Samo skaters drop in on Jonah Hill's directorial debut "Mid90s"

Mid90s, a hard-hitting coming-of-age film written and directed by Jonah Hill, not only has connections to L.A., but to Samo. Tristan Warren (’19), Mingus Gamble (’21) and Cooper Angelina (’18) spent two days over this past summer on the set of Mid90s. They skated as extras in the movie and supported Sunny Suljic, their friend and the film's lead. The movie is about a 13-year-old skater who is trying to find himself, and the friendships he makes along the way.Warren is currently a student at Samo, and Gamble and Angelina attended until last year. One of the film's co-producers had known them for years because they would sometimes skate together. When they released one of their skating YouTube videos, Hijinx Unlimited, he thought of them for the film, and invited them to go to a general audition along with Suljic, a childhood friend of theirs. Originally, the three Samo boys thought they were going to be cast in principal roles, but after the audition process they ended up participating as extras, while Suljic was cast in the lead role. The three were excited to support their friend on set and watch him succeed. “It was cool because we’re really good friends with Sunny. He’s only 13. I’ve known him since he was around 11,” Warren said. “It’s crazy to see your good homie blowing up now. He went on the Mid90s tour and is doing interviews so it’s just crazy to see that.” They worked two 11-hour days skating in the background and ended up in two major scenes. Warren described that it was amazing to see the filming process and was surprised at how laid-back the set felt. “[My favorite part about being on set was] seeing Jonah Hill ordering us around and telling us what to do,” said Warren. “[The experience] wasn’t as professional as I thought it would be, I mean it was Jonah Hill’s first movie, and it was on super old film.”Mid90s was released in the US on Oct. 9, and is still showing in select theaters.