Original subtitles

[♪]

[Jason Priestley] When 90210 hit,

it was a life-changing event.

[crowd clamoring, cameras snapping]

[♪]

[Priestley] But anytime you’re a teen heartthrob...

[teens screaming]

...everyone just assumes

that you can’t be that good of an actor,

and you’re just a good-looking kid...

[♪]

[teens screaming]

[news reporter] Look familiar?

Teenage frenzy as old as your Elvis records,

but this is 1992,

and these girls are here to see Luke Perry.

[teens screaming, cameras clicking]

[Priestley] ...but I think Luke understood the importance

of letting the world know

that he was more than just this Dylan McKay character

that all the teenage girls had posters of

up in their bedroom.

[teens screaming]

[news reporter] Luke Perry

has signed a lot of autographs lately

thanks to Beverly Hills 90210.

About a year ago,

the teen drama turned this little-known actor

into Hollywood’s latest idol.

[Kristy Swanson] There was a time when I was in my trailer,

and I heard a bunch of screaming,

like, high squeals.

Like--

[teens screaming] There’s Luke Perry!

There’s Luke Perry, oh my god!

[screaming]

They were screaming like The Beatles were there,

you know what I mean?

It was just-- It was wild.

[teens screaming]

[♪]

I think Luke had tons of celebrity problems.

I don’t have those problems.

[news reporter] This is a moment

more than 7,000 teenagers waited for,

but the excitement was uncontrollable.

You catch yourself wanting those problems, you know,

but you don’t want those problems.

[Dean Winters] I think, at the time,

Brad Pitt and DiCaprio were coming up,

but they weren’t-- they weren’t Luke Perry,

do you know what I mean?

I mean, he was probably the biggest actor on the planet.

[crowd screaming]

[Marisol Nichols] Luke was iconic.

He really was, I mean, he was "Luke Perry."

[crowd shouting]

[Nichols] With his amount of fame,

you could phone it in,

but Luke never phoned it in,

ever.

[Luke Perry] I always thought that I would succeed somehow,

but you don’t...

Well, you don’t think it’s going to be like this.

I mean, I certainly didn’t think

it was gonna be like this.

[♪]

[Stephen Baldwin] Certain actors,

when they get that stigma

of "handsome" and "good looks",

they’ll go and do performances

to get around that, prove themselves,

but more importantly,

satisfy their own artistic motivations,

so...

that’s my favorite part of knowing Luke,

and having been friends with him,

was that he was that "real deal" as an actor.

[Winters] As an actor, I learned from Luke.

I was doing a show called Oz,

and Luke was the character Jeremiah Cloutier,

and I remember he was a pro at stillness,

and film and television acting

is about being still.

[Timothy Olyphant] My experience working with Luke

was he didn’t seem like a huge celebrity.

He just seemed like a working actor,

and I mean that in the best way.

[Perry] If I’m the flash-in-the-pan,

or all that everyone tells you you’re gonna be,

maybe so,

but I’ll go down fighting.

Luke had a lot of creative drive inside him,

and he wanted to do... more.

He wanted to do more.

[♪]

[Margaret Wappler] Luke was raised

by his mom and his stepfather in Fredericktown, Ohio,

and it’s just this little farming town.

It’s only about 2,500 people.

I didn’t see my first Porsche until I got to California,

so, uh, you know, I wasn’t brought up wealthy.

I was brought up well.

[Margaret Wappler] From a young age,

he loved watching TV with his mom,

particularly soap operas-- that was her favorite--

and then after school,

he’d come home, he’d watch TV Westerns,

and he was completely fascinated by the performers.

[cocking gun] That’s right, Lon.

Now, up in here right quick.

[Wappler] By the time he was in high school,

he knew he wanted to become an actor.

The dream--

it was just completely formed in his mind,

and he would tell, like,

you know, anyone who would listen.

The problem was Fredericktown,

he just wasn’t gonna get far with that dream there,

so when he turned 18,

he picked up,

he moved to New York,

and he began the grind of auditioning.

[David Sheinkopf] I was in New York,

and I was going out for a movie called Young Guns,

and I met this guy in the casting office,

and it was just-- it was just me and him,

and he had on, like, this-

this, like, kinda cowboy-ish hat,

and, uh, it was Luke.

We kind of, like, traded a couple of stories,

and neither of us got the role,

and, you know, we were just, like,

"Hey, you know, we’ll hang out."

I booked a job for a show called Another World.

They would pick everybody up in a stretch limo,

and I opened the door,

and Luke is sitting there...

[laughing] and it was, like,

it was perfect.

Originally,

the goal was to see myself on a television set,

because I didn’t know if it could be done.

Um, so then I saw that,

and then I fell in love with acting

somewhere along the way.

I think you’re blaming your mother for your problems.

She is my problem.

-Is she? -Yes.

Or is it Matt?

[Sheinkopf] And his mom absolutely loved soaps,

and she was so proud of him.

From then on, we just-- we became friends,

and, um, it was a friendship that lasted for decades.

[Wappler] He did two soap operas,

Loving, and Another World,

and after that,

he decides to go to L.A. for pilot season for 1990.

[Priestley] Back in the old days,

when we actually had a pilot season,

it was like going to acting bootcamp for a month,

and actors would fly in from all over the country,

and we’d all stay at the Oakwood Gardens

on Barham Avenue,

so there’d be, like, a million young actors in there,

and then, like, you know,

50 freshly divorced Dads.

Like, it was really, uh,

it was hilarious.

If you were a fresh piece of meat in town,

that nobody had seen,

it was, like, five auditions a day,

and then you’d come home at the end of the night,

and there’d be another stack of scripts,

and so you’d be in there

reading, you know, all the scripts every night,

and preparing for the next day,

and then, so you’d go out,

and do four or five more auditions,

and it was like that for weeks, after weeks, after weeks.

That part of it is business.

Um, the actual performing

and the creating of a character, that’s pleasure,

but the going through the political process

of getting a job, that’s business.

I was on a show in California for a few months,

and Luke called me.

He said, "I’m gonna come out to LA."

He’s, like, "Can I crash on your couch?"

and I said, "My couch is yours,"

and then, uh, he got a place over at the Arquettes.

The Arquettes had a spare room or something,

and Luke’s, like, "Hey, man, I found this place.

Do you wanna rent it with me?"

and I was, like, "Absolutely,"

and that’s kinda how Mansfield began.

Man...

Crazy.

The old--the old palace.

So this was-this was my room,

and then right through that door is the bathroom.

You can see that little window.

That little minute of light,

and then you make a quick left, and that was Luke’s room.

He wanted the back room.

He’s, like, "Dude, you can have the bigger room.

I just want the back room."

I’m, like, "Cool."

Uh, while we lived here,

he was working in Diamond Bar,

and he was doing-- he was doing random stuff,

’cause that’s what he knew.

Like, he knew how to do construction,

and he won the coin flip,

so he got the garage,

and then, you know, this whole backyard,

it was, you know...

and we used to have parties out here,

so it was kind of a cool spot, you know?

How long have you lived here?

A little over a year.

[Maria Shriver interview] When Perry left New York,

he ended up here,

in this rented two-bedroom house in Hollywood.

Not exactly the kind of place you’d find

on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

[Perry] Wipe your feet. Ha, ha.

[Shriver] Yeah, ha, ha.

Who decorated this house, first of all?

I decorated this house.

You did?

Well, I didn’t really decorate it,

but my stuff is in here.

This room, I can’t go in, because it’s--

Not because it’s your bedroom,

but because you’ve got your pig in there,

and you won’t let the pig go on camera.

Exactly.

You’re very protective of your pig.

I certainly am.

Now, why won’t you let your pig go on camera?

It’s not so much my choice. I give him the option.

-It’s the pig’s choice? -Exactly.

I’ve given him the option numerous times

to appear on, you know, talk shows, magazines.

He declines. I’m not gonna push it.

And you’ve asked him about appearing on this show?

He’s got a big thing for you.

The pig is crazy about you, but, you know...

He was always tinkering with something, you know?

He always had his hands busy.

He loved to do things.

We had these old leaf hinges on the-- in the kitchen,

and he ripped them all down,

and he, like, was dipping these old hinges

into, you know, um, paint thinner.

I’m, like, "What are you doing?"

He’s, like, "They’re copper,"

and I said, "Oh,"

and then he painted the kitchen grey,

and he did black linoleum on the floor,

and, you know, he, like, made it home,

because that’s what he did, you know?

Home was where he made it.

[Perry] I never really felt completely

the place where I lived was where I should be.

I always felt--

I never felt like I was running away from something,

but I did always feel that I was running to something.

[Sheinkopf] I give actors much props,

because it’s a hard life.

You take rejection for a living.

For Luke, I don’t think "not making it"

was an option for him.

I think he took it on the chin pretty well, you know?

I mean, I think that, you know,

going on as many auditions as he did,

and not getting them,

it just drove him to do more, you know?

You were in it to win it.

Last man standing.

[Dianne Young] I was casting the television version

of Ferris Bueller’s Day off,

and Luke came in.

I looked at him and I thought,

"You are so not what I’m looking for, for this,"

and he goes, "I know, I know,"

he just-- and he said, "But I know who you are,

and I wanted to meet you, and if we could..."

and I said, "That’s fine, you know, come in, have a seat,"

and we sat and we chatted for quite a while

about things, and what he wanted to do,

and he was very sweet,

and I just thought...

Sometimes, you get a feeling, and I just thought, "Hmm...

I have to remember this guy."

[interviewer] 219 auditions.

I am in awe that you held on

and were willing to do it.

Where does it come from?

Well, in all fairness, it was 216, and it...

A fear of failure, I guess, you know?

It’s easy to--

You hear "No" a lot,

but it only means no if you believe it.

Everybody auditioned for that role of his,

everybody, like, you know,

they were looking far and wide for that role.

[Young] I came in knowing

that they were adding a character to 90210,

but he was the bad boy.

Chuck told me about the character.

The more he talked, the more I thought, "Oh...

I know who this should be."

When the reading was over,

I just kind of waited,

and Chuck turned to me and said, "That’s the guy."

He was perfect.

There wasn’t anything more

that you could say to Luke at that point,

of how to play the character.

He understood it.

There was something raw inside

that he just intuitively got,

and Mr. Spelling certainly saw that

at the time that we were doing the audition.

When we did the audition

for the Fox Broadcasting company, however,

Luke was nervous,

and it didn’t happen

in the way that we had all hoped it would play.

The network didn’t understand

why we were asking for more money

to put this character in,

and they weren’t gonna go there,

and Mr. Spelling,

who often doesn’t volunteer his own wallet for things,

said, "I’ll pay for him,"

and so, the special bond

that Luke Perry had with Aaron Spelling

was formed in that moment.

[Priestley] So, Luke and I met for the first time--

Chuck Rosin decided to have a table reading

for the first episode,

and after the table reading,

-Luke and I-- -Hey.

--were outside on the porch

in front of Chuck’s house--

My name’s, uh, Brandon Walsh.

Brandon Walsh...

Scotch or Irish?

Both, actually,

by way of Minnesota.

Especially in that first episode,

it was all about Dylan McKay, the surfing guy,

and the surfer, and...

and so, I said to him, I said,

"Do you surf, dude?"

and he said, "Never surfed a day in my life."

I said, "We’re gonna get along just fine,"

and, uh, you know, we were just thick as thieves after that.

[Chuck Rosin] Why was surf culture important

to bring into Dylan’s character in 90210?

I thought it really connected to the spiritual side of Dylan,

and I thought Luke just carried that,

and really picked that up.

Surf culture had to be part of the beach culture.

If you’re talking Beverly Hills--

This is before we even created anything

called the "Beverly Hills Beach Club",

but if you talk about what California has to offer,

it’s not its cosmopolitan architecture,

and even though we do have

a lot of really smart people here,

it isn’t even our institutional,

or academic, um, connections,

it’s our physical beauty.

Our proximity to the desert, the mountains, and the sea.

I don’t know [bleep] about the desert or the mountains,

but I know about the ocean.

So, Luke didn’t join the cast of 90210

until the first episode.

He was not in the pilot.

Aaron wanted to add a hunk,

but a guy that was more than just a hunk.

Like, a guy who was-- a guy who was complicated.

Dylan McKay pretended to be a tough guy,

but was also super sensitive,

and would get his feelings hurt,

and he was--and he was really trying to, like,

sort out what it was to be a...

a responsible human,

because he wasn’t raised by a responsible human.

Luke was the perfect guy for that.

He could play it really cool,

but then he was also not afraid

to make really bold choices.

I’m an idiot!

Please don’t leave.

You’re scaring me!

I’m sorry.

Dylan, what happened?

My dad, he just gets to me.

He always gets to me.

I don’t know what I’m supposed to...

Oh!

[♪]

[Rosin] We had finished our first season,

and I had a call with the network.

Barry Diller, a very particular man,

started the meeting by saying, yes, 90210 is working

but, uh, does it belong on "our air"?

As if-- Because Fox, you know, had attitude,

and did we have enough attitude?

[♪]

[Wappler] So, when the show first starts, you know,

it’s a non-union production.

Nobody really cares about it.

Like, it’s just happening

and, you know, maybe it’ll land, maybe it won’t.

Fox was a fledgling network at that point,

and Mr. Murdoch,

with the Fox Broadcasting Service,

had just bought the satellite in China,

and so, he needed to put his money there,

and they didn’t--

Fox Broadcasting really just didn’t have enough

to make a TV show right at that moment

to replace us,

and then what happens is the Gulf War breaks out.

We do not need another Hitler.

[Rosin] The networks immediately suspend

all their commercial activity to cover the war.

Fox, and this is hard to believe,

did not have a news department,

and so, they had no choice

but just to run what they had.

So, did we get Daddy’s permission?

Nope, we got Mom’s.

[Priestley] On our Christmas break,

I said to Luke and Ian,

I said, "Guys, let’s go to Zermatt.

Let’s go skiing,"

so we all book our tickets, and we’re all gonna go,

and then Luke, all of a sudden, isn’t gonna come

because something’s come up,

and he’s not gonna be able to make it,

so Ian and I travel all the way to Zurich,

and we were getting on the train to go to Zermatt,

and all of a sudden, Luke’s there,

and we’re like, "Dude!

We thought you couldn’t make it?"

He was, like, "All right.

No, right, right, I had to, man, I had to come..." you know,

and this was very Luke."

All he had was his ski bag,

and he had taken all of his clothes.

and stuffed them in his ski bag,

so everything he wore, the whole trip, was wrinkled.

It was pretty funny.

So, anyway, we go to Zermatt, and we’re skiing,

and we’re, you know, we’re going out at night

to the Post Hotel,

and we could tell that there were a few people

knew who we were,

but sometimes nobody knew who we were,

but we got bothered enough that I think we all knew

that...

that it was about to change.

[teens screaming]

It was a big shock to all of us.

[teens screaming and cheering]

But shopping malls just became a place

that we couldn’t go to for 10 years.

It was crazy.

[news reporter] Each Thursday night,

millions of teens hang up their phones

to watch the latest exploits of the coolest, richest,

and most gorgeous high school clique

this side of Rodeo Drive.

It’s not like anything else, you know?

It’s appealing to a teenage audience,

which barely anybody in TV was really thinking about.

[teens screaming and cheering]

It was a huge show.

Even if you didn’t watch it, you know everybody.

The first few times that we went out,

you know, to meet the public, and to do appearances,

um, and then we saw the response that we got.

It was pretty-- It was amazing, it really was.

I mean, you just-- you forget

how many millions of people are watching.

They found his trailer.

They were screaming like The Beatles were there,

you know what I mean?

Well, the most popular thing is the pillow,

’cause they get to sleep with them.

In the ’90s, everybody knew Luke Perry.

He became a household name.

Perry says a girl came up to him recently

and asked for his gum.

He produced a new stick, offered it to her,

and she turned it down.

She wanted the piece he was chewing.

Luke was iconic, he really was.

I mean, he was "Luke Perry".

It didn’t get any bigger than that.

[cameras clicking]

You didn’t know that girls were going to sleep at night

with their little heads against your face,

saying, "Oh, Luke!"

I heard about ’em, but... [laughing]

[Baldwin] You could see women

get distracted by it.

That’s the thing is,

Luke was that kind of energy and look,

where you could see a married woman with her husband

going, "Oh!"

[news reporter] This is the moment

more than 7,000 South Florida teenagers

waited for.

Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills 90210,

was in South Florida

at the fashion mall in Plantation,

but the wait,

for some teens more than six hours,

was too much,

and the excitement uncontrollable.

[crowd screaming and cheering]

The crowd, barely containable before he walked onstage,

erupted.

They pushed and shoved to get at the teen star,

knocking down barricades,

until finally, Perry had to be whisked away.

[crowd screaming]

I said to myself, "This is not worth it."

You know? It absolutely is not worth it.

Um, I want our show to do well,

but certainly not at the expense

of anyone getting injured, or possibly even killed.

All of a sudden, you know, everybody was involved,

and, you know, we had security around us all the time.

Like, a show like that, that is that popular,

it does become a double-edged sword.

[Peter Ferriero] The biggest things that I’ve gotten

out of the Beverly Hills 90210 Show podcast

is this community cares so deeply.

The fanbase cares so deeply for all of the actors.

There is this deep connection, I think,

feeling as if we all experienced high school,

or the things that you would experience in high school,

together.

The character, Dylan McKay, yes, he’s a rebel,

and yes, he was in trouble,

and yes, he was super interesting,

and all of that stuff,

but there is something inherently just good

about that character.

That he’s looking out for his friends,

that he cares,

and he’s also very soft spoken,

so he makes you want to hear what he’s saying.

[bell tolling]

[Wappler] I wrote a book on Luke Perry

because I wanted to tell a different kind of story,

that was about the way a child-- a teenager--

can latch onto a character-

a man like that, like, early in their career,

and grow up alongside that person.

You know, it’s like, part of the book, for me,

is about growing up,

and about healing certain wounds.

My dad was an Episcopalian minister,

and Grace Church was supposed to be the last stop,

and then he got sick with cancer

a couple years after we moved here.

For the most part,

it was myself, and my mom, and my brothers,

um, you know, helping out,

doing everything for him.

By the time I was 14,

and 90210 was coming on,

um, you know, he was in the last year of his life,

and I was especially wanting to escape,

and Beverly Hills 90210

was like Escape Island Number One.

You know, the moment I saw Luke Perry,

that was the character for me.

Right away, when the show debuted,

people were comparing Luke to James Dean.

They did have a certain something in common.

You know, not just the physicality,

you know, both being, like, lithe, you know, slim, trim men,

but also, this kind of, uh, woundedness, you know?

Always, in their performances,

was this real, like, kind of pathos,

but, at the same time, Luke, himself,

had a lot of trepidation around that comparison.

I think that, sort of, in a way,

if they make the association strong enough,

I’ll have to pay the price for the fact

that he checked out early.

I think when I can no longer fulfill

that James Dean fantasy for them,

they’ll look and get it from someone else,

and I’ll be gone.

I used to fly around quite a bit, you know?

I took a lot of unnecessary chances

on the highways.

He knew when to lean into it,

he knew how to be smart with it,

and play with it,

but he also was a little bit spooked by it.

[Baldwin] Planet Hollywood, to begin, was restaurants,

and you have to remember

this was when "event celebrity"

was different than it is today.

When Sly, and Bruce, and, uh, Schwarzenegger

come to your town to launch a restaurant,

you’re coming.

[♪]

It’s a hot place.

These Planet Hollywood openings were extraordinary.

Um, they were going just wild for him,

like, just wild.

[crowd screaming]

[Baldwin] Luke, again, was a burning fire at that time.

10,000 people would be outside,

and you’d have Sly, you’d have the famous people,

blah, blah, blah.

When Luke Perry...

It was mass... freak-daddy hysteria.

It’s a party like you’ve never seen before.

[crowd cheering and clamoring]

It’s wonderful! I’m from France.

I’m so happy to see him!

I think that comes from, back then,

not just Brad Pitt good looks.

It comes from the people being your fans, you know?

Luke had that love.

[fan screaming] I love you, Luke!

[Perry] I love you, too!

[Santina Muha] When I was a little girl,

I had two next-door neighbors that were older than me,

and they were so cool,

so anything they told me to watch, or do, I did.

So they came over one day, and they were, like,

"You have to watch this new show, 90210.

It has this guy, Jason Priestley,

and he’s so hot."

I’m, like, "Okay,"

’cause I was boy crazy, a boy-crazy girl,

and, um, so the show comes on, and the credits come on,

and there’s Jason Priestley,

and I’m, like, "He’s hot. Correct,"

but then Luke came on,

and I love Jason, I love Jason,

but Luke just... [gasping] took my breath away.

I was, like, "Who is that?"

I mean, truly, maybe why

I potentially believe in love at first sight.

So Luke just surfed onto my screen, and that was it,

and that was my number one crush to this day,

and then, to find out he was also kind of a bad boy,

but he was also, like, a poet,

and sort of tortured soul,

and then, I mean, the first time we meet him,

he’s defending the little guy,

and so, he’s not a jerk,

he’s just got a little bit of an edge.

This was appointment television, as they used to call it.

Like, you had to sit in front of the TV,

at that time,

and we would get on the phone,

and we would be silent during,

and then during the commercial,

"Oh, my god. Blah, blah, blah. This and that.

Oh, my god, he’s so hot,"

and then "It’s back on, shh!"

We’re watching, in silence, on the phone.

You know, you hold it like this.

I mean, I still sort of lean this way a little bit,

and I think it’s from the phones in the ’90s.

I remember there was Luke,

and, uh, Jason, and whoever else,

they were doing an appearance at the Freehold Mall,

which was not far from where I lived,

and I begged my mom to take me,

and she was, like, "No way!"

Because I was recently injured,

so I’m in a wheelchair,

and she’s, like, "I’m not taking you to the mall

where these cast members are like The Beatles right now,

and everyone’s, like, bombarding the stage.

I’m, like, "I hate you!"

You know, I pulled a full Brenda on her,

and was mad at her forever and ever about it.

Did not forgive her for years, and years, and years.

[interviewer] Do you enjoy being a sex symbol?

God, you know,

I don’t think of myself as being a sex symbol,

for starters.

If I am...

it’s okay.

[Priestley] That morning,

when we shot that Rolling Stone cover,

Luke and I were pretty hungover

because we’d been out the night before,

but Shannon was in good shape,

and we were amazed

that we were getting the honor

of being on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.

It was a big deal.

We both understood the importance of it, for sure.

At a certain point on the show,

like around the, I don’t know, second or third season,

he became obsessed

with being on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine,

because he knew that that would legitimize him

in a--in a certain way,

and I was, like, "Really? Vanity Fair?"

You know, because, to me,

Vanity Fair was something that old people read, right,

but that’s exactly why he did it,

and he was super smart in that way.

[Wappler] Luke is, arguably,

the most famous player from the show.

He’s definitely getting the most attention.

Uh, people are really noticing him,

talking about him.

Unlike the Rolling Stone cover that they did,

where it’s Shannon, Jason, and Luke,

this is really zeroing in on Luke,

and, you know, he’s shirtless,

and got these pistols, sort of, like, slung in his jeans,

and it’s real sexy-cowboy time.

Yeah, he sort of bites the hand that’s feeding him,

in a sense.

Like, he doesn’t go as far to say

that 90210 is shlock, or anything,

but he does sort of wink a bit at his fame,

make fun of it even.

You know, at one point he says, "I am product!"

[Priestley] That Vanity Fair article

didn’t focus on Beverly Hills 90210,

and it focused a lot more on who Luke was as a person.

I think Luke understood the importance

of letting the world know

that he was more than just this Dylan McKay.

He and I were both very conscious of it,

and we talked about it a lot.

Like, how to distance yourself

from a super successful show like that,

and how difficult it was, right?

And how difficult it was gonna be for us in the future.

I think that that Vanity Fair article

did a lot to help Luke start to separate.

There was a fundamental divide

between who did movies and who did television.

These were TV guys doing TV,

doing really well with TV,

but longing for something else,

and these young actors all wanted to be "that guy",

and-- who knew who "that guy" would be?

[Perry] 10, 15 years from now,

I would like to see myself in a place that, uh,

is far away from here. [laughing]

It’s, uh, quiet, and country, and, uh...

there are no flashbulbs.

We talked about the fact

that he wanted to leave the show,

uh, and of course at that point in time, you know,

we all--we all signed five-year contracts,

and, uh, Aaron didn’t renegotiate

before the end of your fifth season.

Um, and so Luke started talking about leaving the show

in the fifth season,

and I said, "Luke, dude,

we’re just about to start making money.

You can’t leave right now.

Like, this is--

It’s about to start getting good over here,

and all the hard work’s gonna pay off."

He was, like, "No, dude, I gotta go, I gotta go.

I know, I understand, but I gotta go."

I was, like, "Bro, you’re...

Uh, okay."

[news reporter] Luke Perry,

who plays Dylan on Beverly Hills 90210,

will reportedly be bumped off in the season’s sixth episode.

We reported earlier

that Perry plans to pursue a movie career,

and wanted out of the popular TV show.

Fox says it can’t confirm or deny the story."

I still can’t believe it, man.

You, getting married.

Better get used to it, Brando.

I got a new life.

[Priestley] So I directed Luke’s last episode,

and it was, you know, emotional for me,

because my friend was leaving, right?

Luke’s character and Rebecca Gayheart’s character

are getting ready to get married, and--

but her father, who’s a mobster,

doesn’t like-- doesn’t like Dylan McKay,

and doesn’t think he’s good enough for his daughter.

He takes out a hit on Dylan McKay,

and unfortunately, the hitman kills the wrong person.

I knew this was a big moment for Luke, and so I--

You know, I got rain towers out there,

and lit it up so it would look super dramatic, and anyway...

Luke comes to me, and he says, "I wanna do this thing.

I wanna fall to my knees, and look up at the sky,

and ask God why he’s done this to me,"

and I, you know, and it was another time where I was like,

"Ooh, that’s a big choice.

That’s a--That’s a risk, brother, but okay,"

and he, uh, and he comes out, and he does it.

It turned out to be really effective

just because--just because he was emotionally connected

to what was happening.

He wasn’t afraid to make big choices.

...think it was a carjacking.

[Dylan screaming] No, god!

Brandon!

Oh, baby!

Oh, my god! [screaming]

Look what they did to her, Brandon!

[sobbing]

[Priestley] When Luke left the show,

it was really hard--

Luke was my brother--

and I think it was hard on everybody else, too,

’cause Luke had really, really deep connections

with everybody on-- on the show.

Everybody on the set.

Our crew, too, like, you know, Luke was--

He was a really good friend to a lot of people.

You know, I also understood why he wanted to do it.

He had a lot of creative drive inside him,

and he wanted to do more.

He wanted to do more.

The early ’90s in show business

was absolutely fantastic.

A lot of actors our age, in town, you know,

just kind of know each other,

and, uh, would socialize together.

We became friends,

and he was getting ready

to shoot this Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie.

He was so excited about it.

-Could I describe this movie? -Would you?

Not in a thousand words or less, certainly not.

Um, it’s, um, it’s a comedy,

it’s a love story, it’s scary.

It’s, uh... we shoot the whole damn thing at night,

so it’s dark,

and, um, it’s funny...

He was, like, "Swanny!

You gotta read this script.

You have to read this script.

Like, you would be the perfect Buffy,

trust me on this."

I was, like, "Okay..."

But of course, I had to go through the process

of, you know, auditioning,

but he had my back the entire time,

and he knew me personally, you know,

so he saw that humor that I had,

and that I could bring to the film.

I play Pike,

and Pike is the damsel in distress

in the movie here, you know?

He’s, like... So we did the big role reversal thing,

and Swanson’s the hero...

He loved the fact

that the girl was kicking ass in the movie.

That’s what he loved about the script, so...

’Cause I remember him selling me on it,

like, when he was telling me about the story.

He was, like, "Oh, my god, and she’s funny,

and she’s kicking ass all the time."

[panting]

-Hi. -Hi.

He loved all the stunts that I got to do,

and he would always, always cheer me on,

always.

Like a cheerleader,

like a mascot, in a way. [laughing]

"Oh, Swanny, that kick was high!

Oh, my god!" You know?

Like, he’d be, like, "Damn! Look at that side kick!"

And he loved playing that guy

that was, like, "Okay, do your thing.

Go do your thing," you know?

"Go be you, go kick ass," you know?

Luke always had my back on the set.

Whatever it could be, at any given moment,

he was always a shoulder to cry on,

someone to pat you on the back,

or someone to tell you, "Get over it,

get out there and do it."

You know what I mean? Like, he was that guy.

Even after the movie, always supportive,

of my life, of my career,

him having children,

me getting married, having children,

you know, like, staying in touch with each other.

I am...

so grateful that...

he had a vision,

and he saw me in that role,

and I will never forget that.

[♪]

[Priestley] Because of the level of fame that he had,

he figured out that he would be able to get to people.

He could call their office and they would return his call,

no matter who it was,

and that’s how he got 8 Seconds made.

He bought the rights to Lane Frost’s story,

and he called Mike De Luca,

who was the head of New Line at the time.

Like, nobody just calls Mike De Luca,

but Luke just called his office,

and was, like, "Hey, I’ve got a project.

I wanna come in and pitch it to ya,"

and De Luca was, like, "Uh, okay."

I know that 8 Seconds was a passion of his,

to make that movie,

and he knew the family,

and I know that the studio promised him

that they would make that film,

but they just wanted to get Buffy done first.

[news report] That first big role for a young actor

is very important,

but sometimes, even more important,

is that second big part.

For actor Luke Perry, star of Beverly Hills 90210,

the role of Lane Frost,

his second big part,

might be the door opener

for a long and successful film career.

If you’ve never seen bull-riding at a rodeo,

you don’t know,

but they are, you know, 2,000-pound,

angry, wild animals

that don’t give a [bleep] if they step on you,

if they hook you with their horns

and throw you out of the ring.

They’re terrifying.

And Luke told me--

he was, like, "Yeah, dude, I’m gonna--

I’m going out to Riverside this weekend.

I’m gonna ride a bull."

I was, like, "What?

Dude, you’re not a bull-rider!

What are you doing?"

[Baldwin] I’d never hung out with Luke that much.

We kinda knew each other,

but we’re friendly, kind of, within the industry,

and I get this phone call, like, random.

And I answer, and he goes, "Hello, Baldwin?"

and I go, "Yeah?" He says, uh, "Luke Perry."

"Oh, hey, man."

He goes, "Hey, man, uh, I’ve got this thing going.

It’s this rodeo movie.

We got to get together,

we’ve got to talk about it,"

and I’m going... [chuckling]

"Okay, Luke.

Are you calling me to say you want to make a movie,

and you and I are gonna really ride bulls?"

and he’s, like, "Yeah.

I’m calling you to say I’m making a movie,

and if you say yes, we’re really gonna ride bulls,"

and I’m, like...

This is Luke Perry, right?

Like, you know what I mean, he’s cute, but...

He’s-- I think he’s-- you know, he’s gotta be, like, kidding.

[Priestley] Luke was bull-riding.

No messing around.

They couldn’t afford 10,000 extras,

so he had to really go to rodeos,

and get on real bulls,

and try to hang on.

Okay, boys!

All right!

[♪]

[Baldwin] I never got to know Luke

until we did the movie.

To get to know him as an artist, and an actor,

and kinda see a guy who really was taking a risk.

This was not a joke.

This was, like, a serious feature film.

He was considered a handsome television star.

[interviewer] I was really impressed

at how this film didn’t, uh,

gloss over the rough spots in his life.

Yeah, that was very important to me

that we not do that,

because, to me, that’s the story.

I mean, that’s an integral part of the story.

Uh, a lot of times, people are very envious

because it looks real good to be the champ,

but, you know, you got to make some sacrifices to get there,

and you gotta make some to stay on top,

and it is paying the price for those sacrifices

that’s often very painful.

That’s my favorite part of, you know, knowing Luke,

and having been friends with him,

was that he was that real deal as an actor.

You know, he wanted to live the experience.

He wanted to create the character.

He wanted to live that thrill,

and then, Luke, himself

was, you know, a cowboy in his own right.

[Perry] I think it’s important for the audience

to experience the danger,

and if they don’t sense

the danger of Lane Frost being on a bull,

they will sense the danger

of Luke Perry getting ready to get his head stomped in,

and, uh, if they see

that it’s actually me on there coming out,

then I think it--

it makes a lot of other elements in the film work.

[Baldwin] If you asked me,

kinda being the youngest,

rough and tumble Baldwin brother--

macho, competitive--

did I think Luke Perry was a tough guy?

No.

Not before I met him.

But what was cool about him was he was a little crazy.

He had this little bit of nuts.

That little bit of nuts is why Paul Newman raced cars.

I think his fire was the cowboy,

so the opportunity to transfer that

into the greatest bull-rider of all time,

who also was...

considered to be one of the humblest, kindest guys--

Lane Frost--

How do you play the balls of that fearlessness,

and the niceness of that sensitivity?

That’s a fricking hard role to play.

He was like a Newman.

He was like a Redford, too,

but he was more like--

and I love you, bro!

--but he was more like, uh, a James Dean,

because James Dean was so smokingly attractive

when he went sensitive,

Luke also understood how to do that, as an actor,

which is hard when you’re so good-looking.

For some reason, the AD said to me,

like, after the second day of shooting,

he says, "Hey, man,

you know, we’re gonna just send one car in the morning

just to pick you and Luke up,

instead of just two cars,

’cause you’re going to the same place,

we’re just gonna make it easier for transpo."

I go, "Yeah, man. Cool, yeah,"

so the next morning, I get in this car with Luke,

and we get on the freeway,

and Luke goes...

...and the driver gets off this exit,

and right off the exit is a crane,

a huge crane, going about four stories up,

with a bungee jump attached to it,

so, he goes, "Come on."

I go, "What are you doing?"

He goes, "Bungee jump, bro. Let’s go."

"Bro, we’re gonna get in trouble."

He goes... [whispering] "Nobody’s gonna know."

My hair’s standing up on my arm doing it right now,

and that’s the Luke I got to know.

This is the first time I’m telling this story.

We did a bungee jump on the way to the set,

every day for seven days.

We were jacked on adrenaline by the time we got there.

We were ready to ride bulls.

8 Seconds is considered to be

in the top 10 greatest rodeo pictures of all time.

Do you know how many rodeo pictures have been made?

He’s the John Wayne of bull-riding movies,

Luke Perry.

[Priestley] He really connected

to that, sort of, you know, Western community,

and, um, and he bought a piece of land in Tennessee,

and started working the land, and, you know,

and started taking a lot more roles,

like, sort of Western roles, right?

Like, I think making 8 Seconds really changed him,

and changed the trajectory of his career.

When Luke got the script for Normal Life,

he was super excited by the opportunity,

because he really wanted to work with John McNaughton.

He saw that movie as a great opportunity,

and a great opportunity to distance himself more

from Dylan McKay

and from, you know, being a teenage heartthrob.

[Steven A. Jones] John and I were both fascinated with--

the popular term is "outliers",

but, you know, "criminals"

is a-- [chuckling] --a better term for it.

Fascinated with people

that didn’t take the normal path,

and had to find some other way to get by,

and because we both have

quite the perverse sense of humor,

and perverse attitude towards many things,

the trickier

and more, you know, criminal, in a lot of ways, they were,

the more interesting those characters were to us.

[news reporter] Till death do they part

may have been their vow,

but at the time of their capture, at least,

Jeff Erickson seemed more inclined

to part from his wife than die with her.

The end came

after two-and-a-half years of unsolved bank robberies

in the northwest suburbs.

The so-called "bearded bandit",

with the disguise of several layers of clothing,

facial hair, and heavy gloves,

stuff, which, along with a police scanner,

were reportedly found in the bullet-riddled van

December 16th.

This story was big news in Chicago.

In fact, we would see them on the news

robbing banks

because, you know, security cameras.

They would come in,

and at first it was just him,

uh, and he would--

wearing a fake beard and a Cubs hat.

and then his wife,

who had mental issues,

uh, she was kind of a thrill-seeker,

and she found out that he was robbing banks

because they were going broke,

and she loved the idea, and wanted to go with,

and she did,

and then they both went down in huge gunfights,

and died,

and it was pretty intense.

The movie, Normal Life, had fallen apart,

and, uh, we couldn’t get anybody

to put any money into it,

and then we got a call from the William Morris Agency,

and they had just taken Luke on as a client,

and they said, "We hear you’re doing this movie,

and we’ll raise the money for you to make this movie,"

and, uh, I said,

"Well, I don’t know,

you know, we’re really specific about our casting,"

and they went to a rental store,

rented a cassette of the-- of the rodeo movie,

Eight and a Half Seconds--

FedExed me a rental video cassette,

and I walked it over to John’s house

and put it in his VHS machine,

and said, "Well, you know, this guy will be great."

I was never a huge 90210 fan,

and to me, it was, like,

"What’s some teenage heartthrob..."

It’s just, like, you know...

I don’t...

But a lesson I have learned--

always meet the person, because you never know.

We sat down, and Luke sat down,

and of course, everybody knew who Luke Perry was, in the room,

uh, but Luke was so, uh, very unaffected by it,

and very down to earth,

and, uh, even though Luke was a big celebrity,

he didn’t act like a big celebrity.

He acted like a human being,

and, uh, I just changed my opinion.

I said, "This guy’s great,

and let’s go!"

The locations for Normal Life

was all that area out by the airport,

which is where the real story took place.

It was all built in the post-war era,

and, uh, suburban sprawl.

[Jones] And we walk into this bank with Luke,

and this guy comes up to us,

and goes, "Oh, so what are you doing?" you know,

and we’re, like, uh, "We’re shooting a movie

about these guys, the Ericksons,"

and he goes, "He robbed this bank,"

and I said--

And Luke was standing right-right here.

I said, "He robbed this bank?"

He goes, "Yeah, yeah, he robbed this bank,"

and he goes over to the drawer,

and he pulls out a photograph of Erickson in his getup

that nobody had ever seen.

He goes, "Yeah, I was there,"

and I said, "Sir?" "Yeah?"

I said, "What was it like?"

He goes, "He just came in screaming profanity

at the top of his lungs,"

and I looked over at Luke,

and he’s, like, "Yeah, I got it." [laughing]

[bleep] And I mean now!

Nobody move!

Gimme that [bleep] gun!

Nobody move. Get over there!

Lay down on the floor! You, too!

[screaming] Lay down!

I mean, both of their performances

are astounding in my-- in my opinion,

but Luke’s, in particular,

just for--for the calmness of most of it.

He-- his had to all be in here, you know?

Is this the way you want to play it, Pam?

You don’t want to live anymore,

I don’t want to live anymore, either.

So we’re shooting the movie,

and we’re probably most of the way through it,

and we said, "Luke, uh,

you know, we never saw 90210,

not one second of it,"

and he just stared at us for a second,

and he goes,

"Do you understand how hard I was trying to work

so that you would forget about my TV career?"

and I said, "No, you had us from the word go. [laughing]

You came in completely, you know,

completely unblemished.

We were just looking at your work, and it was--

it’s so incredible that we’re good."

When we got it all finished,

uh, they were gonna test it,

and they tested it in--

it was actually a suburb of Oakland,

and when you test a movie,

you go find an audience,

and the way you do it, is you ask them

about some other specific kinds of movies,

and they-- I-- they asked the audience,

"How would you like to see a Luke Perry movie?"

Well, the audience didn’t--

They thought that, "Oh, 90210, it’s gonna be this--

that kind of a movie."

The selected audience that they put in those seats

hated the movie,

because they were--

they felt they were lead down a-- the wrong path,

and then they wouldn’t put it out in the theatres.

It was awful for me, it was worse for John.

[McNaughton] So, New Line just, you know,

I think they released it in some small amount of--

I don’t think it was even in major city just to speak of.

Then, I was angry.

Now... it’s the breaks.

I think Luke, you know, he became such a pro.

It just, like, this is the way of the world.

I mean, you could-- Now, it’s just, like, well...

if you get lucky, say a prayer,

but if not, "Moving on." "Next."

You keep working.

Any time you’re a teen heartthrob,

everyone just assumes that you’re a [bleep] actor.

You’re just a--You’re just a good-looking kid, right?

I think that was a lot to overcome,

but Luke, you know, never stopped trying.

[Perry] I have had the chance

to work with, uh, filmmakers that I respect,

and do the kind of work that I want to do,

and it’s just a matter of time.

You know, you play a number of parts,

and then after a while,

people don’t really connect you with one-one thing anymore,

but, um, you know, I was always very clear on--

on what the show did for me,

and what I did for it.

I just felt it was time for me to play other stuff.

[Winters] There’s a casting director named Alexa Fogel.

She calls me one day, and she goes, "Listen,"

she goes, "I have this actor coming into town,

and he doesn’t have a lot of friends in New York,

and he needs-- he needs a buddy."

I’m, like, who is it?" and she goes, "Luke Perry."

I was, like, "Really?"

and then I was, like, "Okay."

I showed up, and, you know, Luke had--

He always had a baseball cap on,

and we started talking, and--

I don’t take people on very easily,

but, like, he was just a-- a really genuine soul,

and he was extremely humble.

You know, I didn’t really bring him around my crew

at first.

Um, I wanted to, like,

really just kinda get to know him,

and kinda ease him into it, you know?

Because New York was a whole new thing for him.

We became very close, very fast.

I was doing this show called Oz,

and he had held this back for a while,

but he goes, "All I wanna do is,

I wanna be a part of something like that."

He goes, "I need to shed, you know, Dylan,

you know, that whole image."

[Tom Fontana] Dean Winters is truly the king of New York.

He knows everybody, goes everywhere.

Can get into any place he wants to get into,

so I met Luke through Dean,

and he said to me,

"Do you think you could write a part for me?"

and I said, "Absolutely."

First of all, I wanted to explore

that Christian community that exists in prison.

Second of all,

because I wanted the character

to be an incredibly successful, uh, preacher,

I wanted to make sure that I had somebody

who--who brought with him a kind of fame,

as opposed to hiring an unknown actor,

and then having to convince the audience he was famous,

you hire Luke Perry, and you’re--

you already got half the job done.

He’s so honest in his acting,

that I knew he would be genuine.

He wouldn’t, like, mock the character.

He’d just be who the guy was supposed to be.

The tension between the different communities

that made up, uh, Oz,

was always a great place to start a new character,

because they don’t know,

and when a character doesn’t know,

like, Luke didn’t know

when he first met Vern Schillinger,

he has to discover very quickly what the rules are.

Let him who suffer take away your suffering.

Get your [bleep] hand off me.

[Fontana] Once he came onto the set,

he was very much committed to the character,

and Luke disappeared in a lot of ways.

When I talked to Luke about being on the show,

I said to him, "You know,

the thing about being in Emerald City

is, when there are group scenes,

all the actors have to be there,

even if they have no dialogue,

and if that’s a problem for you,

then you shouldn’t do this,"

and he said, "I have no--

absolutely no problem with that,"

and I would see him with the other--

with the extras playing the Christians,

and I would see them gathered, praying,

without being told to do that.

He just--He just said, "Look, we’re, you know,

the scene’s gonna-- let’s, let’s pray,"

and I just thought that was wonderful, you know,

that he was creating within the space

the world that he thought that character would motivate.

And I remember, like,

I wasn’t really working in those scenes,

but I remember I went to watch him,

and I was just, like, "[bleep] this guy’s [bleep] good!"

He had enveloped his character.

He became Jeremiah Cloutier.

So, the first day of filming with Luke, we’re--

There was a part of the prison called M-City, right?

Um, and there’s a scene

where Luke walks from his cell to the showers,

and to get there,

he’s gotta walk through, like, a hundred extras,

and, um, he’s-- we’re talking the Hell’s Angels,

Bloods, Crips, Latin Kings, right?

And then the core-- and then the core cast,

and so, Luke is walking from his cell to the showers.

He has a towel around his waist, right?

And people--people, as he’s coming out,

people were, like...

you could see people were registering

that they knew who he was, right?

They’re, like--they’re, like, "Is that [bleep] Luke Perry?"

And I’m just looking around, because no one really knew,

and as he’s-- walks out to the showers,

he just drops his towel,

and he’s fully naked,

fully naked,

I’m getting chills telling this.

[prisoners hollering]

-Whoa-ho! -Oh, man!

Yo, minister, baby!

[wolf whistles and shouting]

[prisoners shouting]

And everyone just starts clapping,

because they knew that he was now, in that--

what he did in that moment

was... he’s, like, "All right, I’m one of you guys, now.

I’m not some guy that just came from 90210,

who’s not gonna do the hard stuff,"

and from that moment on,

he was just, like, part of the family.

On Friday night, we would all go out

to this place called The Hog Pit for drinks,

and I go looking for him at, like, 7:00 at night,

and I can’t find him,

and so, I asked one of the P.A.s.

I said, "Hey, do you know where Luke is?"

She’s, like, "Oh, he’s on the roof."

I go, "The roof?" I go, "What roof?"

She’s, like, "Yeah, you climb that ladder up there,

and then you get to the roof."

I go, "I’ve been working on this show for four years,

I didn’t know you could go to the [bleep] roof," right?

So I climb this little ladder,

go through, like, a manhole to the roof,

and I get up there, and it’s sunset, right?

And it’s sunset over New Jersey, over the Hudson River,

and the sun is dipping.

All I can see is Luke,

uh, sitting on, like, a little, you know, piece of scaffolding,

and I didn’t call his name,

’cause I felt like he was having a moment,

and I walked up to him,

and I sat down next to him,

and... [clearing throat]

and I saw he was crying,

and it was...

and I just looked at him,

and I looked at the sunset,

and he was still crying,

and I--and I said-- I said, "Luke, are you okay?"

And he goes, "Brother,"

he goes, "This might be the best day of my life,"

and I didn’t say another word.

We just watched the sunset together,

and then when it got dark, we went downstairs,

and we joined the cast, you know, at the bar,

but he told me, he’s like,

he goes-he goes,

"I’ve been waiting for an experience like this

since I became an actor."

You want your work

to kind of match the evolution of who you are as a person.

He wanted to get something off his chest.

"I’m not Dylan anymore, right,

and this is what I have to say,

this is who I am.

I’m someone different."

At the stage that Jason was driving these racecars,

they didn’t care it was Jason Priestley

in the cockpit of that car.

You have to be able to perform the service

at a very high level.

In 2002, I had a big, uh...

I was racing Indy Lights, and I had a big crash

in, uh, in Kentucky,

and they airlifted me to the University of Kentucky.

The news broke,

and people were sending well wishes,

and calling to figure out what’s going on.

Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on,

but the first person

who arrived at the hospital to visit me

was Luke.

I got right up where I could see his face,

and I looked right down into his eyes,

and I said, "Jason," and I talked to him a lot,

and I screamed at him, and I got really close.

I was so high,

because I was so broken,

and I looked at him, and I said, "Coy L. Perry.

Thanks for coming, man." [laughing]

I knew that Jay was gonna be all right

when he said my name,

um, because he said my name

as it exists on my birth certificate.

He didn’t just say, "Hey, Luke."

My girlfriend, who’s now my wife,

she was, like, "Oh, no, something’s wrong.

"Something-- He doesn’t recognize Luke.

This is a big deal!"

And then Luke had to explain to her

that his real name was Coy. [laughing]

He knew that was his job at that time--

was to let those people know that he was still--

had it going,

and that’s how smart he is.

Luke was a great friend

that you could rely on to turn up, right?

That was part of his--

That was just part of his ethos.

My relationship with Jason is different

than any other human being in the world, though, and we--

that’s the other thing that he and I know, um...

Different than brothers,

different than family.

We don’t know why it is, we don’t know how it is.

We just know that’s how it got to,

and, uh, we’re cool with that.

He’s--he’s a good one to have on your side.

The fact that he was there,

uh, in Kentucky,

um, you know, a day after I had my accident

was, uh, it was, uh, it was remarkable.

It really speaks to his character, right?

He was just that kind of guy.

[Perry] Jason and I,

we were trying to tell people back then

that, you know, what’s coming to be true now--

we’re gonna do other things

that aren’t gonna be as successful.

You gotta know that.

Everybody is.

Not, you know, you don’t hit a grand slam every time up,

but you also don’t quit coming up to bat either,

and, uh, that’s the trick.

You gotta keep coming up to bat,

and you hit the ball, and you do what you do.

I joined Hallmark as an executive,

and one of my first meetings was with Luke Perry,

because he had done a movie for Hallmark

called The Gunfighter’s Pledge,

and Luke loves Westerns.

As it turns out, I love Westerns.

I grew up watching Bonanza,

and The Wild, Wild West,

and the Virginian, all that stuff,

and we found out we were both from Ohio,

so we really connected on that.

Uh, mid-westerners really connect out here

when they find each other.

[Priestley] The John Goodnight movies,

it was a concept that he had written on a legal pad,

on an airplane one night, flying somewhere,

and he took it in to Barbara Fisher at Hallmark,

and sold it!

The same way he did with 8 Seconds!

He just, like, walked into an executive’s office,

said, "Hey, I got this idea. What do you think?"

[laughing]

And he didn’t have to really convince me too much.

Luke played a circuit judge in the wild western territories.

Luke knew the guy to go to,

the ranch to go to,

the guy, you know, Danny Virtue,

who dealt with the horses.

He just-- He was immersed in it,

but, like so many projects, right?

If you have the right name, they get made,

and for us, Luke Perry was the--was a really good name.

Luke came up with the idea

to have Jason Priestley to direct it,

and we thought, "Oh, my god."

First of all, this is PR gold, you know?

But not to mention

that we knew Jason was a really good director,

but I just wanted to go

and watch the two of them together.

[Priestley] Luke called me.

He said, "Jay, I’m developing this Western.

I want to do it with ya,"

so, I said, uh,

I said, "Hey, great, man, that’s perfect,"

uh, because Luke and I have been trying for a long time

to find, uh, something to work on together again.

[Perry] I have such a good shorthand with Jay,

and, um, he’s very talented.

He composes a great frame.

He is so close to this script,

and so close to this character already,

um, because he’s been--

You know, he’s been living with this character

for a couple years.

I got to spend two months, uh,

just hanging out with Luke every day.

He would come with me on location scouts,

and he was super involved,

and, you know, that-- I think that movie,

and ultimately that series of movies,

I think was incredibly important to him.

[Perry] As a kid, I’d sit around,

and I’d watch all these Westerns,

and I just thought, "Well, I’d love to do that,

and I’d love to do that,"

and now I just, sort of, find myself drawn to stories

that will allow me to get involved

in the action sequences of my dreams.

[screaming]

[gunshot blasting]

Who the hell are you?

My name’s John William Goodnight.

I’m a circuit judge.

Sworn jurisdiction in this territory.

There’s two of us and one of you.

I like those odds.

When I drop this hammer, one of you is gonna be dead.

There’s a 50/50 chance that’s you.

You still like those odds, gambler?

[gunshots blasting]

[horse nickering]

[Priestley] John Goodnight was an alcoholic,

for sure... [laughing]

...and a womanizer, for sure...

[♪]

...and Luke wrote all that into the character,

and I think that Luke understood

complex characters are just more interesting,

and complex characters are what people want to watch.

[Barbara Fisher] I’ve made a lot of movies,

and been in television for a lot of years,

and I can’t really say

that I became close friends with the people I worked with,

but something was different about Luke.

If you connected with him, you’ve connected,

and when he felt a connection,

he made you his friend.

I mean, I kinda thought, like, you know, we--

I was an executive, we got the movies made,

we had a good time,

kinda end of story,

but that’s not what Luke did,

and I didn’t take the lead, Luke did.

[horse neighing]

[Wappler] You know, when I started working on this book,

and reading about what an amazing Dad Luke was.

You know, Luke had two children.

You know, he made choices in his career

to be closer to them.

Like, he wouldn’t take certain jobs or roles,

because they would take him too far away from his family,

so he really wanted to be present in his kids’ lives.

That really meant a lot to him.

[Priestley] When Luke and Minnie had Jack,

I could tell that it affected him, uh, deeply,

and that, you know, I think he felt the weight

of, uh, of being a parent,

like we all do.

He couldn’t have been happier.

I think he’d wanted to be a dad for a long time.

I think being a dad was something he was proud of.

Being around kids, um, he really liked.

He had a soft way.

[Swanson] I remember his kids being very little,

and he’d show you pictures.

He just, he couldn’t stop talking about his kids.

They were his pride and joy.

The first time I met him was 90210,

and I had just moved from Chicago to L.A.,

and I think I did, like...

maybe three gigs,

and then I got 90210,

and I remember, like, Luke,

I was, like, "That’s Luke-- That’s Luke Perry.

Oh, my god, that’s Luke--

Hi, nice to meet you!"

And, like, just being cool, "I got it, I got it, I got it."

I think I only did, like, one or two episodes,

but, um, it was a very, very brief encounter,

and then when I saw Luke again on Riverdale,

I was, like, "Do you remember me?"

and he’s, like, "I totally remember you!"

On Riverdale,

we were at the drive-thru,

where our characters remember their past lives together.

In that moment, it was art imitating life.

You know, I’m having deja-vu.

Yeah, senior year, we’re here watching Candyman.

God, I hated that movie.

[laughing] You picked it.

I was up there alone with my daughter,

who was, I think, maybe eight or nine at the time,

and I hadn’t been to Vancouver,

so, Luke was, like, "Hey,

do you know about the little ferry boats?

You can catch them,

and they’ll take you and your daughter,

and you go over to Granville Island.

You can shop around."

And I must have looked, like, a little, like, confused

about where to go, or what to do,

and he’s, like, "You know what...

are you free Saturday?"

And I was, like, "Yeah,"

and he’s, like, "I’ll take you guys,"

and he got us on the ferry,

and he went and did the whole thing.

He was just, like, hosting us,

for no reason whatsoever,

except for just to be a great guy.

That’s who Luke was.

[Gabriel Correa] I think maybe the kids,

maybe KJ told me the story.

You know, it was at the end of season one,

and they were having some dinner here,

and I think Luke took that as a moment

to sort of tell them a little piece of advice,

and, you know, he was not the loudest guy in the room,

so I can imagine how he sort of presented this,

but say something to the tune of, like,

"Your lives are about to change.

Like, do you realize that,"

and, like, what does that mean, right?

I honestly don’t know how the kids took it.

I’m sure some, maybe, believed him,

some not, um,

but, you know, if you think of Luke’s career,

to him, it’s kind of, like, "I’ve seen it all.

I’ve seen the good, the bad, the ugly,

and I’m here sort of telling you

that despite what you think is gonna happen to you,

I lived through it,

and this is the reality."

[Michael Scott] Well, I think it’s, you know,

he saw himself in them,

-the way he had been-- -Yeah.

...you know, back then,

and he wished, I think,

that--that somebody had told him a little bit of the ropes,

and I think he probably learned the hard way,

in terms of the challenges of being, you know,

an ensemble in a series,

and some of the politics, and jockeying for position.

I mean, there’s all kinds of other layers

that go on behind the scenes.

That just makes sense to me

that he would want to mentor,

in a fatherly kind of way, these people,

these young-- these young actors,

because I think he was a real mentoring type.

That’s kind of who he was.

Not everybody’s good at that.

Luke was really good at that.

[Hoda Kotb] Luke, do you have any advice?

Because sometimes, I mean, look,

everyone who’s gone through that, you’ve been--

Yeah, and especially with this one,

because he’s so talented,

and such a great actor.

Concentrate on the work,

and play different parts, you know,

and treat everybody well,

and he’s--he’s doing great.

[Correa] I started on Riverdale as an Assistant Director,

and for people who have no idea what that is,

you’re like a conductor.

Luke was there,

and, you know, he’d pull me to the side,

and he’s, like...

"I see what you’re doing, you know?"

He’s like...

"Next year,

I think you should be directing one of these,

but you just-- you just do your thing,

and it’s gonna happen,"

and then he said-- He said, "We’ll push for it..."

And...

after I got a chance to direct there,

I did my first episode.

I had one scene with Luke.

He comes to me after he’s wrapped,

and he’s, like, "Hey...

you’re doing amazing, man.

Like, I see what you’re doing.

You’re smart, you’re getting what you need.

Just don’t think about it.

Just keep breathing.

Do your thing.

Don’t overthink, do your thing. You’re doing amazing."

100%!

We’re gonna sing like we’re at karaoke. Like...

[Correa] To me, it was very clear

that Luke’s support was about the work,

and that’s what was really cool,

because he was a pro.

[Young] "All journeys in life start with one step.

I took a step into your office,

and it was the first step on the trip of my life.

What a ride!

Thanks for believing in me.

Love, Luke Perry."

After Luke was hired,

he came to my office,

and he said, "I have a present--

couple presents I wanna give you,"

and I said, "A magnifying glass?"

He says, "Yes, that’s for you

to keep looking for more people,

and-- like you did, and you found me,"

and he goes, "And the horseshoe is for luck in finding them."

[laughing]

[♪]

Could’ve been, like, four years after I’m living in Los Angeles,

something happened to me where I ended up in the hospital

for three months,

and one of my friends shared a manager with Luke,

so, unbeknownst to me,

she wrote an email to her manager,

and was, like, "My friend is a huge fan of Luke Perry.

Is there any way he could call her,

or send her a ’Get Well’ card?"

So, one day, um, I’m in the hospital,

and I had just had a sponge bath,

and I have no makeup on,

I have, like, my-- and my glasses on,

you know, my hair’s in a French braid.

I basically look like how I looked

when I was nine years old, watching the show.

The door opens...

...and I swear to God,

Luke Perry is standing at my door,

and he walks in,

and he shuts the door behind him,

and he comes over,

and he, like, hugs me,

and now I’m, like, crying in his arm,

and then I realize I’m crying in Luke Perry’s arm,

so then I start crying harder,

and then he goes, "It’s okay.

It’s just you and me.

It’s just you and me right now."

[slapping table] I’m, like, "This guy...

This guy!"

You know, he was so patient with me and my freakout,

and then, eventually, I collected myself,

and he pulled up a chair,

and he sat across from my hospital bed,

and we chatted.

We just talked for, like, an hour,

and it was all so surreal,

and just a quick note on be careful what you wish for,

because I was not wearing sweatpants

the day I met Luke Perry.

I was wearing no pants.

Then he says,

"I’m so glad

your mom didn’t take you to the mall that day,

because that’s not how we were supposed to meet.

This is how we were supposed to meet,

because now we know each other."

I mean-- and, by the way, also,

now I forgive my mom

for not taking me to the Freehold Mall.

I’ve been in movies, I’ve-

I’ve done very, very cool things.

I survived a car crash.

This was the best day of my life.

[♪]

[Winters] He didn’t call me

when he booked Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

I saw it in the trades.

I called him immediately.

I was, like, "You mother--"

I was, like, "I am so [bleep] happy for you,"

because everyone wants to be in a Tarantino film.

Period.

So, I mean, I called him,

and I was, like, "Luke," I was like, "This is amazing!"

He’s, like, "I know, brother."

He goes, "Isn’t this crazy?"

He goes, "I didn’t think this was ever going to happen."

I go, "How did it happen?"

He goes, "I don’t know."

I met him at the read-through

for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

We, more or less, were two guys

known for their television work,

and there we were surrounded by movie stars,

so, you know, immediate sort of connection,

as in, "How about us hanging out at the table?

How’d we find ourselves here?"

[paparazzi shouting]

[Olyphant] I remember

even Margot Robbie was, like,

"I’ve never been to a read-through like this,"

and I was just like, "Yeah."

I just remember Quentin,

his respect for Luke,

and how psyched he was that he was doing it.

You know, he was in that powder-blue suit,

and I was in the cool red shirt

with the brown leather jacket.

I remember saying to him,

"I don’t know if we got the coolest part,

but we definitely got the coolest wardrobe,"

and, you know, he had that thing that, um...

You know, you’re on a set

and you’re behind a monitor,

and they’re showing you playback or something,

and even if the take’s fine,

even if it’s really good,

I remember always seeing, like,

when they called "Cut,"

that was the most natural moment right there, right?

[laughing] Right?

My point being

is my experiences working with Luke

is you couldn’t tell the difference.

It didn’t matter whether we were rolling

or not rolling,

you’re just talking to Luke Perry.

He and I were sitting across from each other

in that little stagecoach,

and we definitely had those moments.

I remember looking at him

and saying, "Look at us, you and me."

And... cut!

You know, Quentin does this thing--

Shooting on film,

it’s the old thing, right?

He wants two takes, and he’s moving on.

He refers to those two takes

as the big sister and little sister,

so we’re doing that stagecoach scene,

we did that whole take,

the scene you just showed me,

and Quentin says, you know,

"We have our second sister..."

and so the whole crew starts to pick up,

knowing that means we’re moving on,

and then Quentin says, "But you know what?

Let’s do one more,"

and the crew within earshot all yell, "Why?"

and then, the crew then,

within further out,

’cause they heard everybody yell, "Why?"

all yell, in unison, at the top of their lungs,

"Because we love making movies!"

And then everybody cheers,

and they go back to one.

And... [ chuckling] and I remember that moment,

and I look across at him,

and he pulls up that blue suit,

and he goes--

shows me his arm,

he’s got goosebumps all over his arm...

[laughing]

...and I just thought, "Yeah, you and me both, buddy,

you and me both. Not bad."

Leo, you have this amazing scene with Luke Perry

who plays a TV actor--

See, honey?

I told you they’d come to parlay.

You all right, honey?

Oh, she’s just fine.

[DiCaprio] I was just immediately struck

by his--his kindness.

And you know, talking about being a native of Los Angeles,

being around this industry my entire life,

and really having it, you know, in a lot of ways,

shaped who I am.

I--There was this immediate excitement

in seeing Luke Perry, you know, on set.

-[chuckling] -It was incredible.

I--I remember being, you know, in my teens,

and he was the manifestation of the new Dean on television,

and everyone was crazy about him,

and I actu-- I felt this overwhelming feeling

of kind of being starstruck,

but then he and I got to sit down

and talk about Los Angeles, the ’90s,

his life, where he-- where his career had gone,

where my career had gone,

where his life had gone, where my--

and I could-- I was just so, um...

how do I say this?

The kindness of his character,

just an incredibly generous human being.

[news reporter] Family, friends, and fans

are mourning the death of actor, Luke Perry,

who died this morning at the age of 52,

following a massive stroke last week.

His publicist says he died in L.A.,

surrounded by his family and friends.

[Priestley] The morning that Luke had his stroke,

I was at home.

I was in my kitchen,

and my phone rang,

and it was Jenny...

...and Jenny told me that Luke had had a stroke,

and they were--

and he was on his way to the hospital,

and I was shocked,

and I was stunned.

I think Brian Austin Green texted me.

I not sure-- I don’t think it had hit the press yet,

and, uh...

Yeah. That was... sucked.

[bleep] terrible.

I had just-- I had--

I knew someone

who had passed away from a stroke before that,

and so I didn’t have a whole lot of faith.

I wanted to, you know?

I don’t think anyone used the word "brother" with me

the way that he did.

We had really great conversations,

and almost nothing to do with the business,

you know what I mean?

So I appreciated that about him.

I just--I just miss, uh,

I miss having him as a friend.

I hope I see him again sometime, you know?

If Luke was here...

...I would tell him,

first of all,

I’m so sorry...

that you didn’t get more time.

Luke Perry’s in Heaven.

I’m a crazy Christian.

He’s riding all the best bulls now, bro.

[laughing]

He’s on the--

He’s-He’s on the ultimate ranch now.

[Swanson] He was just one of those people

that touched my life in such a great way,

and someone that I looked up to,

someone I admired,

appreciated,

just one of those people that you just--

that they’re always in your mind,

and you’ll never forget them.

[whispering] Thank you.

[deep breath]

I’m an eternal optimist.

I thought, "Yeah, he’s had a stroke.

You know, my dad had a stroke a few years ago.

You know, he’ll be-- he’ll be okay."

At that point in time, I was talking to Jenny,

and I was talking to Ian, I was talking to Brian,

I was talking to Gabby, I was talking to everybody...

...and then he passed away, and it was, um...

...it was, uh, it was--

It was a shock, and it was sad,

’cause... he was a...

...he was a bright light.

When my time here is up,

I don’t wanna look back

and see that I didn’t do anything, you know?

And by that, I mean, uh,

I didn’t have any effect on anything else, I didn’t...

I see a lot of people

that let their life happen to them,

and I want to happen to my life.

I don’t want my life to happen to me.

[♪]