The Cast Often Passed Out
The Breakfast Club is a cinematic classic that is more than three decades old. The film is famous for absolutely encapsulating adolescence during the '80s, along with other John Hughes films such as Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The film was made to bring students from other "cliques" together, in other words it was pioneering in it's role for bringing "kids from all around the lunchroom" into ensemble format.
This made the casting of the characters extremely important if one was to get the film's goal across to it's audience. Casting director, Jackie Burch, costume designer, Marilyn Vance and director of photography, Tom Del Ruth sat down and admitted these little known things and behind the scenes secrets about the cast of The Breakfast Club that will make you want to remove the dust from your VHS player and play "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds on repeat.
Since the film was shot on a closed set, it required a decent amount of lighting. According to director of photography, Tom Del Ruth,this meant that the upstairs portion of the library, (where the cast and crew would wait in between scenes) sometimes became 95 to 110 degrees. Del Ruth said, "They often dozed off in the heat.
The Original Title Was "The Lunch Bunch"
We had to have the assistant directors go wake them up in the middle of the shots. We had to hire to additional assistant directors just to work the second floor and keep the crew awake so they wouldn't snore and ruin the sound takes."
By the time Marilyn Vance, the costume designer came aboard, the title had already been changed to The Breakfast Club, but that hadn't always been the case.
Molly Ringwald Fought To Play Allison
She said, "It was originally going to be called 'The Lunch Bunch.' But a friend of John's from another school had a detention class called 'The Breakfast Club,' so he decided to go with that.
Casting director, Jackie Burch, says that Hughes knew wanted Ringwald for the part of Claire from the start, but Ringwald wasn't convinced she was right for the role. Burch said, "Halfway though, Molly wanted Ally's role, and I told John, 'No that is the biggest mistake!" He finally didn't do it and thank God!
Molly Ringwald Had The Most Influence Over John Hughes
I think it would have ruined the movie. I thought that was ridiculous."
It's no secret that Molly Ringwald was John Hughes' muse during that period in the mid-'80s. She appeared in many of his films throughout the decade, and he respected her opinion on and off set. Burch even admitted that, "There was another girl cast as the gym teacher, and I don't know if Molly didn't think it worked or what, but they got rid of her.
Judd Nelson Was Constantly In Character
That was devastating for that actress, but she went on to direct movies. Behind the scenes, Molly had John's ear."
Burch also admitted that Judd Nelson stayed in character most of the time and he taunted the rest of the cast. He was so rude to Molly Ringwald on set that he was threatened with being fired. As Burch tells it, Nelson. was simply just trying to stay in character. "I got this phone call from set saying, 'You better get Judd under control or I'm getting rid of him." She continued, " What happened is that Judd became the character, like a method actor.
Nicholas Cage Almost Played Bender
These were kids! Some of these kids were minors. But Molly had John's ear, you know. They were very upset that Judd was taking it too far." Del Ruth said, although he wasn't very aware of what was going on with the cast, he was very aware of Nelson's acting style. He said, "He's a total actor in the sense that he could be that character on and off the screen."
There was a big worry amongst producers and the casting directors that there weren't enough big names in the cast.
John Cusack Was Also Considered
Burch said, "They were talking about Nicholas Cage, and I just felt like Judd was the perfect last ingredient." Hughes expressed hesitation over Cage, and Burch agreed that he was lacking an "innate coolness" that they later found in Nelson.
Cusack wasn't a star at the time, but he had done more work than many of the other potential 'Benders', and Hughes had been familiar with him from Sixteen Candles. Burch admits, "I didn't want John Cusack.
"Brian" Originally Had A Learning Disability
I didn't think he was right at all. Now he's turned into a darker character, but back then he was still just a real conservative Midwest kid."
When Burch and her team saw footage from Sixteen Candles, it seemed that everything clicked into place.Prior to Anthony Michael Hall's casting, there was a lot of confusion surrounding the role and how it should be portrayed. She said, "people were trying to make him, like, special-ed.
John Hughes Played Brian's Dad
It was bizarre what people's interpretation of that character was."
When Burch was casting the parents, Hughes asked to play one of the dads. She says that she believes he was "channeling Alfred Hitchcock a little bit.
Allison's Costume Had To Be Hand Made
He did it and it was great. Normally I don't love stuff like that, but this was great." Anthony Michael Hall's mom, Mercedes Hall played opposite Hughes as Brian's mom.
The outfits chosen for the cast during the film was extremely important, seeing as they mostly wear only one outfit for the entirety of it. Vance put extra thought into each look, and struggled to find anything black for Allison. She said, "Nothing that I could find would have personified her personality as the outsider. We needed something black and grey, dull and sad." When she did find those colors in the store, Vance was set on handcrafting her outfit, down to her purse. "The only thing I didn't make for her was the sweater," she said.
Molly Ringwals's Look Was Changed
"I couldn't find anything! Everything was colorful. I don't know if you remember the '80s. but my GOd. Colors were just happening all over the place."
Molly Ringwald's look was changed to be more sophisticated, after she insisted on not wanting to play "daddy's girl." Ringwald didn't have the typical aesthetic and style of the typical '80s popular girl, and one of the reasons she still worked so well as that figure was her sartorial choices. Vance said, "Molly did not want to be the rich little spoiled girl. She didn't want to be the spoiled 'daddy's girl,' which is originally what was planned. She was going to be wearing a shorter skirt, a crochet look with maybe a beret.
Emilio Estevez's Character Was Originally A Football Player
You know, something that would be more bratty. But she felt she was more sophisticated than that. We updated it, but the look still personified money." Before the casting, Vance had been to Ringwald's Sweet Sixteen (Her real one), and saw glimpses of the wealthy, cultured Claire in Ringwald.
Burch was really pushing for Estevez in the casting due to his All-American vibe, but she didn't think it would work if he was on the football team. She said, "He's very short. I was worried that no one would really buy him as a football player. He's broad in the shoulders, but he doesn't have the height of a football player.
Rick Moranis Was Cast To Play The Janitor
When John decided to switch Clark to a wrestler, I knew we had that role." Vance also adjusted Estevez's costume to make him appear bigger. "We cut away his t-shirt so he would look like more of a wrestler. You have to work with the presence of the bodies we're working with and help them become the character visually." The change also gave Estevez's character a different sort of masculinity, "He wasn't an asshole. He had humanity to his role," says Burch.
Rick Moranis was fresh off of 1984's blockbuster hit, Ghostbusters, and Moranis was part of the studios push to add bigger names to the cast. He was orignally set up to be the janitor, and eventually left the film after allegedly playing the character with a Russian accent. Del Ruth claimed that, "He refused to play the character.....well, let's say it was a creative difference. The director really had no choice but to replace him.
The Detention Stories Is Partly Improvised
He was being more comedic than what was required. There needed to be a sense of seriousness about this character, because he was the middle point. Everyone else was on the extremes."
Hughes was a director that was very open to his cast's input, and he famously included the David Bowie quote after Ally Sheedy (Allison), mentioned it to him. When the cast would go off the script and add lines, Hughes often incorporated the changes they made to his dialogue. Del Ruth said that, "John was very accepting of suggestions from the actors.
He wanted them to feel free and that gave them a lot of latitude. If there was a linear two, or even a paragraph that lent itself to the character or enhanced the story, John would simply rewrite on the spot."