Larry Clark was a terrible person

     Recently I saw the documentary "We Were Once Kids" which showcases the behind the scenes lives and stories from a few of the teenagers that were in the film. Most notably Hamilton Harris (the dude in the park that does the blunt rolling tutorial), Priscilla Forsythe, Jamel Simmons, Highlyann Krasnow, Jon Abrams, and posthumously (I think I'm using that word right) Justin Pierce and Harold Hunter - two of the main stars that went down dark paths after the movie Kids came out in 1995 and both suffered tragic deaths.

    The documentary is extremely well made and includes some of the rarest footage I've ever seen of any of these individuals named above. The fact that they usually had someone following them with a camera to film them skating and catch their daily lives is amazing. It even includes footage of Justin Pierce winning the Independent Spirit Award for 'best debut performance' in 1996, and Harmony Korine and Larry Clark's cringey Q&A from the Cannes film festival in 1995. 

    So what makes Harmony and Larry such horrible people? Well, for starters Harmony isn't that bad. You can tell right off the bat that Harmony really wanted to be in the spotlight and really wanted to keep his head focused on his film career and inventing his own stories. What I thought was terrible was the fact that Harmony hung out and skated with the friend group that you see in the film, BUT he faded away from them all and didn't include them in his life anymore as soon as the movie was released. Hamilton Harris states in the film that there was a skateboard shop down the block from where Harmony lived, and Harmony would walk by and say hi but continue walking on instead of fully engaging in conversation or hanging out like he used to. Larry on the other hand though was pretty much a piece of shit from the start and awfully creepy.

    Larry crept his way into the lives of these underage people he saw skating in the park, and all because he was a photographer with credentials and a photo book published most saw him as an 'okay' figure to keep around. That would be fellas like Harold Hunter, Harmony, Justin Pierce, and a few of the others. But Hamilton Harris and Highlyann Krasnow were always skeptical of Larry and thought he would ask weird questions and creep around-because well, he did just that. He would ask pretty explicit stuff to them, provide them with drugs, and stay out all night with them. But just like Harmony, once Kids premiered he was out of their lives with the snap of a finger and most of them never saw him again.

    There were certain people in the film that were not apart of the real friend group portrayed in the movie. Like the lead actor Leo Fitzpatrick who plays Telly, Chloe Sevigny who plays Jennie, Rosario Dawson who plays Ruby, and Jon Abrams who plays Stephen. None of these actors got paid very much money, I believe it was just $1000 each, which Priscilla Forsythe thought was "hush hush" money due to the odd and explicit nature in which this movie was filmed. The interesting thing about the four actors/actresses I just named went on to have incredibly successful movie and TV careers, while the teens from the actual friend group struggled and had little to no success. Justin Pierce appeared in a few movies after Kids, including a supporting role in Ice Cube's 2000 comedy movie 'Next Friday'. Sadly, Justin had a lot of demons and emotional struggles and took his own life that very same year.

    It seems Larry was pretty exclusive with who went to what events and who got more benefits than the others. He usually always had himself and Harmony be the faces of the entire project and not the faces that actually inspired most of it (definitely not all of it). The fact that Larry wanted Harmony to write such a disgusting story that includes topics I won't even name is just disturbing. Leo Fitzpatrick and Larry Clark had gotten into a rift right after the movie came out, but reconciled for the 2001 film 'Bully', and then animosity arose again and they drifted apart for the last time. Sometime in the mid to late 90s Harmony realized what a weirdo Larry really was and he too parted ways and never spoke to him again. He wrote the screenplay for 'Ken Park' around the time Kids was released and let Larry keep it but he vowed to never watch it and actually despises that it was even made. 

    So, long story short Larry Clark is a piece of shit and a creep. Nobody that has ever worked with him really enjoyed it and grew to hate him for who he was. A junkie creep with a shitty camera. 

Trailer for We Were Once Kids - here!

Justin Pierce winning Best Debut Performance at the 1996 Independent Spirit Awards (@ 52:31)