SHOWBIZ KIDS

US, 2020, 95 minutes, Colour.
Evan Rachel Wood, Jada Pinkett Smith, Milla Jovovich, Henry Thomas, Wil Wheaton, Cameron Boyce, Mara Wilson, Todd Bridges, Demi Singleton, Baby Peggy, Mark Slater, Melanie Slater.
Directed by Alex Winter.

This HBO documentary, directed by Alex Winter, prolific documentary filmmaker (and Bill, of the Bill and Ted movies), lives up to its title. While it does comment initially about the number of children auditioning throughout the United States and not getting jobs, it focuses on a select number of child stars, their careers, their problems, their growing up. There are also some visual clips of child stars of the past, including Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Natalie Wood, and some brief interviews from the 1970s with Jodie Foster and Brooke Shields.

For those who enjoy American cinema and Hollywood stars, this is something of a must. For parents, especially potential stage mothers, this could be recommended as a caution. Some criticise the film as not going deeply enough – but, with the range of interviews, certainly some much better than others, deeper issues come to the surface even if there is not time to explore them further.

By the end of the film, it is clear that Alex Winter has a certain methodology in the range of questions he covers while not making a schematic list. He does go back to the auditions of the child stars, their initial performances, whether they had missed out on their childhood or not, the influence of their parents for good or bad, financial issues, closed sets, lack of school opportunities and friends, careers, media interviews and expectations, signing autographs…, And, some of the darker issues like harassment, sexual abuse, drug addictions, as well as retrospective reflections by the end.

The timespan covered is 40 years, from Henry Thomas, from Texas, auditioning for ET and getting the part, with the older Henry Thomas quite articulate in his interpretation of his past while this is supplemented by a range of visuals. Mara Wilson, who was very young when she appeared in Mrs Doubtfire and Matilda, comes across as a rather poised young woman, again articulate in her commentary, critical of her past, writing a book about her life and career, excerpts from her films and media interviews shown.

The strongest interview is with that of Evan Rachel Wood, strong personality, frank in her responses to questions, reflecting on the role of her mother, her continued success, but, in a sense, her being shot and from the real world. As an adult, she has strong opinions. Also with strong opinions is the Disney star, Cameron Boyce, younger, reflecting on his isolation from real life, his lack of plans for college or a future, with a sad information that at the age of 20, in 2019, he died from an epileptic seizure.

There are clips from Diff'rent Strokes, with the early illness and death of star, Gary Coleman, but an extensive interview with Todd Bridges, also the star of the show, again isolation, African- American background, and in later years, drug addiction, and involvement in the death of a drug dealer but his not being found guilty. He takes the opportunity for quite a lot of reflections about the influence of child stardom. The other African- American interviews are with Demi Singleton, with her mother, but this is comparatively slight, and Jada Pinkett Smith, on her own background but also her concern about hers and Will Smith's two children.

Also strong interviews with Milla Jovovich, her actress mother, her sheltered childhood, the provocative photo build up, sexual overtones, but the actress being given a lot of opportunity to reflect on her career, reaction to bad reviews from people like Roger Ebert, marriage, family and children. Wil Wheaton, who had an opportunity for stardom with Stand By Me, who appeared in Start Trek series but was also criticised and trolled on the Internet, is very critical. Other stars of Stand by Me also receive some attention, Corey Feldman, drug issues and his claims of sexual abuse. River Phoenix, his addiction, his death.

Silent starred Jackie Coogan is also interviewed about mismanagement of his money by managers. And, from the silent era, ending her career as Baby Peggy, very popular at the time, in 1915. She is interviewed and the information given that she actually died, aged 101, in February 2020.

The film also introduces a mother and son who come from Florida each year for the audition season, the mother not wanting to be a stage mother, wanting to encourage her son (as do some scenes with the father), taking him to auditions, and two quite frank-speaking drama coaches. However, he does not give the impression of being a strongly talented child, despite his wishes to be a comic actor.

Obviously, another film of this title could be made with another range of child stars – but this one does present many of them to advantage, raising important issues of childhood, parenting, celebrity, glamour, isolation, consequences…