.

I still wanna be a good example,
and I still wanna--

But at the same time, right now,
I'm doing a show about porn.

And, like, I love that shit.
Like, I'm--

That's what I'm
supposed to be doing.

I'm an actor,
and I wanna do cool stuff.

So, it's a weird balance, like,

when you are...

trying to break
out of something,

but I also feel the
responsibility of being

an example for these kids,
and I take that seriously, you know?

How do I marry what
I'm actually doing

and what I actually
wanna be doing

with what people
wanna see from me

and what people
expect of me, um,

and those two things
are not the same.

Show me minimum focus.

Action!

I'm just gonna go ahead
and say

I was bred to do this.

It was about good work,
and it was about working with good people,

but it was also about
saying something

about something that you
believed in, or moving people.

And it's one of the reasons why I did films like "Thirteen,"

and why my parents allowed me to do films like that

because they
understood the value of

showing something that was real

that a lot of people
don't wanna look at.

And that's absolutely carried over into my activism.

I now recognize our first
witness. We'll go in this order.

Ms. Wood, if you would,
thank you.

I'm here today to use my
position as an artist, survivor,

mother, and advocate to bring
a human voice to the population

of 25 million
survivors in the US

who are currently experiencing
inequality under the law,

and who desperately need
basic civil rights.

We need to pass the Sexual Assault
Survivor Bill of Rights in all 50 states.

We've done this in nine so far,

and it's our job to make sure that survivors in the remaining 41

are treated with the same
humanity and dignity.

And this is called progress
and it starts here. Thank you.

I gave up my childhood
for this industry,

and it wasn't my choice.
Right?

I mean, it is what it is.
I really like my life.

I have a really good life.

"Your friend, Wil Wheaton."

It's my last one.
I want you to have it.

Look, everyone!
Wil Wheaton is my friend!

I have an amazing family,

and I am a successful writer,

and-- and, like, I'm good
at being an actor.

It's not my first choice.

It's not, like, what
gets me out of bed,

but when someone's like,
"We need an actor for this,"

I'm like, "I can do that."
Right?

I just developed
that skill, you know?

But when I tried to talk
to my parents about it,

and tried to...

express how I felt,

and-- and express
my sense of loss

and express my sense of...

not having...

not having these things
that I wanted and needed,

they weren't able to hear it.

As a mother, it almost
makes me feel like

did I not do
something right?

Or why didn't
I think to do that,

as far as Marc's
career is concerned.

She always does
everything right.

Thanks.

To you, I hope so.

But it, it does
make you think.

Could I have gone
that extra mile as a mom

to maybe get him seen
by somebody.

But we still, we're gonna do
pilot season again next year,

and depending on how that goes,

we possibly could do
episodic season in the fall.

It's really more
about persistence

than it is about
being lucky, you know.

Everybody else
thinks it's lucky

until you've actually been
there, and then it's just,

you know,
one really good day

after a lot of
days of hard work.

Mmm.

Hello, Erin?

- Yeah?
- Is there any homework?

So you said you wanted
to go to summer camp.

- Did you get to go?
- Yeah, no.

- No.
- Were you disappointed?

A little bit. A little bit
'cause most of my friends

are going to sleepaway
camp for the whole summer.

But, I've been auditioning
over the summer.

I really just really,
really, really wanna

become a well-known actress
and really get my, you know.

When I was little,
I used to always want

my name on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.

I used to be like,
"I want my name to be on one of the stars,"

so that's something
I really wanna do.

I wanna become, like, a legacy
and inspire other people

to do what they love.

That's my deepest dream,

to do something
for someone else.

You face Roscoe!
I'll face...

I'll face this guy.

Three, two, one!

- And rip!
- If someone had told me

that, uh, my life

would've been like this early enough where I coulda got out,

I woulda got out.
I'd say, uh, no.

Have a normal life,

and have friends.

It's a half kid because
I still think about that.

That's something that
I fantasize about.

♪ ♪

I find it very... scary,

and I would
not want my kids

to pursue a career
as a-- as a child.

'Cause I just find that it's
so disruptive, you know?

- Yes, my love.
- My toe hurts.

Your toe hurts.
What part of your toe hurts?

My daughter, my eldest,

who's now 11, when
she was four years old,

she said, "Mommy,
I wanna be on TV."

My instincts are going,
"You think you want this,

"but if I allow you to do this,

you're not gonna like it."

I don't know.
I guess it really is one of those things where, like,

she wants to be an actress,
and I wanna help her do what she loves to do

because she's really got
a natural ability for it.

But, you're young.
You don't need to, like,

do a bunch
of movies right now.

Like, what you need
right now is to

become strong. Like...

You need to be like
a ship with full sails,

with a crew that
knows how to navigate.

Like, I want you
to be so strong.

My son was in
the business originally,

and not anymore.

But I was like, time to get him out, like,
"You need to get out."

You know, because
it's great to a child.

You build a nice bank account
for when you get older,

but you don't wanna
stay in this business.

I got him in a business
that's reliable and great

and, you know,
make a lot of money

and his name won't
even be talked about,

which is great.

I feel like a role model
'cause I'm a mom, um,

so that's really changed me...

You managed to keep your son
completely off of the internet.

- Yeah.
- Like, totally absent.

It's been a very
conscious decision, um.

I think because of the way
I was raised,

I just don't wanna do anything that he doesn't have a say in yet.

If he doesn't wanna
be a public figure,

if he doesn't want his
image out there,

I didn't wanna put
it out there for him.

Also, there's just
a lot of creeps.

So...

♪ ♪

Now, as an adult
and as a parent,

you look at all
of the ways that

it takes a kid out
of their world.

And it's nice to be a kid,

and it's nice to have a childhood that's a childhood,

completely unto itself.

Yeah!

♪ On the horizon ♪

♪ Behind the trees ♪

♪ Something's missing ♪

♪ There's something
I can't see ♪

♪ And something's
missing in me ♪

♪ Over the ocean ♪

♪ To some degree ♪

♪ I'm the same as I ♪

♪ Used to be ♪

♪ At a distance,
I'm still me ♪

♪ Before I switch off ♪

♪ Before I go ♪

♪ Before you drift off ♪

♪ Into the unknown ♪

♪ Uncharted waters ♪

♪ Forgotten dreams ♪

♪ Missing moments ♪

♪ Where they all
come back to me ♪

♪ On the horizon ♪

♪ Underneath my shoes ♪

♪ Still I'm bewildered ♪

♪ By the world
I'm walking through ♪

♪ Something's missing ♪

♪ ♪