Few groups of actors have had quite the impact on movies that a bunch of up-and-coming young actors did in the 1980s. Dubbed “The Brat Pack,” the group, which included the likes of Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and more are still popular today through their string of movies. A new documentary film, Brats (available with a Hulu subscription) takes a look at the era and the actors, but a few actors were conspicuously absent from the doc, including Anthony Michael Hall.
While the Brats documentary includes interviews with several of the key actors from the big Brat Pack movies, most of the Breakfast Club cast is missing, as Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, and Hall all decided not to appear. TV Insider asked Hall why he wasn’t involved and he confirmed that he was asked, but said he prefers to look forward in his career and not backward. Hall said…
I was asked to be a part of it, but you know what, I’ll tell you my attitude is you have to wish everyone success. It was just something I chose not to do because I’m always trying to move forward and make new things and do new stuff.
It’s not uncommon for actors who have been incredibly successful early in their careers to feel similarly to the way Hall does here. Hall has been no slouch in the decades since the Brat Pack. He starred in a TV series based on Stephen King’s The Dead Zone for six seasons in the early 2000s and had a string of solid theatrical and TV movie roles. But a lot of fans likely want to talk to him about stuff he did when he was a kid. Hall was only 15 when he appeared in Sixteen Candles, the first of his Brat Pack roles.
Still, Anthony Michael Hall doesn’t hold any ill will toward his years working with John Hughes. He has learned to embrace that part of his life, even if he doesn’t choose to focus on it. Even though he decided not to be part of the Brats film, which was directed by fellow Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy, he hopes it is successful. Hall continued…
The truth is, I’ve had to embrace the John Hughes period of my life all my career, and I’m happy to do so, obviously, as I’ve hopefully relayed here. It’s never been an issue for me. But I also think time has taught me you have to wish everyone success.
Anthony Michael Hall can currently be seen in Trigger Warning, an action movie starring Jessica Alba which is currently in Netflix’s Top 10 movies. He’s also set to appear in Reacher Season 3.
