Behind Closed Doors (2016–…): Season 2, Episode 7 - The Breakfast Club - full transcript

- I was just in my office
and I heard a ruckus.

- Could you describe
the ruckus, sir?

- NATALIE: It's one
of the biggest teen films

of all time.

- "The Breakfast Club" is
a new movie about teenagers.

- [crash]
- Ah!

- NATALIE: And became
a cornerstone

of 1980s pop culture.

- Face it,
you're a Neo-Maxi Zoomdweebie.

- It was just a milestone movie.

- Those five characters, they're
still characters that



people connect with.

- I lose my temper,
you're totaled, man.

- Totally?

- NATALIE:
"The Breakfast Club"

gave a voice to teen angst--

- You think I don't
understand pressure, Claire?

- NATALIE: --thanks to its
ambitious and unique creator.

- How come John Hughes knows
so much about high school?

- I fall in love
with these characters.

They're my people.

- Well, naturally, I liked
him right away,

because he had good sense
and he cast my son.

- NATALIE: In this inside look
at the movie,

we'll give you the scoop
on who was cast--



- MICHELLE:
Both Michael and Molly

are like John Hughes' muse.

- NATALIE:
--who was almost cast--

- John Cusack
was a consideration.

- NATALIE: And who was
respectively given early dismal.

- I had the joy of telling
Rick Moranis that he was

no longer gonna be a part of
"The Breakfast Club."

- NATALIE: Learn the stories
behind the wardrobe,

cinematography,
and set design.

- "Are you kidding?
What? You want us to do what?"

- NATALIE: And, of course,
the music.

- John Hughes
was a musical curator

for kids growing up in the '80s.

- NATALIE:
Hear never-before-told tales.

- As soon as he walked across
the football field,

20 or 30 crew people dropped
trou and mooned the camera.

- [squeak]

- [bang]
- [squeak]

- NATALIE: And find out
what sends a movie studio

into panic mode.

- They were worried that that
would just kill the movie.

- [yells]
- [glass shatters]

- NATALIE: "The Breakfast Club"
helped define a decade.

- We'll all get up.

It'll be anarchy!

- NATALIE: Even if parts of
the film have raised questions

in the Me Too era.

- There's inappropriate moments
between a 16-year-old

and a 25-year-old.

- [yells]

- These scenes
are problematic,

and it's a fair criticism.

- NATALIE: You know every line
and scene from the movie.

- Does Barry Manilow know
that you raid his wardrobe?

- NATALIE: Now find out
how it all happened.

- Why are being so nice
to me?

- 'Cause you're letting me.

- ♪

- NATALIE: This is

"The Breakfast Club:
Behind Closed Doors."

Welcome
to "Behind Closed Doors."

I'm Natalie Morales.

"The Breakfast Club" tapped
so authentically

into the zeitgeist
of teenage life,

drama, and all that when it
burst into theaters

in early 1985, moviegoers
across America

instantly related
to the five main characters

they saw on screen,

just as writer/director
John Hughes intended.

And that has continued to happen
for decades ever since,

which is why the legacy of
this groundbreaking

and genre-defining film
only continues to grow.

Of course, back in the mid-'80s,
the concept of a more

serious teen film was far
from a guaranteed success.

But that didn't deter Hughes
from putting pen to paper

and exploring
the teenage psyche.

- My name is John Hughes,
I'm 35.

And, uh, I write
and direct movies.

- What happens when five
high school students--

a jock, a brain, a recluse,
a rebel, and a beauty--

are forced to spend their
Saturday together in detention?

- DAVID: "The Breakfast Club" is
kind of a drama about

how they all come
from different backgrounds

and converge in this one room.

- So it's sort of social,

demented and sad,
but social.

- The characters are
really well-written

and very identifiable.

- LAUREN: It struck a chord
in a lot of people.

A lot of felt like
one of those characters--

the outsider, the rich girl.

- There's some real stuff that
they explore with each other.

- I think it's okay
for a guy to be a virgin.

- You do?

- HUGHES: Character comes first.

- MALE REPORTER: Why?

- Because I think people
are more interesting than plot.

My movies aren't so much
what happens,

it's how it happens.

- It's so simple, but it's--
I think a lot of it is

very profound.

- Oh my God, are we gonna
be like our parents?

You don't often see in movies
where--where young people

are displayed
in an honest fashion.

- The notion of a teen movie
in the late '70s and early '80s

tended towards the more
exploitative.

You had "Animal House" and
you had "Porky's"

and "Meatballs."

And John Hughes represented
such a pivot from that,

in that he dared to make
movies about how teenagers

authentically felt.

- This audience, especially,
doesn't get treated

very well in the movies.

They tend to get exploited
and looked at, really,

as a source of income when
their stories could be told,

there's things to be
examined.

- So he felt like it was
incumbent upon him

to make films,
not just for teens,

but for their parents
to understand these issues--

parental pressure,
peer pressure,

parental abuse--
all the things that

"Breakfast Club" is about.

- What did they do to you?

- They ignore me.

- I think it was
the first script that

I've ever come across

where the high school students
were treated as people.

- I think John's real gift
was that he spoke to kids

on their level.

- HUGHES: It's a real careful
examination of the intellectual

side of that age group,
which is considerable.

I think kids think more--
far more than their parents.

- I think he observed the world.

He was so smart, and he could
really relate to kids

in a way that most adults can't.

- What makes John so special is
that he really understands,

and he appreciates,
and he's real sensitive.

- KIRK: Although he did become
a very responsible adult,

I think he always remained
a bit of a teenager.

- And I think
that a little of him

was in every one
of those characters.

- I can't remember things
from when I was a teenager.

I don't know how he could.

He remembered
his locker combination.

It was bizarre
but wonderful.

- He has the--the finger and
a pulse on the youth of America,

unquestionably.

- Look in his body of work.

I mean, "Home Alone,"
"Breakfast Club," "16 Candles,"

"Weird Science,"
"Pretty In Pink,"

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

Oh my God, are there more?
[laughs]

- JENNIFER: He was young, sweet,
from the Midwest,

and I don't think people
realized what a powerhouse

he was gonna become.

- Come on, Vern,
kids haven't changed, you have.

- [sighs]

- Every writer, you know, brings
their life experiences to

the writing, and in this case,
it was John bringing

his life experience
into "The Breakfast Club."

- I mean, we're all
pretty bizarre.

Some of us are just better
at hiding it, that's all.

- ♪

- NATALIE: Before we can enter
that fateful

Saturday detention session
at Shermer High School,

we must jump back
to 1982, when an ambitious

A&M records department head
named Andrew Meyer

convinces his bosses to try
and break into Hollywood.

They put him in charge,

and A&M Films
is now open for business.

- I was looking for scripts,
and we had an agency--CAA.

And our agent also represented
John Hughes.

And he gave me
"National Lampoon's Vacation,"

which I thought was
the funniest script I ever read.

And I called and I said,
"Who is this guy?"

And he said, "Well,
we just signed him.

"We just sold the script
to Warner's.

He's in Chicago, we don't
really know him."

I said, "I wanna meet him."

And I was in his house
the next day.

- NATALIE: That man, of course,
is John Hughes.

Hughes', a Chicagoan
in his early 30s

with a background in
advertising,

was a freelance contributor
turned full-time staffer

for the "National Lampoon"
magazine

since the mid-1970s.

While writing for the famed
humor rag,

his short story, "Vacation '58,"
became the basis for the movie

"Vacation," and begins to earn
him a reputation

as a hot comedy writer,
primed for the big screen.

- "National Lampoon,"
in those days,

was the source of material
for Hollywood.

Remember "National Lampoon"
did the "Animal House" film.

And suddenly, everybody
who worked there

was fair game for Hollywood
and signing deals and so forth.

So he worked on a number
of films.

"Mr. Mom" was one.

But "Vacation" is what got him
really noticed by Hollywood

as a writer.

- NATALIE: And Meyer notices
that talent immediately.

- MEYER: I said to him,
"That's a great script.

Do you have anything else?"

And he said, "I do,
but there's a problem.

"I have to direct.

"But I wrote this script that
would take place in one room.

And I thought if I did that,
you might let me direct."

- KIRK: He said, "I've been
working with

"actors in commercials.

"I'm good with actors, so if I
write five characters, one set,

then all's I have to do is
worry about the acting."

- And he was very smart in
writing something small

and contained,
knowing that that would be

the easiest way to get it made.

- NATALIE: But in his original
incarnation,

the screenplay that would
one day be "The Breakfast Club"

went by a different name.

- He wrote a script
called "Detention,"

which was just about five kids
spending a day in detention.

- The name changed from
"Detention"

to "The Breakfast Club"

because he said that
a friend of his

who worked in advertising,
his son at his high school,

they called morning detention
the breakfast club.

And Hughes' said, "Well,
I don't think anyone is gonna

"mind that I changed it
from the morning detention

"to the whole day detention.

I'm just gonna call it
'The Breakfast Club.'"

And it stuck.

- MEYER: What I was most
impressed with was the script.

Usually, when you read
a screenplay,

within the first 20 minutes,

you're supposed to start
the plot and the character.

That's sort of the book.

What John did with that script
was he introduced

the characters
and gave you the plot

before the movie started,
which I thought was fantastic.

So, I called Herb Alpert
and Jerry Moss of A&M Records,

and Gil Friesen,
who was with me on A&M Films,

and I said, "We have to
buy this right now."

It was an instinct thing.

And we bought it.

And we committed to making
the movie for $1 million.

- NATALIE: A&M Films has
their first deal in place,

and Hughes and Meyer begin
casting

their small, independent movie.

- John had in mind John Cusack

and Virginia Madsen
as one of the girls.

And then he would go to
Northwestern University,

which has a big theater school,

to maybe fill in
the other roles.

- While we were in the process
of getting "The Breakfast Club"

together, I was going
back and forth to Chicago.

And I remember him telling me
he had this idea for a script,

and he called it
"Sixteen Candles."

And I remember him saying,
"I'm gonna write it, you know,

like now."

- He started on a Friday night,
and he said he had

a huge thermos of coffee,
and he just sat at the computer

on Friday and he did not
get up until Sunday.

But he did the entire thing
over a weekend.

- NATALIE: And if not
for Hughes'

turning out "Sixteen Candles"

that fateful weekend, well,
"The Breakfast Club"

we now know and love simply
doesn't exist.

That's because of a man named
Ned Tanen.

- Ned Tanen had been the head
of Universal Pictures.

He just left to form his own
company--Channel Productions.

- KIRK: He had taken
a production deal at Universal.

And he was looking
for his first film.

And he loved young directors
that he could discover.

That was a thing he really
liked doing as a studio head,

and now as a producer.

- ♪

- NATALIE: It's late-1982,
and Michelle Manning,

a USC Film School grad,

now working
for Francis Ford Coppola,

is interviewing to join Ned
in his new venture.

- So, I'm doing this interview.

And he's like, "So do you
know agents?"

And I'm just like, "Oh,
I'm never getting this job.

I don't know agent."

I go, "No, but I know
about a script

that this agent Jeff Berg has."

And he goes, "Well,
go get the script."

So I cold-call Jeff Berg,
'cause I'm so young and naïve.

And he's like, "Wait, you work
for Ned Tanen?"

I'm like, "Well, I don't know,

but he told me
to get this script."

So a messenger
brings the script,

and it was "Sixteen Candles."

So, the next morning,
Ned came in, and he goes,

"Get John Hughes out here."

So, literally,
the next day,

we greenlight "Sixteen Candles."

- NATALIE: Channel Productions
is now in business with Hughes,

and "Sixteen Candles" is
set to be made

with Universal Studios.

But Hughes assumes
his directorial debut will

still be "The Breakfast Club"
with A&M Films.

Little does he know.

- MEYER: We weren't
casting very long,

so we hadn't gotten very far.

But Ned Tanen called and
wanted to take over the picture,

partner with us.

- NATALIE: Which means real
financing

for "The Breakfast Club"

from Tanen's friends
at Universal.

- MEYER: They agreed
to put up $12 million.

We became executive producers.

- Ned was brilliant and
had great instincts.

And Ned had the vision to

go along for the ride
with this guy.

- HUGH: "Mr. Mom"
and "Vacation" gave

my writing a certain
amount of credibility, I guess.

And they liked
the--they like the scripts.

- NATALIE: But studio execs
have one caveat

for the new director.

- Universal felt that
"Sixteen Candles"

was a more commercial movie,
and that "Breakfast Club"

was a more serious movie.

I think they thought it was
a more difficult directing job,

because it was more subtle
and more character specific

that they'd like to have John
do "Sixteen Candles" first

and "Breakfast Club" second.

And we all signed off
to that.

- I think it was a safer bet
for them.

Definitely, "Breakfast Club"
was a very daring

move on them to do everything
in one basic--one room.

- And it became kinda crazy,
because this guy from nowhere

had two movies he was directing,
and he'd never directed.

So, he became really hot,
really fast.

- It happened so quickly, and I
was overwhelmed that I, uh...

I really felt was
excitement,

because I wanted to do it
for a long time.

- Nobody knew who
John Hughes was.

When you said, "I'm working
for John Hughes,"

they go, "Uh, John Huston,
I just love him."

And I want, "No, no,
John Hughes."

"Who?" You know?

So, um, I guess we got along
really well,

and we just kept working
together.

- NATALIE: Hughes is set to
begin making "Sixteen Candles,"

and how he finds
his lead actress

can only be chalked up
to divine intervention.

- DAVID: John Hughes is at his
desk in Chicago with headshots

of different actors, because
he was casting what became

"Breakfast Club."

And there's one
that catches his eye.

A pretty girl with these
kind of unusual puffy eyes

and red hair.

And he said, "I'm gonna write
this movie about her,

whoever she is."

- There was something
about her energy or her face

or something, and he said
he put her picture up.

- DAVID: And the actress was,
of course, Molly Ringwald.

- When I started casting
"Sixteen Candles," we knew Molly

was gonna be in it.

We did go after Ally Sheedy for
the part of the sister,

but then she was unavailable.

- I remember John and I
just hit it off.

And we had this sort of energy

that I think was really
positive.

I liked him instantly.

And I think he liked me
instantly.

I mean, I was obviously
an actor really wanting a gig.

[laughs]

And he was a director that
was really looking

for local talent.

- NATALIE: Another up-and-comer
who John Hughes has in mind

for a starring role:
Anthony Michael Hall,

who will utter one of
the film's most classic lines.

- Can I borrow your underpants
for ten minutes?

- John had originally said,
"Well, I really want you

to meet Anthony Michael Hall."

- MERCEDES: Michael worked
on "Vacation,"

so he knew his ability
and he knew his talent.

- NATALIE: As Rusty Griswold in
"National Lampoon's Vacation,"

14-year-old Hall held his own
opposite veteran comedic actors

Chevy Chase and John Candy.

- Has your father ever
killed anyone before?

- Oh, just a dog.

Oh, and my aunt, Edna.

- Hey, you can't prove that,
Rusty.

- Whooh.

- John Hughes, well, naturally,
I liked him right away

because he had good sense
and he cast my son.

But I liked him because
I thought

he really had a handle
on kids.

He really understood
the youth.

He was very playful,
he was kiddish.

You know, he just kinda came
down to the kids' level.

He was very relatable.

- ♪

- My first day
of "Sixteen Candles,"

they were shooting in
a gymnasium

when there was a guy, you know,
kind of John Lennon glasses,

sitting on the floor,
shorts, barefoot,

on his hands and knees
playing three-card monte

with Anthony Michael Hall
on his director's chair.

And I'm like,
"Who is that?"

And it's like,
"That's the director."

[laughs]

- He was brilliant, and fun,
and just easy to be around.

- He had a vision, and he just
kinda had a way with being able

to connect with the kids that
he was able to get

a great performance out of them.

- DAVID: Molly Ringwald and
Anthony Michael Hall were only

15 years old when they started
working with John Hughes,

so they were putty in his hands,
but willful putty.

They enjoyed it,
and he enjoyed.

It was a mutually
beneficial process.

- I admire John because
he is a writer,

and yet he's not really, um,
overprotective about his work.

You know, he's real good
about letting people come in

and kind of form
their own character.

- More than anything, he
understands kids and teenagers

and kids in my age group,

and he hasn't forgotten
what it's like.

- And when he started casting
"The Breakfast Club," there was

no question that those two were
gonna be the core of it.

- NATALIE: So with his
first film under his belt,

Hughes is ready to officially
begin casting

his next major studio effort.

It was the one he thought
would be his directorial debut,

but wasn't, yet would change
his life forever.

- ♪

- ♪

- NATALIE:
It's the fall of 1983,

and "Sixteen Candles"--
John Hughes' first film

as writer and director--
has just wrapped shooting.

"National Lampoon's Vacation"
and "Mr. Mom,"

both of which Hughes wrote,
are released that summer,

and enjoy major
box office success,

making the Hollywood newcomer
a real Hollywood commodity.

- MEYER:
There was momentum for John.

He was in a window of time
which is, you know, one of those

wonderful worlds
that few people get

where everything he does
turns to gold.

And it was good for us,

because we were
part of the gold.

So, the more movies he wrote
that were hits,

helped us feel like we
would have a successful film.

- NATALIE: It's now time
for Hughes to officially begin

casting his next project,
"The Breakfast Club."

And thanks to "Sixteen Candles,"
he's got quite a head start.

- Michael and Molly were
already cast.

He knew them, he liked them.

He liked working with them,
period.

Two down, three to go.

- Once you get a good working
relationship with someone,

I think it's kinda foolish
to just abandon them.

- NATALIE: Hughes' script
calls for five main characters--

two female, three male--

each representing
a classic high school archetype:

a brain, a beauty, a jock,
a rebel, and a recluse.

- I had a visual board,
'cause sometimes I cast

by chemistry,
by staring at pictures.

I kept thinking they had to be
five distinct individuals,

and yet, having a lot
of common ground.

- NATALIE: 15-year-old
Molly Ringwald is cast

in the role of Cathy, who
will later be renamed Claire.

- Claire?

- Claire. It's a family name.

- Oh, it's a fat girl's name.
- Oh, thank you.

- The reason I loved Molly
is that she's a beautiful girl,

but she's not your typical
beautiful girl.

And she was smart, and
she could bring levels to it

that just really worked
with the character.

- She's very intuitive,
very instinctual.

She's very natural.

Molly didn't need to take
classes.

Molly was just born
an actress.

- I am an actress, myself,
but then I also have

this side of me
that's just--just normal.

- NATALIE: Hughes has his sights
on 15-year-old

Anthony Michael Hall
to play Brian, "the brain."

- I'm in the math club, uh,
the Latin club,

and the physics club--
physics club.

- NARRATOR: But the film's
casting director

still needs to do
her due diligence.

- JACKIE: None of us had seen
"Sixteen Candles," so I

literally started casting
and looking for Brians.

And a lot of actors were
coming in were very geeky,

but it wasn't hitting with me,
because I thought that

he should just be authentic.

And then finally, we saw the
footage of "Sixteen Candles."

And we all looked like,
"Why aren't we going after

Anthony Michael Hall?"

Next thing, he had the offer.

- Michael, you play "the brain."

- Were you typecast?
- Was I typecast?

Hardly, no.

I was not typecast.

- Michael's sensitivity in that
role of "The Breakfast Club"

is what I think transformed
him into that geek role.

That was the key element.

His ability
to be that sensitive.

- NATALIE: When it comes
to finding the perfect Allison,

"The Breakfast Club's"
resident recluse,

once again, Hughes
and his team

don't have to look too far.

- [squeaks]

- [bang]
- [squeaks]

- We went after Ally Sheedy
because Ally was someone

we looked at
for "Sixteen Candles."

- She came in to read for
the sister of Molly Ringwald,

and John basically said,
"You know, let's work together,

but not on this," because
he felt it was actually

too small a role
for her.

'Cause she had done "War Games."

She was actually
a pretty big actress,

among all the actors
in this.

- NATALIE: Sheedy,
21 years old,

first caught Hughes' attention
in her film debut

opposite Sean Penn.

- HUGHES:
I saw her in "Bad Boys."

And I thought she was
so great.

I didn't--I didn't
audition anybody for Allison.

- ALLY: I identified with her
so strongly.

And I thought, "Wow,
this character's so full."

And one day, he just called up
and said, "Okay,

"this is your part,
you go to sleep tonight,

you wake up tomorrow
as Allison."

[laughs]

And so I did.

I always carry this much
[bleep] in my bag.

- I knew Ally could play
a dark character.

And she's a very bright girl,
too.

And she has a beautiful look.

- But John was worried that
she was too much older

than Molly, and like,
"Would it look weird?"

So then Ally came in
with like a big droopy sweater

and like you couldn't even
see her hands

out of the bottom of it and
you know, just kind of gangly.

And it was like, "Whoa,
okay, that's interesting."

Because she looks so strange,

she doesn't look older
than Molly suddenly.

- NATALIE:
Sheedy is set to play Allison.

But legend has it

that Ringwald was interested
in that role, too.

- Nobody's ever gonna get
the story straight or right.

But I feel like Molly felt
like, "Oh, John's cast me

as that girl."

Now, I don't know that
he ever told her what part,

he just said,
"You're cast."

- As the casting process
went on,

Molly got it in her head that
she wanted to be Allison.

- "What do you mean
I'm Claire?

I wanna be her."

She thought of Claire
as a regular girl,

and Allison as like
the part.

The flashy, dandruffy--

all that weird stuff,
she loved.

- And I definitely
fought against that.

I thought that was ridiculous.

Because what Ally Sheedy
could bring to that role,

which is what she did,

Molly didn't have that.

She was perfect for Claire,

and Ally was perfect
for Allison.

- Why are being so nice to me?

- Because you're letting me.

- NATALIE:
Ringwald made it clear

that Claire was always
the role she wanted.

- Clair Standish--basically,
she's the girl

you grew up hating.
[laughs]

That's why I wanted to play her.

She was real confident,
the Homecoming Queen,

and very, very dirty rich.

- NATALIE: Regardless of
exactly what went down

behind closed doors,
Hughes and company now have

three-fifths of their main cast
in place.

The challenge is now on
to fill the final two slots.

One of which will prove
much trickier than the other.

- Just you and me.

Two hits.

Me hitting you,
you hitting the floor.

- NATALIE: Emilio Esteves,
age 21, scores the role

of Andrew, "the jock."

- MICHELLE: I knew him
from "The Outsiders,"

so I wanted him
to get the part.

And he wanted to be
a part of this movie,

like every young actor in town.

- NATALIE: Although he
intentionally reads for

the other remaining part--
John Bender, "the rebel."

- MIHCELLE: Emilio had some
Bender in him, and he did.

And I'm just like, "That's
not who he is."

He's like the sweetest,
nicest guy, like no.

That's not--no.

- DAVID: John said,
"You know something?

I think you're very, very good
at Andy."

And Emilio Esteves reportedly
said, "But I'd really like

to play Bender."

He said, "Yeah, but I think
you're the only guy

in the world
who could play Andy."

And I guess that sold him
as an actor.

- NATALIE: And so Esteves
joins the detention gang

as "the jock."

It just requires an unexpected
script adjustment.

- JACKIE: Well, the part was
written for a football player.

I knew Emilio,
and I loved him.

He's shorter,
but he's very well-built.

But he wasn't built like
what the part was written for.

- And I said, "We're just
trying to figure out what

to do with you, because
you're not a football player."

He goes, "Well,
what about a wrestler?"

And John's like, "Let me
look at it.

Let me--maybe he could be
a wrestler."

- JACKIE:
That was a no-brainer for me.

He looked like
that all-American guy,

but he was sweet,
and there was a kindness to him,

which you don't always get if
you're looking to cast a jock.

- ELISSA:
So they had the four characters.

But then there was the search
for John Bender.

And it was such an important
character, because he was

gonna be the provocateur.

- There's something about him,
so rebellious,

so angry, so...enraged,
and so sarcastic

that you have to have
just the right actor to play it.

- I knew what I needed
in Bender,

it was very hard to find.

Everybody wanted
to read for Bender,

but they just
weren't right for it.

I searched and searched
and searched.

And I was pulling people
off the streets in New York

that I thought
had the right look for it.

I mean literally, literally.

I was getting desperate
at the end.

- I looked at a lot of people
who came in,

did sort of the traditional
tough guy.

And I said, "You know, I gotta
have somebody that

"for 85 minutes of this movie,
uh,

"can say terrible thing,
but you have to understand

"there's a reason why
he's doing it so that you don't

go 10 minutes into it and say,
'I hate this guy.'"

And I didn't find anybody
that came close.

- And then, finally, somehow
through the agent,

I met Judd.

- Judd walked in to read
for the role of Bender

wearing an oversized coat,
wearing, you know,

motorcycle boots that were open,

and I'm pretty sure even had
like on one of the shoes

a bandana.

- He came flying into the room
completely in character.

- It was like, "Whoa."

I mean, that is Bender.

When Bender walks in
that opening shot,

through that front door, and all
the stuff on the counter,

and he just--shu-shu-shu-shu--
does that

is exactly what Judd did.

- HUGHES: He read a scene
with Michael,

walked out.

It's ten minutes later.

And I just--this is the guy.

- JACKIE: Then I put him up
on my board--my visual board.

And when I put his up,
it was magic, I had it.

I knew I had Bender.

- Sweets.

You couldn't ignore me
if you tried.

- NATALIE: Even with Nelson
now in place,

the execs at Universal
aren't fully sold.

- They begin to panic, like,
"Wow, there's no names in this."

And I said,
"It doesn't matter.

Cast the right actor,
this'll work."

And so Nicolas Cage then
came up,

because he had done
"Valley Girl."

So he was big.

- I could see him playing that.

The Nic Cage of that era was
in his wild and crazy mode.

I could see him in this role.

- JACKIE: But he didn't
wanna do it.

And so I was so happy,
because as much as I love him,

I think Judd was fresher,
and more right for the part.

- There was no question at all;
he was just tremendous.

- NATALIE: The main ensemble
is finally cast.

Now it's time to find
who will be the lucky one

in charge of this rowdy bunch.

And chances are
it won't be pretty.

- ♪

- John Hughes and
"Breakfast Club" producers

had the core five leads
cast:

Molly Ringwald as Claire,
"the beauty."

Anthony Michael Hall playing
Brian, "the brain."

Ally Sheedy is Allison,
"the recluse."

Emilio Esteves as Andrew,
"the jock."

And for the role
of John Bender,

they finally found
their rebel in Judd Nelson.

Although each of the actors
had appeared

on the big screen before,
Hughes,

along with casting director,
Jackie Burch,

assembled a talented group
of relatively fresh faces.

They were now exclusive members
of "The Breakfast Club."

And it wouldn't be long
until they packed their bags

for Chicago
and reported for detention.

- ♪

- I really respect the work
of these actors.

I've seen them all do--
do other things.

And it's a thrill for me.

I feel sort of like I--
I've broken into a candy store.

- DAVID: Part of the magic
of the film is

that it's ensemble driven film.

It's not a star vehicle
for anyone.

- I like actors that, um,
can work in an ensemble, um,

more serious about it,
not thinking about money,

or "People" magazine covers.

Their motivation in life is
become a better actor.

- KEVIN: John Hughes knew

that if any one of those
personalities

was too big, if any one of those
personalities came across

as a movie star in a high school
kid's costume, it would throw

the balance of the whole story
of "The Breakfast Club" off.

- NATALIE: There are still
a few important roles

left to cast, starting with
the man who has the honor

of spending his Saturday
with these five kids:

Richard Vernon.

- Well, well.

Here we are.

- ♪

- Mr. Vernon is mid-management
at the high school.

- We are going
to write an essay...

of no less than
a thousand words...

describing to me
who you think you are.

- He actually likes to torment
these kids.

He had no sympathy, so he
represented authority

in its worst form.

- NATALIE: Although a later
draft of the script

refers to Harver Vernon as
the Dean of Students,

his exact title is never
specified in the film.

But one thing's for sure:

character actor Paul Gleason
is the man for the job.

- JACKIE: I loved Paul Gleason.

I had seen him
in "Trading Places."

And soon as I read that part,
I thought, "Oh my God,

we gotta bring Paul Gleason in."

And John fell in love with him.

- My character is a guy
who antagonizes them

and tries to intimidate them,
and tries to discipline them,

and punish them, and does not
try to understand them,

or rehabilitate them.

The next time I have to
come in here,

I'm cracking skulls.

- KAITLIN: My dad loved working
with John Hughes.

John Hughes really let him
develop the role.

- As a big kind of prick as
that character has to be

for the story to work,
I think like Paul gave it

some humanity.

- [coffee splashes]

- MICHELLE:
Paul felt for this character.

- ♪

- NATALIE: The remaining roles
are cast,

including the kids' parents

and Carl,
the school's janitor,

who is set to be played by
funny man Rick Moranis.

Although Hughes doesn't
have his exact location

or rather the exact room where
detention will take place,

he is adamant on keeping it
local to Chicago,

even if common logic
dictates otherwise.

- MICHELLE: Well, if there's any
movie that you would shoot

on a sound stage
at Universal Studios,

where there's like 40 of them,
it would be this movie.

- ♪

- And the movie probably could
have been made even cheaper

and easier and quicker.

- But John did not wanna
leave home.

- MEYER:
He wanted to shoot in Chicago.

And Ned was smart enough to know
that he'd probably be

a better director
if he stayed in Chicago

and stayed with his family
and stay in the environment

that he knew, and he
thrived in it.

- NATALIE: And so,
location scouts are

on the hunt in the Windy City

to find the perfect library
for detention to take place.

- DAVID: John Hughes loved
filming in the Chicago suburbs

where he grew up.

And there was this high school--
Main North--that had been

closed three years ago

because of declining
student enrollment in the area.

The exterior
is just this brutalist,

ugly, prison-like edifice.

So this made sense that this is
a movie about detention,

these kids are in
a kind of prison.

- There was this huge, huge

double or triple sized
gymnasium.

- JENNIFER: So somebody came up
with the idea,

"What if we just take it over,
use the offices,

it's got electricity already,
um, and we build it in the gym."

- NATALIE: It's an arduous
task, but production designer

John Corso and his team are
certainly up for the challenge.

- Johnny Corso was amazing.

He was nominated for
an Academy Award

for "Coal Miner's Daughter."

He did magnificent work.

He took me on this movie
with him,

and he taught me so much.

So, we had--where they all
sat down at the beginning,

that was the general area.

And then were was the area
back by the clock.

And I think the clock is
significant because

it shows the slow passage
of time.

- ♪

- JENNIFER: We had
the foreign language lab

where he screams
and the glass shatters.

There was the staircase
with the little landing

that Molly dances on.

- KEN: You could point
the camera in any direction,

and it looked nice, 'cause
it was a great set design.

And it was--also incorporated
a lot of practical lighting

into the set,
and there was a lot of room,

so we could move around to do
the shot you wanted

without a lot of effort.

- ♪

- KEVIN: My favorite
bit of trivia

is the books in the library

were actually castoffs from
the Chicago Public Library.

- JENNIFER: I had to find
a bazillion library books.

So I contacted the head of
the Chicago Library System.

And I said, "I need
10,000 books, 20,000 books

"to fill up for a movie.

Do you have any suggestions?"

And he kinda said, "You know,
don't tell anybody,

"but I have got a ton of
books that are getting

destroyed, um, do you wanna
take a look at 'em?"

I said, "Yes, I do."

So I drove to this depository
in Chicago.

It was in this basement.

And I sent a couple of five-tons
to load up all these books

and brought them back.

And then I said to my crew,
"Now we're gonna learn

the Dewey decimal system."

Because I thought
if the camera got close,

some librarian's gonna go,
"That's not right."

And we put all the books
in order.

I was very proud of myself
for that.

- NATALIE: And possibly
the most memorable part of

the library set--
that bizarre statue,

which was inspired by
British artist Henry Moore.

- Whenever you include
a visual anchor,

such as that sculpture piece,

it gives the audience a clue
as to where the actors are

in that set.

- It was just gonna be a thing
in the middle of the library.

It was not gonna be
stood on, danced on.

Then when John decided to
have Judd Nelson on it,

we had to take the whole
thing apart and reinforce it

with steel to make sure

that this thing
didn't fall over.

It was kind of a, "What?
Are you kidding?

What? You want us
to do what?"

- ♪

- NATALIE: While the set
is being built, in early 1984,

the majority of the cast
and crew relocates to Chi-town,

where they will hole up
at the Westin O'Hare hotel

for the duration of the project.

- Whenever you're on location,
the actors bond,

the crews bonds, everybody
bonds together.

- Michael said John liked
the idea, and the kids did too.

It just brought them all
closer together.

- MOLLY: I kind of considered
them kinda like my family,

because we--like we were really
like stuck in detention.

Only it wasn't eight hours,
it was two months, you know?

- THOMAS: Sometimes I would
wander down

into the ballroom area

where John sometimes would
rehearse with the cast.

And he'd rehearse the cast
from beginning to end

as though it were a play.

- NATALIE: In fact, Hughes
arranges for the main assemble

to rehearse for three weeks.

- MEYER: The idea was to have
them hang out together

for a rehearsal period so
by the time they walked

in the classroom, it's like
they actually were classmates

and they knew each other,
and it was a fabulous idea.

- NATALIE: As the cast begins
to gel,

the script continues to morph
and grow

under the director's
encouragement.

- John had enough
self-confidence

to be very collaborative with
these very young actors.

- He was saying, "Okay, Judd,
what do you think?"

And I'd go, "What do I think?
You care what I think?"

- ELISSA: And so Hughes brought
in this stack of scripts,

and the cast poured through it.

- We'd all be at John's house,
and Nancy would make dinner,

and we'd all like
be on the floor

with all the drafts of scripts
and cutting and pasting.

- We could choose scenes or
speeches from an earlier draft

and pull them
into the shooting script.

- NATALIE: To immerse themselves

in their characters
even further,

the older "Breakfast Club"
members actually go undercover

to a local high school posing
as students.

- It was John's idea.

And Emilio Esteves was busted
about a half an hour

into his undercover work,

because he was recognized
from the "The Outsiders,"

which was a pretty major
film.

Judd Nelson,
on the other hand--

- JUDD: I went to
an actual high school

with the hair and the clothes
so that the kids

in the school would treat me
the way that they would treat

a character like John.

- I felt like a
complete outsider.

I didn't know
any of the girls there.

They were all auditioning
for a cheerleading team.

It was perfect, you know,
I felt--they were all

staring at me like,
"Who's the new girl, you know?"

- John Hughes had already
written a pretty amazing script,

but what these kids brought
to it was their own

emotional experience, which
he allowed them to bring.

And that's part of what
made it special.

- NATALIE: The cast and crew are
almost ready to start shooting,

but when one crucial component
still needs to be determined

before the cameras roll.

We know who the five
main character are,

but what will they look like?

- ♪

- NATALIE: It's only weeks
before "The Breakfast Club" is

set to kick off filming,

but before principal shooting
can start,

one other major piece of the
puzzle needs to be locked down.

- BENDER: I got a question.

Does Barry Manilow know
that you raid his wardrobe?

- ♪

- NATALIE: That's right,
clothing.

How will these five
classic archetypes

be visually represented?

- John Hughes turned me on

to the underbelly
of these characters,

knowing where they came from,
what they love,

what they listen to,
what they ate,

what their parents were like.

- I fall in love with these
characters.

I love these characters.

I create them from scratch,
they're my, you know--

my people.

- MARILYN: He got every little
thing about each one of them,

and I really felt them.

- ♪

- ELISSA: Marilyn Vance had
character boards

where she would have the actors
headshot different types

of clothes they would wear,

different types of poses
they would be in.

- MARILYN:
I went looking at stores.

I went into magazines,
and I saw for myself

by traveling around Chicago
and seeing the difference

of these different high schools
to try to hone in

on each individual.

- ♪

- Brian was the easiest
character to come up with,

because it was totally
obvious, especially when

I read his part, and then
visualized the whole thing.

So crewneck sweater,
khaki pants.

I did have Nike make him
the sneakers

with the special colors.

And they did that for me,
which was great.

- I think one of the great
touches with Brian's character

is that his socks don't match.

When he goes backwards and
you see his socks don't match.

So it's just these little
touches about:

"How would they characters
actually dress?"

- If he gets up,
we'll all get up.

It'll be anarchy.

- Judd was the bad boy, so what
I did with him, basically,

was cut off the sleeves
of a flannel shirt,

we had the long undershirt
underneath--the waffle.

As far as the coat is concerned,
it's a thrift store coat.

And he had sort of
mechanic pants, engineer boots.

He came in with gloves
and his scarf.

He wrapped that around
his boot himself.

- NATALIE: Finding the perfect
threads for Allison to wear

isn't as simple.

- At the time, black was not
happening in the stores.

So, I had to make her a skirt.

So I made her a pattern skirt.

She wore her father's
cashmere sweater.

Everything engulfed her.

And the jacket
was the final piece.

- [squeak]

- [bang]
- [squeak]

- The jacket had to be kinda
where she could lose herself

in it, so it was a larger
size than she would wear.

And it was kind of what
she felt safe or something.

- When I put the costume on,
it does something

physical, I just start
to feel--I don't know,

very comfortable in it.

- I even made the purse which
was also black pattern,

and that was pretty big.

- Wanna see what's
in my bag?

- No.
- No.

- It was a big sack.

- ♪

- NATALIE: Andrew's outfit
seems easy enough,

but the jock's clothes will
need a little adjusting.

- First of all, the jacket
was kind of cool.

I made it so it didn't
sit at the waist.

Under the jacket, he had
his T-shirt,

and I cut it away
to give him more shoulder.

I wanted to make
his body look larger.

And it worked
really beautifully.

- NATALIE:
Locking in Claire's look

will prove to be the trickiest
of them all.

- We were a day or two away
from shooting, at the most--

I mean, we were like
ready to shoot.

And Molly hated her wardrobe.

- What I had her in originally
was a crocheted skirt,

and she had a beret.

Adorable clothes,
really expensive looking.

- ELISSA: And Molly Ringwald
said, "No, she would be

not Daddy I want, she would be
Daddy I'm taking."

And she decided for
a more sophisticated look.

- I picked out my outfit.

I went out, 'cause originally,
it was supposed to be

something else, and it just--
it didn't quite work.

And so John Hughes
took me out in Chicago,

we just went shopping, and
I picked out that whole outfit.

- ♪

- She was still a prissy girl,
but she was more sophisticated.

She had diamond earrings.

- Suddenly, Claire was defined
as "that rich kid."

And Molly was super happy,
and everything worked out.

- JACKIE: Each one fit their
personality,

and brought
more of the character out

just by
what they were wearing.

- LAUREN: She totally nailed it
with the characters.

She always does.

She's a wonderful costume
designer.

- NATALIE: Now that the cast
and the set is fully dressed,

day one of shooting--
March 28, 1984--

has finally arrived.

"The Breakfast Club" is
officially in session.

- Right off the bat, we knew it
was gonna be a fun two months,

because we could tell
the kids were normal,

the kids were nice, and the kids
were there to make a movie.

- BRIAN:
Saturday, March 24, 1984.

Shermer High School,
Shermer, Illinois.

- KEVIN: Anyone who loves
John Hughes' movies recognizes

the name Shermer, Illinois,
as the fictional setting

for his movies.

The name was an inside joke.

Shermer was taken from the name
Shermerville,

which was the previous name
of Northbrook,

where John Hughes
went to high school.

- So he created
this entire world,

and it would have
different facets,

so that Judd Nelson's Bender
would have come from the same

down at its heels neighborhood
as the John Candy character,

Dell, in "Planes, Trains,
and Automobiles."

Meanwhile, Ferris Bueller would
have come from the posh section,

where Molly Ringwald's Claire

from "The Breakfast Club"
also lived.

- It's the people.

I can build characterS.

I like to, it's sort
of like sitting down

and making some friends.

- ELISSA: John Hughes had
a keen eye for detail,

and every bit would comment
on characters.

So even at the very beginning
of the film

with the parents dropping off
the kids.

The first shot
of the BMW logo,

we know that Claire is rich.

We know just from that shot
that she's got money.

- I can't believe you can't
get me out of this.

- ♪

- ELISSA: And then when Andrew
and Brian come in,

their families
are dropping them off

in Fords and Dodges, and
these are working class cars

and these are
working class people.

And one of the reasons
there's so much pressure

on both Andy and Brian is
because they don't have money

to fall back on.

- You wanna miss a match?

You wanna blow your ride?

Now, no school is gonna
give a scholarship

to a discipline case.

- I played sports in
high school, so I knew kind of

what that team feeling is like
and that pressure to win

and that pressure to be
the best and the fastest.

And, uh, so--so I was able
to draw from that.

- ♪

- JACKIE: When it came
to casting the parents,

they were very, very important.

They weren't on screen
that long,

but they had to give you
kind of the lifestyle

of each kid.

- KEVIN: And in the case of
Anthony Michael Hall,

they actually cast
Anthony Michael Hall's

real mother and sister
for that role.

- My sister, Mary, and
my mother, Mercedes,

are playing my mother
and sister in the film.

- I forget I'm in the movie
until I get a residual check.

And I, "Oh, yeah,
I was in that film."

Is this the first time or
the last time we do this?

- Last.

- I don't remember
the exact lines.

But I do know this,
it was one take,

so I was pretty much
playing myself. [laughs]

Actually, the audio guy
got it wrong the first take,

so we had to do two takes.
[laughs]

It's true.

Well, get in there, and use
the time to your advantage.

- Mom, we're not supposed
to study.

We just have to sit there
and do nothing.

- Well, Mister, you figure out
a way to study.

- Yeah.

- MERCEDES: So, Michael came
home after seeing a private

screening that John had given
he and Molly, and he said,

"Mom, you're not
gonna believe this.

Mary gets the first laugh
in the film."

And I said, "Stop,"
and she did indeed.

- ♪

- Allison Reynolds,
the sort of misfit,

we don't really see
her parents,

but she's dislodged from
what is clearly a very expensive

Cadillac or something
like that, indicating

her social awkwardness
and weirdness is probably seen

as kind of a disgrace
at the country club.

- Bender, meanwhile, doesn't
have parents who drop him off.

- KEVIN: I've always wondered
like, "Does that mean

"John Bender
lives near the high school?

"Does that mean he
caught a bus and walked in?

Does that mean
he hitched a ride?"

All it tells us is John Bender
is kind of on his own.

- NATALIE: The actors are eager
to have their characters

start interacting,
which they know will happen

on day two of shooting.

How?

Because "The Breakfast Club"
is going to be filmed

entirely in sequence.

- We shot it page by page
as it was written.

- KIRK: When you shoot in order,
it always benefits the cast,

because they don't have to
imagine what they did,

you know, 20 pages earlier.

- THOMAS: It allowed them
a starting point

and a place to build, and
then a point at which

they can taper off
towards the end

and have
a complete character arc.

- JENNIFER: And for us,
normally, you'll have 100, 150

sets that you shoot within
6 weeks.

So that's so many sets a day.

So, it's really stressful,

and it's a lot of
keeping track of everything.

So, having everything
contained and controlled

was so joyful.

- NATALIE: Shooting in
sequential order is underway,

and "The Breakfast Club"
is rolling.

But not without some unexpected,
last-minute casting changes.

- ♪

- By late March 1984,
"The Breakfast Club"

set was built,
the costumes were finalized,

and the film's
ever-growing script was in place

under the guidance of
writer/director John Hughes.

Shooting had begun.

And inside Shermer High School,
the brain, the beauty,

the jock, the rebel,
and the recluse

were about to begin
serving their sentence

for whatever it was
they did wrong.

- I know it's detention,
but, um...

I don't think
I belong in here.

- ELISSA: The characters in
"The Breakfast Club"

represented a wide swath
that would cover everything

in a regular high school.

- HUGHES: In high school,
you are stereotyped.

You are this
or you're that.

You're a jock, or you're
a princess or you're--

you're a brain,
or you're a wimp.

- Five total strangers
in five different spots,

not interacting with each other
if they can avoid it.

- We're all in there for
our little individual crime,

which, you know, couple of
them are more serious

than others.

- And what we see,
over the course of a day,

is that these kids end up
finding out

that they all have
more in common

than they have
that separates them.

- One of the points
of this piece is that,

um, these people are not
those stereotypes at all.

- And they all
had layers.

Peeling was very important,

because it worked
with the character.

And John planned it
that way,

which is so cool.

- MICHELLE: It's like
the metaphor of,

"They're shedding
their skins."

So they're shedding themselves
as they get to know each other.

Like, literally, as we're
in this one room

with all these lights,
and they're just melting,

going, "Can't we have taken off
all of our jackets by now?"

- You like your old man
better than your mom?

- They're both screwed.

- I think Molly Ringwald
is amazing in that

she brought this sensitivity
and self-awareness

to this role.

- I mean, I don't think either
one of them

gives a -- about me.

It's like they use me just
to get back at each other.

- She was able to make,
you know, the rich girl

sympathetic, which is not
easy to do. [laughs]

- What's that?

- Sushi.

- I mean, who eats sushi
at that point in time?

She was more sophisticated,
obviously,

than the other kids.

- JANE: I take it you don't
feel a lot like a Claire type.

- [laughs] Hmm-mm.

- How did you know
how to do her?

- There's girls like Claire
in every school, you know,

I mean, there's no school
without a Claire Standish.

And, uh, I've observed
them a great deal.

- ♪

- Who are you?

- ANTHONY:
Typically Brian Johnson.

He's kinda stereotyped
as the brain.

And, um, he's real smart,
real intelligent.

Well, you know the school
comes equipped fire exits

at either end of the library.

- Anthony Michael Hall,
I thought was fascinating

to watch, because he had
the face that would

register
all of the expressions.

I just thought he was
so well written

and played it so well.

- He's very sensitive.

He's very in tune
to how he feels,

and he's ready to share that,
but, uh...

no one was really there.

- He's the observer in
a lot of these situation--

if you notice the scenes,
a lot of times,

he's sitting back
and taking it all in.

- You wear tights?

- No, I don't wear tights.

I wear the required uniform.

- Tights.

- Shut up!

- I play a character
named Andy Clark,

who's the high school
wrestling champion.

He's a state champion wrestler.

- He doesn't just play
the jock as

this loose kind of party,
drinking kind of guy.

He's a really serious,
straight-laced character.

- You're not urinating
in here, man.

- Don't talk,
don't talk.

It makes it crawl back up.

- You whip it out,
and you're dead

before the first drop
hits the floor.

He is a guy
that goes by the book.

He's been raised very strictly
by his coach, by his father.

And, uh, he's really
this--this mini volcano

ready to explode.

Hey!
- What?

- If I lose my temper,
you're totaled, man.

- Totally?

- I like Bender
a great deal, too--Judd.

'Cause I had worked with Judd
just prior to that

on a picture called
"Fandango"--

the Kevin Costner picture.

- I play John Bender, who's--
I guess you could say

he's from the wrong side
of the tracks.

He's at that school and feels
sort of that he's

in this poker game in which all
the cards are marked,

but everyone else knows
what the marks stand for

except him.
- JANE: Well put.

- So, he's a bit angry.

Don't you ever, ever
compare yourself to me, okay?

You got everything
and I got [bleep].

- Judd is kind of like
a natural rebel.

He's very bright, and
he's just very cool.

- You don't believe me?

- ANDY: No.

- No?
- Did I stutter?

- You believe this?

Huh?

It's about the size
of a cigar.

Do I stutter?

- There are some moments where
you really don't like this guy,

and yet--and yet, you still
feel sympathetic towards him.

- [blows air]

- NATALIE: The character
of Allison

is a bit unconventional.
- [spits]

- NATALIE: As she doesn't
have any speaking lines

for the first 33 minutes
of the film.

- She doesn't talk, sir.
- ALLISON: [squeaks]

- It establishes her as
this kind of...

unpredictable, mysterious
character.

But she's so like alive
in that character,

even though she's not
saying anything.

- ALLY: Allison, she seems
to be a little disturbed,

actually, inside.

The basic feeling was, "Well,
if I don't pretend

"that I'm crazy and get a lot
of attention that way I'm gonna

be completely invisible
and sort of just disappear."

- KAITLIN: So we see her
shaking the dandruff

off of her hair
onto the painting.

We hear her biting her nails.
- [snap]

- KAITLIN: We see her preparing
her lunch.

- THOMAS: She took
Cap'n Crunch cereal,

which was totally unexpected,
stuck it between two pieces

of bread and slammed it together
and shoved it in her mouth.

- [crunching]

- THOMAS: We had to do it
two or three times

because people were laughing
the way she did it.

She goes--[munching]

And it was just hysterical.

- Oh, I love Ally.

I think she's what everybody
that wants to start acting

should aspire to be.

- I wrote down everything that
she was thinking in her head

at night
before we do a scene.

And then during the day when
they'd be doing their scenes,

I'd be looking at everybody,

just having this thing
going.

[loud laughs]

- She, at one point,
reaches over

and a knife has been introduced,

and she pulls the knife out
and just puts it away,

so you start to understand
her character

before she has said a word.

- NATALIE: And then there's
Carl, the school janitor.

A character who will change
dramatically in tone

due to something
very unexpected.

- I feel like John just came up
with like a list of all

the comedians he loved, and
Rick Moranis happened to be

around the Universal lot
at some point.

And I feel like we just cast
him.

- And even back then,
at that point in time,

I think Rick Moranis was
a pretty big deal.

- So, Rick Moranis shows up
and decides that

this janitor is Russian--

- ♪

- MICHELLE:
--and has a gold tooth,

this Russian accent,
that cap.

It--it looked like a Russian.

He didn't even look like
Rick Moranis.

- And he had a beard.

- It didn't feel
like it was part

of the same movie
we were making.

- He's a major talent.

But that was not what
"The Breakfast Club" was about.

- MICHELLE: We wrapped
that day,

and John's like,
"I'm as shocked as you are."

And I'm like, "Well,
Ned's not gonna be happy."

So, we send him the footage.

And he just goes,
"This is horrible."

And so I say to John, "Look,
Ned hates it."

And he goes, "Well,
I can't fire him.

I can barely talk to him."

So, I had the joy of
telling Rick Moranis

that he was no longer
going to be a part

of "The Breakfast Club."

- NATALIE: And so,
it's time to find

a new janitor fast.

- I got a call from
my agent in Chicago

saying, "They want you
to be in 'The Breakfast Club.'"

- Well, I love John Kapelos.

And I wanted him in it.

We knew what John could bring.

- He came over to the school,

and like just sort of sat
with John and talked about

how he saw the part,

which was really himself.

And that's all that character
needed to be.

- KAPELOS: I don't recall John
ever giving me any vast outline

of what Carl should be
or who he is.

I just naturally sort of
decided to serve the work.

Brian, how you doing?

I needed to, first of all,
understand who this guy was

and how it fit
into the movie.

So, when John also told me,
"He went to this school,"

and then you have the picture
of me in the bookcase.

I said, "Okay, that gave me
a beat into the fact

"that he might have been
this big man on campus,

and now he's sort of
fallen from grace a bit."

And a lot of people I know
have seen the movie

many, many times,
and they never catch that.

- BENDER: Uh, Carl?
- What?

- Can I ask you a question?
- CARL: Sure.

- How does one become
a janitor?

- You wanna be a janitor?

- No, I just wanna know
how one becomes a janitor,

because Andrew here
is very interested

in pursing a career
in the custodial arts.

- Oh, really?

So the kids kind of
look down on him,

and I think Carl
recognizes that.

You guys think I'm just
some untouchable peasant,

serf, peon, you know?

- I think it was
a good character.

I think it was
a great character, in fact.

- I look through
your letters,

look through your lockers.

I listen to your conversations.

You don't know that,
but I do.

I am the eyes and ears
of this institution, my friends.

- KIRK: This guy was once
a student at the school

is now--is a janitor.

- By the way, that clock is
20 minutes fast.

- And it puts your head
into an area like,

"Well, what are these kids
gonna be like

five, ten years down the line?"

And I think that was
a great opportunity for John

to actually strengthen
the drama of the film.

- NATALIE: Kapelos succeeds
as Carl,

and production rolls on.

But not without another
casting surprise

that even diehard
"Breakfast Club" fans

know almost nothing about.

- ♪

- NATALIE:
As shooting progresses,

writer/director John Hughes
is watching his vision

of "The Breakfast Club"
come to life.

And a huge part of that
is his relationship

with his cast.

- One of the beauties of
John Hughes is he had

the ability to make all
the actors feel comfortable,

so they knew they could be
their characters

instead of have to play
their characters.

- John Hughes is great.

He takes a great deal of time
to discuss with us

what it is that he wants,

what it is that he thinks we
may want to achieve in a scene.

- Sometimes he'd let the camera
run and sit right underneath it

and then while you would--I was
doing something, he would just

like say really quietly, "Okay,
now do this, now do that."

- John would lay underneath
the camera,

or he'd a lay on some
apple boxes with a furniture pad

with his shoes off
with his arm propped up,

and he would instruct them
during the take.

- He would just sit
really close

so you feel
a real connection.

- Some directors would direct
from another room,

watching the monitor.

John was always
where the kids were.

- A lot of leaning in,
and they'd say, "No, no,

you're in the shot,"

because he was
so laser-focused on them.

- John really gives you
free rein as an actor.

And he welcomes all of your
ideas, all of your input,

all of your improvisation,

he just let me go
with my imagination.

- MICHELLE: It would be like,
"Okay, we got it. That worked.

Now just do something,
like go crazy."

And you'd be surprised of
how many of those moments

are actually in
the final movie.

- ♪

- [laughing]

- Anthony Michael Hall said
that it was just empowering

that this guy in his 30s was
giving him--

a 15, or 16-year-old--

the carte blanche to come up
with his own lines.

- Chicks cannot
hold their smoke.

That's what it is.
- [laughs]

- Michael could mimic anyone.

And wherever he got that voice,
wherever that came from,

he just has that knack, it's
a very natural thing for him.

- ♪

- CLAIRE: [laughs]

[laughing]

- Michael didn't necessarily
always have to wait

for John to say, "Oh, we got it,
like try something."

- What do you need
a fake ID for?

- So I can vote.

- "Well, yeah, so I can vote."

- And like John just starts
laughing.

- The thing about John is that--
and I saw this particularly

with Anthony Michael Hall
in "Sixteen Candles"--

Is that if he had a rapport
with you, all of the sudden,

he's tossing stuff at you,
and you're tossing it back.

And it becomes really kinetic.

- My sister, who was his
guardian and his godmother,

was on the set
for all films.

And she saw that relationship.

And she said it was
beautiful.

It was like a big brother
with a little guy.

You know, there were always
talking in between scenes,

they would just go off
into a corner and discuss

what they had just filmed.

So there was a bond
that they had.

- It was a great experience
in so far as I could work

with brilliant actors
on a brilliant script,

and, uh, run with the ball.

And Hughes allowed us
to run with the ball.

Face it, you're a
Neo-Maxi Zoomdweebie.

- Neo-Maxi Zoomdweebie.

And I was like, "Wow."

And John's like, "Okay."

And then--that's what
it became.

- I mean there were whole scenes
out of "Breakfast Club"

that were
just improvised,

and he just
let the camera roll.

Do you know
how popular I am?

I'm so popular,

everybody loves me so much
at this school.

He had a lot of faith
in the actors that he hired,

and I think that really made
us all very comfortable.

- A naked blond walks into a bar
with a poodle under one arm,

and a two-foot salami
under the other.

- And that was one
of the hallmarks of that

particular movie--these little
additions of reality that

these actors would bring to it
that were not scripted.

- Don't mess with the bull,
young man,

you'll get the horns.

- "Don't mess with the bull,
you get the horns."

That was improvised.

And this whole thing--I don't
know where this

whole thing came from, but
it was totally improvised.

- For two months,
I gotcha.

- When he says--

- The next time I have
to come in here,

I'm cracking skulls.

- --that was improvised.

John Hughes kinda gave him
that gift of saying,

"I trust you.

You can write a lot
of your own lines."

- Hugga-gaga.
Alright.

- KAITLIN: Whenever we would
watch it together,

he would kinda be like,
"Oh, yeah, yeah, right there,

that was me, I improvised that
one," 'cause he loved that.

- I'm proud to be a part
of this, because, uh,

it's been
a real good experience.

What did you wanna be
when you were young?

- That's, I think, one of
the better moments, at least,

for me and "The Breakfast Club"
was when he asked me,

"You know, who did you wanna be
when you were a kid?"

When I was a kid, I wanted
to be John Lennon.

And that was mine.

But when I say mine,
it was John allowed me

the ability
to put that in there.

And I think that was
his genius in terms of

being able to know what
certain actors can do,

and using them
to their fullest.

- NATALIE: As the camera
continues to roll,

everyone on set is excited
with how the script

keeps improving each day.

- [record scratches]
- NATALIE: Well,

almost everyone.

- MICHELLE: Bob Forrest,
our script supervisor,

I thought he was gonna
leave the business

halfway through the shoot,
because he's just like--

and he's trying to write
the new words down.

It was constantly
shu-shu-shu-shu-shu.

- He's gotta keep everything
in continuity.

That's his main job.

But because there were
so many ad-libs,

he was writing changes
all over his script

every single day,
every single place.

- There was just like
one point

I see this pen fly
through the air.

I see this notebook
fly through the air.

And he just like this--
like verbal like, "Uh!"

I don't know if this movie...

was the last thing he did.

But I have a feeling, if
you looked it up,

it probably was.

Yeah, we were retired
that gentleman.

- NATALIE: But a far bigger
change behind the scenes

is about to go down,

having to do
with an entire character

who won't make the cut.

- It was a gym teacher,
Robin.

A very attractive one.

- MICHELLE: These kids, their
detention is on the weekend,

and who knew that
the synchronized swimming team

practiced on the weekend.

And not only did they practice,

they practiced
without their swimsuits.

- She was going to be swimming,

and Vernon was gonna catch her
and watch her swimming naked.

It was gonna be a very
"Porky's" style moment.

- Well, that's all
in the script.

And that was all
in the casting call.

And this woman, who then
became a writer--

Karen Leigh Hopkins--
was cast.

- JACKIE: I brought her in,
and John loved her.

And this was her big break
in life.

And she was elated.

- ELISSA: They actually did
film some scenes

with Karen Leigh Hopkins.

And then she got a call,

and they said,
"You're off the movie."

- John told me, "You have
to fire Karen."

And I went, "Why?
What did she do?"

He said,
"No, her acting was good.

It just doesn't work."

All I know is that I had
to give her

the worst news in her life,

and they packed her
and sent her home.

- ♪

- ELISSA: What ultimately
happened one of these nights

that the cast and crew were
over at the Hughes' house,

Ally and Molly decided
to approach him

about changing this character.

And then Michelle Manning,
the co-producer,

supported them in that.

- Gotta love those
feminists.

Molly and Ally just like
ganged up on John.

- NATALIE: The actresses
were strongly opposed

to the gratuitous nudity
the swimming scene called for.

- I saw them just like
go, close in on him.

They just were like,
"How can you do this?

"How can you do this?

"Based on this script
that's so real,

like this is stupid,
this is ridiculous."

- This was way before Me Too,

but it was so inappropriate
to them,

there should be
this peephole scene.

And John, to his credit,
listened to this criticism.

- And supposedly,
he took it out after that.

- LAUREN: I think
the last thing he wanted to do

was have a scene
that was offensive

to two leads in his cast.

And Molly was very forthright,
and so was Ally.

And I believe that they were

probably very difficult
to argue with. [laughs]

- NATALIE: Shooting of
"The Breakfast Club" rolls on,

culminating in one
unforgettable scene

that sees the characters
bond like never before,

and sends a movie studio
into panic mode.

- ♪

- What was that ruckus?

- Uh, what ruckus?

- I was just in my office,
and I heard a ruckus.

- Could you describe
the ruckus, sir?

- Watch your tone, young man,
watch it.

- As the scenes unfold,
the five kids realize

they have a common enemy.

- BENDER: Uh, Dick?

Excuse me. Rich

- ELISSA: And then that bond
grows stronger.

Vernon's very emblematic
of a previous generation

that's more interested
in himself

than he is in the kids he's
supposed to be taking care of.

- Come on, man,
right here.

Just take the first shot.

Please, I'm begging you,
take a shot.

Right here, come on!

- That's a very real moment
in the film.

And there is something
a little bit threatening--

a lot a bit threatening
of Vern's attitude.

- ♪

- That's what I thought.

- He did sort of scare
them all in the first

couple days of shooting
when he was so like,

you know, "Rah-ah-ah."

- Who closed that door?

- MICHELLE: But then
when we'd have lunch,

or we'd be in between setups,
he was like being crazy

and shooting whatever
office supplies

he had nearby at them.

- I think that that was
something that I was aware of

at a young age.

I was like, "Oh, he's
not like other dads, I guess.

He's more like a kid."

And we had so much fun
together.

- PAUL: That's a picture.

That's Kaitlin's frame she
gave you for Christmas.

- NATALIE: The cast and crew are
certainly having fun on set.

But there is something
John Hughes

is very serious about:
music.

- MERCEDES: The music, it was
just an integral part of

his writing, bringing
the music as he was shooting,

as he was filming,
as opposed to doing it after.

- He was constantly
listening to music.

"What do you think of this?
What do you think of this?"

- DAVID: John Hughes,
in a funny way,

was a musical curator for
kids growing up in the '80s,

because he was bringing in
British imports.

He had his ear to the ground

about underground
post punk stuff.

- And he always knew
a hot band way before

it ever came on the scene.

- NATALIE: Hughes' passion
for discovering new bands

and featuring them in his films
is precisely how he finds

the group Simple Minds, who
performs "The Breakfast Club's"

theme song,
"Don't You Forget About Me,"

which will go on to top
the Billboard charts.

- ♪ Don't you

♪ Forget about me

- LAUREN: It had a New Wave
vibe, and it was subtle

yet it spoke to the moment.

- DAVID: In that dancing scene,
you have, "We Are Not Alone"

by Karla Devito, which is
kind of a deep cut.

- ♪ We are not alone

♪ 'Cause when you cut down
to the bone ♪

♪ We're really not so
different after all ♪

- We built a platform
that was maybe two feet deep

so that they could fit on it,
but you couldn't see it,

because the camera
was angled low

so it looked like they were
dancing on a handrail.

- ♪

- NATALIE: It's about
three-quarters of the way

into shooting,
and now it's time

to roll on the film's
most intense scene.

- You guys know what--
what I did to get in here?

- Once they get
in that circle,

it's like, "Uh, okay,
now--now we're really gonna

"shed our secrets
and tell the truths

that we have been
talking around."

- I hate it.

I hate having to go along
with everything my friends say.

- You watch them
look at each other and go,

"Wait a minute, you're maybe
not that different than me."

- We're all pretty bizarre.

Some of us are just better
at hiding it, that's all.

- The one who stands out for me
the most

is Anthony Michael Hall.

- You think I don't
understand pressure, Claire?

- DAVID: He gives this
incredibly nuanced,

tender performance where he
goes from suicidal ideation--

- Mr. Ryan found a gun
in my locker.

- --to confidence--

- [laughs]
- It's not funny.

- DAVID:
--to self-depreciation.

- [sniffs]

- DAVID: I think it's
amazing, to this day.

- Yes, it is.
[chuckles]

- I was like overwhelmed
with the emotion.

His ability to give
like that,

because it takes--that's
a lot of freedom,

but not be afraid to show
his emotions that--

from that deep, deep place.

- The moments of vulnerability
between the five kids are

what cements their friendships
at the end of the movie.

- You wanna know what I did
to get in here?

Nothing.

I didn't have anything
better to do.

- KEVIN: But there's a fair
amount of conflict and yelling

that gets us there.

- Just bury your head
in the sand

and wait for your [bleep] prom!

- I hate you.
[sobs]

- MICHELLE: We would just
load the camera

and literally just keep
rolling,

and John would say,
"Again.

Again. Again."

And it was like every time
they were even more

broken down than before,

and that's where you get
these amazing performances.

- When you grow up...

your heart dies.

- NATALIE: Not only did
Hughes shoot approximately

200,000 feet of film
on this scene alone,

the director ran through
an estimated

1 million feet of film
for the entire movie.

- [laughs]
One million feet?

Oh my God, Michelle Manning
must have loved that.

- Chu-chu-chu-chu.

And the film would like
run out,

and it'd just be like,
"Uh."

'Cause I kept saying,
"Can't you say cut?"

- I don't know who else
could have gone through

a million feet of film
and made it work

the way it did except for
the editor, Dede Allen.

Dede Allen had edited
"Bonnie and Clyde,"

"Reds,"
"Dog Day Afternoon."

- MEYER:
She had done "Serpico."

She did a movie with me called
"The Milagro Beanfield War"

that Robert Redford directed.

- KIRK: Universal put probably
the top editor

in Hollywood at the time
on this film.

- LAUREN: And John being
a fairly new director,

having only done one movie,

a good producer,
a good studio head wants to put

a very experienced editor
with that director

to make sure that everything
comes out alright.

- This was the first time
I'd seen

a script about particularly
high school kids,

where they took the--
they took them seriously,

and it interested me.

- And we had this room
that became

our "screening room"
for dailies.

And I wouldn't go in and like
say, "I wanna see something."

I just would say, "So?"

And she would just go,

"This is something
really special."

- Dede Allen made John Hughes
think about

his characters
even more intensely

than even he had done before.

- You have to think
in terms of story

and character constantly.

Well, how do you plant
the seeds for that?

Who looks at who when?
How?

- MICHELLE: Because they're in
the same clothes,

Dede would take things that
had happened in Scene 16,

even if it was just a reaction
or a nod or a head turn,

and could put it in Scene 2.

Create moments that never
really were there.

And then John would come over
and watch what we did,

and be like, "Oh yeah,
that worked."

- I have no question in my mind
that she really

forged that film into
what it is today.

Her cutting is a textbook
case in how to make a movie.

- ♪

- NATALIE: We're in
the final days of shooting,

and it turns out, there's room
for a surprise cameo.

That's John Hughes
behind the wheel.

- John ended up picking
Michael up

and played his father.

And he thought, "Why not?

I might as well do it."

Michael was like a son to him,
in some respects, you know?

- Little bit like
Alfred Hitchcock,

where he put himself
in the movie.

- BRIAN: "Dear Mr. Vernon."

- DAVID: "Breakfast Club"
has a bittersweet ending.

And Anthony Michael Hall's
letter articulates that.

- BRIAN: "What we found out
is that each one of us

is a brain."
- ANDY: "And a athlete."

- ALLISON:
"And a basket case."

- CLAIRE: "A princess."

- BENDER: "And a criminal."

- Yet at the same time,
the bitter part of bittersweet

is that when they go back
to school Monday,

these bonds may not endure.

- NATALIE: And these
last bits of footage

will also yield
an iconic visual.

- BRIAN: "Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club."

- We filmed it
in two directions.

Him walking towards camera,

and him walking away
from camera.

- And doing
a variety of gestures.

Sometimes he skips,
sometimes he'd applaud.

So we had about
eight different versions,

and they chose the one
with the arm in the air.

And as a matter of fact,
that was the last take we did.

- ♪

- MERCEDES: I thought it was
a great ending.

I thought it was perfect.

And it's sort of like
a punctuation mark.

You know, it's like,
"Did it."

- And an interesting thing
happened.

On that very last take,

as soon as he walked
across the football field,

about 20 or 30 crew people

walked right onto that same
football field,

dropped trou
and mooned the camera

as our John Bender salute
to "Breakfast Club."

And somewhere in the Universal
archives, buried away, is some

X-rated footage of 20 guys
not looking so attractive.

- NATALIE: Shooting wrapped
on May 17, 1984.

And detention is officially over
for Nelson, Ringwald,

Hall, Esteves, and Sheedy.

While "The Breakfast Club"
is in post-production

that summer, the studio
begins to wrestle

with how to market the film.

- MEYER: Universal was worried
it was too serious

a kids' movie, and they weren't
sure what to do with it.

- MALE NARRATOR:
They only met once.

- I don't wanna be alone
anymore.

- You don't have to be.

- NARRATOR: But it changed
their lives forever.

- What they were most
worried about

was the 20-minute sequence
in which the kids

all sit around and talk about
why they're really in there.

And they were worried that
that would just kill the movie.

And they were thinking,
"Do we take it out?"

- NATALIE: So an early cut
of the film is tested

in focus groups
across the country.

- And they liked the movie
a lot.

And the scene they liked
the best was the 20-minute

talking head scene that
Universal was so nervous about.

But it didn't fit the mold
of movies that had

come before of it
of this tone.

It was a risky venture.

- ♪

- NATALIE: "The Breakfast Club"
is set to hit theaters

in early 1985.

Will the film be a hit?

Or will moviegoers
turn their backs

on a serious film
about teens,

confirming
the studio's worst fears?

It won't be long
before audiences

will determine the answer.

- ♪

- "The Breakfast Club" was
set to be released

on February 15, 1985.

And John Hughes and company
were confident

they created something special.

Although Universal Studios
struggled with how

exactly to market the film,

one thing they could
agree on:

the now iconic image used for
the official movie poster,

taken by then up-and-coming
photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Still, Universal execs
remained extremely nervous,

and even the filmmakers
themselves weren't sure

what type of reaction
to expect.

- ♪

- MEYER: We were worried.

When the movie premiered,
I remember Ned and I stood

in the back
the entire time.

So, you're sort of
watching the movie,

but you're really
watching the audience.

- AUDIENCE: [cheering]

- JACKIE: And they loved it,

they were cheering,
screaming.

I mean, it was thrilling
to be part of that.

- ♪

- There was applause
and laughter continuously

in all the places you'd
expect the laughter to be.

- [splat]

- And we knew right away
it was gonna be a hit.

- ♪

- Word of mouth really
was the key.

- KEVIN: Almost immediately,

you started hearing
lines from it, you know,

kind of trailing up and down
the hallways in school.

You heard someone called
a Neo-Maxi Zoomdweebie.

You'd hear sex referred to
as "riding the hobby horse."

- And you saw it--like
people waiting in line

like that next weekend,

talking about what their friends
had told them about this movie.

And so you sort of watched
how it became a thing.

- NATALIE: The film opens
to generally positive reviews

and stays in theaters
for more than 2 months,

grossing $46 million
domestically.

- "The Breakfast Club" was,
by box office standards,

a moderate success.

- It wasn't
a very large budget,

so there was pretty good
return on investment.

- DAVID: But in terms of
capturing the zeitgeist

and exciting a teen audience,
it was a humongous success.

- NATALIE: The main stars
of "The Breakfast Club"

become household names.

Hughes continues to work
with Hall in the comedy

"Weird Science."

And he has already written
his next vehicle for Ringwald--

"Pretty In Pink."

- I know their skills
and their styles,

and the things
that they like.

And it's so easy
to write for them.

- NATALIE:
In the summer of 1985,

three-fifths of
"The Breakfast Club" costar

in Joel Shumacher's
coming-of-age drama

"St. Elmo's Fire," based on
Hughes' recommendation

to cast them.

Young, hot Hollywood hits
a fever pitch,

complete with a nickname.

- ♪

- They had been branded
The Brat Pack, which is,

I think, a moniker that they
weren't

particularly pleased with.

- It was a bit insulting.

- Is the Brat Pack still one
of your most hated phrases?

- [laughs]

Um, you know, I think it's
a little reductive.

Um, you know,
but in other ways,

I'm sort of proud of it,
because, you know,

I'm really proud
of those movies.

- I found them to be kind
of sincere, serious actors...

and hardworking.

- ELISSA:
But it pigeonholed them

into a certain types of roles.

And in some ways, it could
have stifled careers,

at the time, now it's almost
a bit of a boost to careers,

'cause it's like, "Oh yeah,

you were part
of the Brat Pack."

- ♪

- NATALIE:
Throughout the late 1980s,

Hall, Ringwald,
Nelson,

Esteves, and Sheedy

will continue to stretch
their acting wings,

as Hughes enters
his golden period,

writing and directing
one hit film after another,

which catapults
the quiet, Midwesterner

to Hollywood mogul status.

- ♪

- LAUREN:
Now he's on top of the world.

He was enormous.

Every studio, every--everybody
wanted to work with him.

- DAVID: And then you get
the "Home Alone" movies,

which he did not direct,
but he did write and produce.

And that just makes him more
in demand, to the point where

he's, basically, the hottest
writer and director in Hollywood

who can do anything he wants
by the early '90s.

But what he chooses to do
is retreat.

- ♪

- He simply...

left the business.

- KAPELOS: He was
a very independent guy.

He didn't want people
to mess with his stuff too much.

And when there were too many
hands on situations,

he bristled at that.

- LAUREN: He was not
a L.A./Hollywood guy.

He was just happy
in Chicago.

- KIRK: He just wanted
to spend more time at home

with his kids
and writing.

He loved writing at nighttime.

And that's what he did.

- ♪

- NATALIE: And then,
on a summer day in 2009,

in New York City,
the unthinkable.

- Now to the tragic death
of John Hughes,

the iconic director, producer
and screenwriter

behind such hits as
"The Breakfast Club"

and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

The 59-year-old died
of a heart attack on Thursday.

- ♪

- That was tough.

That was horrible.

Michael really took it hard.

- JENNIFER: It was just like
a torpedo in your heart.

He's supposed to go on forever.

It took me a long time
to get over that.

- ELISSA: When he died,

it was this moment that has
rarely ever been felt

when a filmmaker passes.

One of the indications
of this is the Oscar tribute

in the following year.

- What did that mean to you?

That tribute to John Hughes?
- Well, it was

very emotional, you know,
it was--I mean, it was

a huge honor to be there and to
sort of represent his work

like that
and to see his family.

And I was really honored that
they chose

to honor John in that way.

- ELISSA: That really shows
how influential he was.

Even though he left Hollywood,
his impact never did.

- I think one of the mistakes
that's commonly made

in Hollywood teenage pictures,
they're going for their bucks,

and they're not
going for the heart.

And, uh, you know, I try to make
a movie that's gonna last.

- ♪

- John connected to
an entire generation

the way that it has not
been duplicated since.

- MICHELLE: It was strange,
'cause that was just like

ten-plus years later where
I went to work at

this movie company, Orion,
and these assistants

would be like, "Michelle,

you worked
on 'The Breakfast Club.'"

And I'm like,
"Yeah."

They're like, "It changed
my life."

- When people hear that
I cast "The Breakfast Club,"

they'll go like this
sometimes.

- [crowd cheering]

- NATALIE: Its legacy would
continue to expand

as the cast would reunite

with each
landmark anniversary.

And in 2016,
"The Breakfast Club" earns

a serious accolade when
it is officially recognized

by the Library of Congress's
National Film Registry.

- I hope a lot of John's films
are preserved forever.

But "Breakfast Club" certainly
deserves the honor, because

it was just a milestone movie
in the way we think about

our youths in our society.

- I feel like it's kind of
his masterpiece.

- ♪

- NATALIE: Flash forward to
2018 when Ringwald herself

goes public with a slightly
different approach to the film

and others she made with Hughes,
after initially watching it

with her then
10-year-old daughter.

- In the wake
of the Me Too movement,

Molly Ringwald actually wrote
an article for "The New Yorker"

about her experience
on "The Breakfast Club"

and noting some of these really
problematic aspects of the film.

- There's a shot where Bender
crouches under a desk.

And he sees Claire's underwear.

And that scene really
has no place in the movie,

especially by
today's standards.

- KAITLIN: I know that they used
like a double for her.

She was 16.

Judd Nelson was 25.

Like there's inappropriate
moments between

a 16-year-old
and a 25-year-old.

- ♪

- I think that you can
kind of excuse it as like

they were operating
in this certain time period.

Is it okay?

No, but was it kind of
ubiquitous?

Kind of.

- MICHELLE: That wasn't
just John Hughes.

It was all the movies
of that time.

- JACKIE: My take is,
if you knew John,

this was so innocent.

I guess that's why
it didn't bother me,

because I knew where
he was coming from.

- I think it took a lot for her
to actually write that,

because she was a party to it.

And so she's writing about it
as if it's all about

who directed it, but,
"Hey, girl, you did it too."

And so I thought it was
interesting that she

kinda cops to that.

- NATALIE: Ringwald made it
clear to Buzzfeed News

in 2019 that she wasn't
condemning the film.

- It was really important
for me--to also that people

didn't think that I was
denouncing the films at all,

because I'm not, you know.

There's still so much
that I love about them,

and I think they're powerful.

- DAVID: They saw her saying,
"You know, if you we look back

"upon it now, these scenes
are problematic,

knowing what
we know post Me Too."

And it's a fair criticism.

- Well, well.

Here we are.

- NATALIE: Even when revisiting
"The Breakfast Club"

through today's lens,
there's no denying the impact

of its evergreen message.

- The film's enduring quality
is the fact that

teenagers of that age
are just looking for identity.

Anybody between the ages of
12 and 19 is searching for that,

and is trying to figure out
who they are.

- MOLLY: The same issues exist.

You know, the feeling of
insecurity and, "Do I fit in?"

- ELISSA: Even when I show
the film in classes today,

students still connect with it,

regardless
of age, ethnicity, background.

- DAVID: John Singleton,
who made "Boyz n the Hood,"

told me, "I didn't care
when I was a teenager

"that all the characters
in this movie were white

"and that all of my friends
and me are black.

"It spoke to our experience
as being knuckleheads

just trying to find
our identities."

- MEYER: Because I teach at

the Savannah College
of Art and Design,

I've shown this movie in Chili,
Columbia,

in Brazil, in China.

And all of these kids have
already seen the movie,

know the movie.

- It transcends generations.
- WOMAN: Yeah.

- It's still around,
it's still--you know,

young people
are watching it again.

And it's cool.

- I think that a film like
"The Breakfast Club"

will always be relatable
to people.

- Because he created these
timeless--and they're not

stereotypes, their archetypes--
the movie will work forever.

- Teens go through
teenage stuff.

We all did, you know?

And I just think it's human.

It's the human spirit
that it touches.

- ♪♪