The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Movie: Which Scenes Really Happened

The movie milks all those hard-to-work-with-rumors about Shannen Doherty until there isn't much left without them. However, at least some of them are true.

In her memoir, Deep Thoughts From a Hollywood Blonde, Jennie Garth says Shannen earned them all. She wrote, "[Shannen] had opinions about a lot of things, including the writing, the wardrobe, you name it. And she wasn't afraid to share them, even if it meant sounding like a complete and utter b*tch."

Guess we can believe that one. 

In her audition in the movie, Shannen has to be reminded that she and Jason Priestley are auditioning for siblings, but hers wasn't the only libido out of control. 

Jason Priestley wrote a memoir as well, the appropriately named Jason Priestley: A Memoir. In it he makes light of all the on-set hookups. He remembers, "There were multiple engagements on the show, with multiple people," but that, "nobody ever got attached. We never let it get in the way what we were doing . . . work always superseded everything."

Tori Spelling confirms that things got hot and heavy between her and at least TWO of her costars. In her appearance on Celebrity Lie Detector, she admits to having sex with both Brian Austin Green AND Jason Priestley (although Priestley denies it).

For all of you who thought these smooth moves were just a God-given talent, think again. Green fancied himself quite the performer and took it very seriously. In fact, he had a quick career as a rapper back in 1996 — if you blinked you might have missed it. Check out David Silver Brian Austin Green performing the song "You Send Me." 

The Lifetime movie portrays Shannen Doherty smack dab in the middle of all the in-fighting, but in reality, all three girls fought constantly. The movie only highlights a few incidents, but one involves a standoff over who gets to wear red in that season's promo shot.

As you can see, Shannen lost that particular battle, but the war raged on.

The movie recounts one particular argument between Shannen and Jennie in which Shannen pulls Jennie's skirt up during filming. Jennie has enough and tells Shannen to meet her in the parking lot. This, at least in part, is true.

Garth remembers, "I yelled at her, something to the effect of, 'Come on, b*tch — we're taking this outside.' I strode off the set and out into the dingy, crappy parking lot. Shannen was right behind me and behind her were the rest of the cast and a lot of the crew," she recalled. "We were throwing F-bombs and insults at each other like it was World War III." However, "Before we could kill each other, Luke and Jason dived into the middle of it and pulled us apart. It was ridiculous."

The movie downplays how uncomfortable the two actors were with their extreme celebrity. It shows them being snuck out of a mall in a laundry cart and shrugging it off with a casual, "I guess we made it."

In reality, Luke Perry and Jason Priestley were both hugely uncomfortable with their notoriety. Perry admitted this in Rolling Stone, saying, "I had a girl in Denver, she just wasn't breathing. She fainted right in front of me. And I was going, 'Hey, hey, breathe, hey, hey.' I don't like that," he says. "I mean, I could understand if I was the King [Elvis Presley]. But I ain't."

In the movie, Jason and Luke are approached by The Gipper himself, President Ronald Reagan, who tells them, "Me and Nancy are big fans, although we're probably not your target audience."

Variety reported on the meeting back in 1992: "Ronald Reagan peeked into Chasen’s banquet room to find out why the restaurant was surrounded by platoons of paparazzi. The reason: Aaron Spelling was holiday-partying his casts and staffs of Beverly Hills, 90210."

There's no actual record of the president confessing his love for the show, but I choose to believe.

Fans of the show were floored when TV's hottest couple, Brenda and Dylan, broke up almost immediately after they have sex. The movie explains why the split was so abrupt: censors. And they got it exactly right. The FCC did not want a teenage girl happy about her first sexual experience, and producers relented.

Producer Darren Star communicated his surprise to Rolling Stone magazine. "I was really surprised by the outcry," said Star. "I think what they were most upset about was that she was, you know, happy afterwards. So I had to write the first episode coming back in the Summer where she thought she was pregnant, and she had to break up with Dylan, and it was really tough."

In the least subtle Easter egg in the history of parody TV, the Ian character tells Shannen, "You're like a shark. No, like a tornado. You're like a shark and tornado combined."

At least the Shannen character has the foresight to reply, "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."