7 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘The Breakfast Club’
Can you believe The Breakfast Club is 40 years old? Hitting theaters back on February 15th, 1985, this classic about a diverse group of five teens stuck in detention together has evolved from a popular hit (grossing $51 million dollars against a $1 million budget – in 1985!) to cultural phenomenon (in 2016, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress).
In addition to helping to launch the careers of Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy, The Breakfast Club has remained one of the most culturally-significant films of the past half century. Most of us have seen this movie at least once (if not a thousand times), but do you really know everything there is to know about it? Whether you’re a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, or a criminal, test your knowledge with these seven little-known facts — and then watch it all over again!
1 Let’s Dance
One of the most memorable scenes in The Breakfast Club is the moment where the teens get to shake their collective stuff to Karla DeVito’s “We Are Not Alone.” Believe it or not, this scene was originally planned to feature only Claire (Molly Ringwald). Legend has it that Molly felt self-conscious about dancing alone, so the scene was quickly rewritten to include the rest of the crew.
2 Director John Hughes is in the Movie
If you look closely, you can catch the film’s head honcho cameoing as Brian’s (Anthony Michael Hall) dad, who comes to pick his son up from detention at the end of the movie. The father of some of the greatest teen and family movies ever – playing the role of an actual father? Seems right to us!
3 Ringwald as Allison?
In retrospect, Molly Ringwald was the perfect actress to bring the princess-like Claire to life, but that wasn’t the original plan. While John Hughes knew and loved Ringwald from their time working together on Sixteen Candles, he originally brought her onto The Breakfast Club to take on the role of the much gnarlier Allison. Recognizing the mismatch, Ringwald fought for – and eventually won – the right to play Claire, and the rest is history.
4 Cheesy Props
One memorable scene saw the less-than-diva-like Allison (Ally Sheedy) shake a significant amount of dandruff out of her hair. No worries: the dandruff in question was actually parmesan cheese – gross, yet delicious!
5 Bender Blunders
At one point, John Cusack was approached to play the role of Bender (Nicholas Cage also auditioned). Hughes and the team ended up replacing Cusack with Judd Nelson, whom they found more appropriately threatening. No worries – that Cusack kid did just fine for himself.
6 Brian and Claire Were a Thing??
Universal Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
Before The Breakfast Club, Anthony Michael Hall and Molly Ringwald not only worked together on Sixteen Candles (another John Hughes classic), but dated for a while. It’s tough to imagine Brian and Claire as a couple, but that revelation probably inspired plenty of fan fiction!
7 Bender Almost Got Booted
Judd Nelson played the rough-around-the-edges Bender with snarling defiance, making it tough for the other characters to warm up to him. Apparently, that attitude translated into real life, as Nelson chose to stay in character when the cameras were off, even verbally abusing Molly Ringwald at one point and causing himself to almost get fired from the cast.
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