Tori Spelling and Kellie Martin Recall Cast of Their 1989 ClassicTroop Beverly HillsBeing 'Cliquey'

Mar. 15, 2025

Tori Spelling and Kellie Martin in ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ in 1989.Photo:Columbia Pictures

Columbia Pictures

The cast ofTroop Beverly Hillswas very cliquey, according toTori SpellingandKellie Martin.

The longtime friends got together to discuss their experience playing supporting roles in the 1989 comedy on the latest episode of Spelling’s podcast90210MG, with the host admitting that she felt “out of the loop” with the other young actresses in the movie.

“It was like, the Beverly Hills girls and then the Red Feathers,” Spelling, 51, said, referencing the film’s two rival Girl Scout-esque troops. “It was, like, very two distinct groups. And I was, like, ‘Oh, is this what cliques are like? Okay. I got it. I got it: Not just in schools, on movie sets.’ ”

The young cast of ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ in 1989.Columbia Pictures

Both Spelling and Martin noted the irony in the fact that Spelling, who actually grew up in Beverly Hills, ended up being cast as a member of the Red Feathers troop, while Martin played a member of the titular Troop Beverly Hills.

According to Martin, Spelling wasn’t the only one who felt “out of the loop.”

“It was actually a clique within the clique,” Martin, 49, recalled. “I definitely didn’t feel a part of the little core group of Troop Beverly Hills girls.”

“I played the poor girl. So, I was not really, like, a rich Beverly Hills girl,” she continued. “But, also, I auditioned for the part of Hannah Nefler — Jenny Lewis’s role — five times. And then per usual — like, literally, like, my whole career — Jenny Lewis gets cast as the main girl, and I get cast as the friend, the sidekick, or something like that.”

Carla Gugino, Jenny Lewis and Shelley Long with the cast of ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ in 1989.Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection

Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection

Martin said she was up for the same roles as Lewis, who playedTroop Beverly HillsstarShelley Long’s daughter in the film, multiple times as a young actress. “She always got the part, and I always got the part of her friend,” she said. “So, anyway, when I didTroop Beverly Hills, I felt sad to not be Shelley’s daughter, to not be Hannah.”

Other members of the cast like Ami Foster and Emily Schulman already knew each other from being in sitcoms likePunky BrewsterandSmall Wonder, according to Martin.

“So, like, they were, like, in the kind of, like, child actor world. And I was very much on the outskirts because I had just done, like, commercials and guest spots,” she said. “So, I felt very much, like, not cool at all during that movie, and I always felt like I was trying to fight for the camera.”

Kellie Martin (center) in ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ in 1989.Columbia Pictures

The film’s director Jeff Kanew, she claimed, left it up to the young cast to decided where they would stand in a scene, often leaving Martin feeling like she was left “in the back” of a shot.

“It’s a movie that went on to become a cult classic,” Spelling said. “You know you’re big when Kim Kardashian has ashower based onTroop Beverly Hills.”

Tori Spelling (right) in ‘Troop Beverly Hills’ in 1989.Columbia Pictures

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“It’s a time capsule,” Matrin agreed. “It’s Rodeo Drive in its heyday, and it’s Spago, and it’s all these, like, iconic places.”

“And gay men love it,” she added. “They’ve really kept the fire alive forTroop Beverly Hills.”

“Then I got cast as a Red Feather. I was like, ‘Oh, okay,’ ” she said. “So, people, when they hear I was in that movie and they don’t really know about it, they’re like, ‘Oh, [your character was] in Troop Beverly Hills, obviously.’ I’m like, ‘No, actually, I grew up in Beverly Hills, [but] wasn’t in that troop.' ”

source: people.com