Andrew McCarthy on why two Breakfast Club stars are absent from Brat Pack documentary
Andrew McCarthy has explained why two of his fellow Breakfast Club co-stars are absent from forthcoming Brat Pack documentary, Brats.
It comes after group member Emilio Estevez, the son of Martin Sheen, said that the pack were “kryptonite” to each other’s careers.
The term “Brat Pack” – a play on the Sixties’ Rat Pack that surrounded Frank Sinatra – was coined by journalist Mark Blum in the summer of 1985, after he joined McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe and Robert Downey Jr for a night on the town.
The New York Magazine cover story followed the group of up-and-coming film stars in their early twenties, and included Molly Ringwald and Demi Moore. They often appeared in movies together in the Eighties.
But Hot Rod star Nelson, and Pretty in Pink actor Ringwald, are notably absent from the documentary.
“I mean, they both are in the film in a sense that there’s a lot of clips and interviews and things,” McCarthy, who directed the film, told Entertainment Tonight. He hinted that the group had gone their separate ways.
“The Brat Pack is an ongoing relationship, you know what I mean? And some people are at different places in their lives to want to or not want to talk about it. I think that just informs it even more. I mean, that’s my takeaway from it.”
The movie shows Two and a Half Men actor Jon Cryer asking McCarthy if he has spoken to Ringwald, to which he replies, “She said she’d think about it, but that she probably would just like to keep moving forward.”
The St Elmo’s star also said that he had attempted to connect with Nelson while he was in LA but was told that he was “at some undisclosed location and not available” that weekend. A brief appearance from Nelson does feature at the very end of Brats when McCarthy’s phone rings, and he answers “Judd?”
“I was surprised as many people would want to speak to me [that] did, you know, because I thought the biggest challenge would be to get people to participate,” said McCarthy, looking at the bright side of the situation. “I knew it was still so sort of dodgy in some people’s lives.”
Moore who appears in the documentary previously told Entertainment Weekly that she regretted that the group had not got together in the same room for the film.
“I had such a great time sitting down and talking with [McCarthy.] I’m sad there wasn’t an opportunity where we were all sitting in a room together, talking,” she said. “That’s my only wish. It’s something very unique to all of us that we experienced.”
Brats is out now in the US on Hulu. It will be available in the UK on Disney+ from July 5.
