The Cast of ‘Mid90s’ Discuss Their Journey, On and Off-Screen

A24 hosted an early screening of Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, “Mid90s,” at Brattle Theater on Oct. 2. Managing to pack the theater to capacity, the movie stars Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges, Na-kel Smith, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, and Ryder McLaughlin. In this coming-of-age film set in 90s-era Los Angeles, 13 year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic) manages to cope with his troubled homelife and terrorizing brother (Lucas Hedges) by befriending a group of skaters. Immediately after the screening, the cast walked on stage for a brief question and answer session almost as if they had stepped right off the movie screen — Sunny was even wearing his same baggy jeans from the set.

The Crimson sat down with Sunny Suljic, Olan Prenatt, Gio Galicia, and Ryder McLaughlin the next day for an interview about making this film with a screen veteran like Jonah Hill. Despite the interview taking place in a ritzy hotel with a view overlooking the harbor, it was immediately clear that this cast was not intimidated by their surroundings. Unable to suppress giggles at each others’ stories, debating over whether the bone is called the “tibia” or “tibulla,” and occasionally kicking each other under the table, the cast of “Mid90s” focused much more on being real and honest with their responses than being dryly serious and professional.

So much of the film hinges on the believability of close friendships between these characters, yet this was not a forced or unnatural process for the actors. “We definitely connected like right away because we all have something in common which is skating. So, it’s really easy for us skaters because we’re all like pretty welcoming,” Suljic said.

And the incredible bonding wasn’t just between the cast. Working with Jonah Hill, a man who’s been acting approximately as long as any of the four of them have been alive, could have been daunting, but clearly he became an admirable role model and also a friend. When asked about his favorite memories from working on set, Ryder, who plays the dim-witted “Fourth Grade,” replied, “It was all the bits. We had all these inside jokes.”

Prenatt, who plays the fun-loving, but unambitious “Fuckshit,” couldn’t contain his excitement as his face lit up remembering the hilarious moment when Hill took a dive on set. “So it’s this dance where you start by doing a handstand and then you kinda do the worm like very fluidly onto the ground and all of us did it but then Jonah did it and just flopped,” he clarified as the whole cast proceeded to crack up.

Contributing to the overall authenticity of the film, Hill familiarized his cast with the era, hoping to help them step into the mindset of a kid growing up with less technology but more privacy from overbearing parents. According to Galicia, who plays the tough but also jealous Ruben, “He gave us iPods with all the soundtrack for the movie.”

Olan added, “We studied ’90s skate films, and on the iPod that they were talking about are all songs that our characters would listen to. It gained our understanding of who these characters are because you can identify parts of somebody by who they listen to.”

Although Hill also enforced a strict no-cellphone policy, Ryder commented, “I didn’t even know it was a thing. I really just put my phone in the trailer because I didn’t want it to ring on set.” The entire cast seemed quite positive about the experience.

From a surface-level point of view, it might seem strange that Jonah cast skaters he could teach to act and not the other way around, yet these young stars demonstrate how their passion and dedication to the sport cannot be easily imitated. As Suljic said, “When I’m not acting, I’m skating constantly so I do it like 24/7. We all do it every single day and if we don’t, it’s kinda weird, we’re off.”

Galicia added, “For me, once you skate for like a really long time and you don’t skate just on a normal day, it feels really weird… When I don’t skate, I’m just bored, like, ‘What do I do?’”

Describing his method as a brand-new actor for making his performance as genuine as possible, Prenatt explained, “Obviously from an emotional standpoint, I’d be just living after I studied the script but realized how I look when I get mad. I’d get mad and say, ‘Oh wait, let me rewind. What did I do when I got mad? Okay, I looked to the left and then in half-a-second, closed my eyes.’”

In a moment of introspection, McLaughlin noted about his slow character, “My mouth is always open, which I didn’t realize until I watched it, which I thought was super weird.” Despite their relative inexperience, the actors attested to a commitment to immerse themselves in their characters and fully commit even subconsciously.

Despite demonstrating a remarkable amount of insight and wisdom about their new profession, these young actors are still just a self-described fun-loving group of talented kids finding their way in the world. Sunny said it all when he put on airs and claimed, “I’m a professional Fortnite extremer.” The film will be released Oct. 25.

Correction: Oct. 16, 2018

A previous version of this article incorrectly indicated the film "Mid90s" will be released Oct. 19. In fact, it will be released Oct. 25 in the Boston area.