For those who took a look at Andrew McCarthy’s revisit with his Brat Pack brethren with the new Hulu documentary Brats, some may have noticed that a few key names did not make an appearance. Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald were revealed to have declined involvement with the film. However, one name that was even neglected to get mentioned was Sixteen Candle‘s Anthony Michael Hall. Hall (who has recently given his endorsements to remakes of his 80s classics Weird Science and The Breakfast Club) spoke with The Wrap, where he shed some light on his absence from the doc.
When asked if McCarthy had called him up for an appearance, Hall explained, “He did. And I can go on record saying, I politely declined because I’m always making new stuff and always moving forward and looking ahead. So that was my own impetus for why I chose not to be a part of that. To be very honest, I’ve wholeheartedly embraced my John Hughes work because I wouldn’t be on the phone with you if it was not for John Hughes. I’ve been talking about my work with him and my start in the industry since [the ’80s], so it’s not like I’ve been avoiding that conversation. But with respect to Andrew’s project. I haven’t seen it. I heard it was interesting.”
While the Brats documentary showcased how McCarthy’s career had been affected by the fateful David Blum article that coined the term “Brat Pack,” Hall admits his reaction was far different. The star of director Mouly Surya’s Trigger Warning explained, “To be fair, I never really paid attention to the article [that created the Brat Pack label]. It never really meant anything to me. Like, the Rat Pack is interesting to me. But the Brat Pack thing, it was just a moniker. Maybe it speaks more to the writer at that time, if anything.”
Hall was then asked if he felt the article impacted his career and he responds, “If anything, it motivated me to keep moving forward. I always have and the truth is, I’m grateful for that. People ask, ‘What does it take to be in an industry like this for so long?’ And the word ‘unstoppable’ comes to mind, because at a certain point, you need to become unstoppable. You have to decide, ‘This is what I’m going to do.’ And there isn’t really a Plan B. I was thrown into the industry at such a young age and I had these incredible opportunities from John Hughes, Harold Ramis and Lorne Michaels, these were the giants whose shoulders I stood on. [Hughes] saw something in me as a kid. So if anything, it gave me the impetus and the courage to keep going and move forward. And that’s what I’ve always opted to do.”