‘Kids’: The Oral History of the Most Controversial Film of the Nineties

Sevigny: People would walk by all day long, just hollering up: “Yo Harmony, Chloe!” You didn’t even have to buzz. You didn’t have to call. It got to be a little much.

Korine: There was no buffer. It was really that movie and then back into reality. Just kind of figuring out how to lose your anonymity. It was more difficult for [the cast] than it was for me. They were more closely associated with the characters.

Dawson: I used to watch it every year. Just because it was my first film, and I wasn’t friends with everybody — that was my connection. But then when Harold died and Justin killed himself, I stopped watching it.

Korine: They were stars before they were stars. Maybe that’s why it was difficult for them to move into Hollywood-like things. They scared people. Justin would go into auditions drunk and get into fights. Casting directors loved him but they were also scared of him. He was the real deal. They were street legends. And they were beautiful.

Fitzpatrick: I think Justin was just drunk and made a mistake. And I think we’ve all been there. Some of us are smart enough to sleep it off and others aren’t. The older I get the more I’m surprised any of us survive our 20s. The older I get the more I realize how none of it makes sense. There’s no rhyme or reason. Harold and Justin, those are the only two reasons I would rewatch the film — just to hang out with those guys for two hours more. It sucks when you don’t know what they could have grown into. But you have to appreciate the time they were here.

Dawson: Harold bet me a box of donuts on the L train we were going to get married. I’m still mad at him about that.

Korine: You have to remember that they were all just kids at that park. That really was just it.