40 Trivia Tidbits About ‘The Breakfast Club’
“It sounds like a play.”
This is what a young John Hughes heard with nearly every rejection when trying to sell his first screenplay, The Breakfast Club. The script follows five high schoolers stuck in detention on a Saturday, with each student representing a teenage archetype — a princess, a brain, an athlete, a basket case and a criminal. The majority of the film takes place in one room, and ultimately ends with a simple parable for the viewer: that even the most shallow characters have dimension and defy generalization.
But this was Hollywood, not Off-Broadway. So Hughes had to shelve his screenplay and first produce the rom-com Sixteen Candles to prove that he could make his small play of a movie into a hit. Which, of course, he did. The Breakfast Club became not only one of the biggest movies of 1985, but a landmark film of the 20th century that’s still finding new audiences four decades later.
In honor of The Breakfast Club’s 40th anniversary, we dragged these 40 trivia tidbits out of detention just for you.
‘Changes’
The Breakfast Club opens with lyrics from David Bowie’s “Changes”: “And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They’re quite aware of what they’re going through.”
Brat Pack alum Ally Sheedy, who plays the “basket case” in the movie, was the one to find the quote and show it to Hughes. “I showed it to John and he thought it was great and he never said another word about it, and I saw the movie for the first time and there it is, right in the front of the movie,” explained Sheedy. “That’s my proudest moment.”
The Most Important Meal
The original title of the film was The Lunch Bunch.
‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’
You can’t think about, let alone watch, The Breakfast Club without the risk of getting Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” stuck in your head. Hughes always knew that song was a perfect match for the film. “We didn’t put the song in there to sell records,” he said. “We put the song in there because it was a part of that movie. You couldn’t take that song out of the movie and you couldn’t take the movie of the song.”
Hughes on Teen Films
Hughes claimed he started making teen films like The Breakfast Club because he didn’t want to get called out for his inexperience. “If I was going to direct, I wanted to make sure I didn’t have an actor say to me, ‘You know, you have no idea what you’re doing,’ because I didn’t,” he said. “I figured, ‘Well, maybe if they’re 15, they won’t ask that question.’”
Another Motivation
“The reason I wrote The Breakfast Club was because I wanted to do something that was very small,” Hughes said. “I figured, if it didn’t cost anything, they’d let me direct it. So, I said I’ll make a movie in one room.” He could think of one other idea for a film that could take place in one room: a jury deliberating. High school detention sounded much better to him.
‘There’s No Story’
According to Hughes, his films are less about the “what” and more about the “how.” It’s this focus that allowed him to build and develop such realistic characters. “The Breakfast Club is the perfect example of a film (where) I had many studio executives say, ‘Well, there’s no story. They come in in the morning, they leave.’” Hughes would always counter that The Breakfast Club isn’t a traditional story. Instead, it’s an exploration: “Who are these people? What are they like? And why are they acting the way they’re acting? That’s what’s most interesting to me.”
Reporting for Detention
The Breakfast Club was shot at Maine North High School in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Breakfast Comes First
In an on-set interview, Sheedy relieved that The Breakfast Club was shot in sequence.
Age of the Club Members
During production, both Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall turned 16. They were the only actual teenagers in the film (Emilio Estevez and Sheedy were 21; Judd Nelson was 24.)
Casting the Club
“The Breakfast Club was cast while I was doing Sixteen Candles,” Hughes told AFI. When filming ended, Hughes offered Ringwald and Hall their Breakfast Club roles.
The Princess
In a 1985 Today Show interview, Ringwald described her character, the “princess” Claire, as “the girl you grew up hating. You know, she’s the prom queen, homecoming queen, filthy rich, all perfect clothing and everything and she looks real superficial, not very intelligent and she appears that way, but she turns out not to be that way at all.”
Ringwald Never Auditioned
Ringwald once told Jimmy Fallon that she never once auditioned for Hughes. “I met him originally for Sixteen Candles. He had gotten my picture from a stack of headshots from ICM, and he just had it up on his wall and he wrote Sixteen Candles over a weekend, looking at my picture. So, when it was time to cast it, he cast the girl in the picture.”
Potential Princesses
Laura Dern, Jodie Foster and Robin Wright were all considered when casting for Claire.
Princess Cathy
Ringwald told Fallon that her character was originally named Cathy, but she changed it to Claire because she thought it was “fancier.”
The Detention Dance
Originally, the widely-adored group dancing scene in the film was just going to include Ringwald, whose character was going to be an amazing modern dancer. But there was one problem: Ringwald wasn’t a good dancer. So the dancing scene was changed to include all five teens.
Ringwald’s Dance
Ironically, even though Ringwald’s dance from the film has since become legendary, Ringwald says she stole the moves from Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go’s.
The Brain
Hall once described his character Brian Johnson, the “brain,” as being “real distant, because he’s scared.” He also called him “very sensitive” and “very in-tuned to how he feels.”
The Princess and the Brain
Ringwald and Hall briefly dated while filming The Breakfast Club.
Emilio! Emilio!
Estevez originally auditioned for the role of John Bender, the “criminal,” but Hughes thought he’d be a better pick for Andrew Clark, the “athlete.”
The Athlete
In a Today Show interview, Estevez said growing up playing sports informed his character, explaining he understood the pressure to win. He described his character as “a guy that goes by the book.” He also called him strict. “He’s been raised very strictly by his coach, by his father and he’s really this mini volcano ready to explode.”
The Criminal
Hughes struggled to cast the role of John Bender. “I had to find someone who was a pretty reprehensible guy who said some pretty cruel things and said them repeatedly for a long period of time and really doesn’t get redeemed until the very end,” he said. After failing to find an actor in Los Angeles, Hughes traveled to New York with Hall. During his audition, Nelson came in as Bender complaining; he then ripped into Hall and left. Naturally, he got the part.
Cage and Cusack
Both John Cusack and Nicolas Cage were considered for John Bender before the part ultimately went to Nelson.
The Real Criminal
Bender was based on someone Hughes knew in high school. “He was just a horrible guy, but you liked to hang around with him,” Hughes explained. “It’s like a privilege to hang around with him and get insulted. You’d never leave your sister in the house with him alone or (leave) out any money unprotected, but you wanted to be around him.”
Undercover Judd
Nelson grew up as a prep school kid. To prepare for the role of John Bender, Nelson told The Today Show that he attended a Chicago-area public school for a week, going to classes dressed as his character and quietly observing the students.
The Basket Case
Sheedy considered her character, Allison Reynolds, to be “disturbed” and in need of “a lot of love.” Sheedy also explained the Allison mindset as: “If I don’t pretend that I’m crazy and get a lot of attention that way, I’m going to be completely invisible and disappear.” Sheedy said her character “hides behind this hair and these layers and layers of clothes. She’s like a mini bag lady.”
Ally on Allison
Decades after the film was released, Sheedy admitted that her character “looks and acts like the way I felt inside all the way through high school and certainly at that point in my life.”
Claire vs Allison
While Hughes wanted her to play Claire, Ringwald said Allison was the character she felt closest to and wanted to play her instead.
Warming Up Breakfast
Before filming, the cast of The Breakfast Club had a long rehearsal period (at least two weeks) to get to know each other and their characters.
Working with Hughes
When describing what it was like to work with Hughes, Hall said he was “very cool” and collaborative. “He was always conspiring with the actors to make it funnier.” Hall also described him as “very open to the process and letting things happen.”
Method to Nelson’s Madness
While on set, Nelson preferred the method approach to acting, which meant he never broke character as an out-of-control bully while filming. Per SlashFilm, Hughes didn’t love the actor’s behavior on set — even though it helped win him the part in his audition. And because Claire was Bender’s target in the film, Ringwald also received most of Nelson’s nefarious attention while filming. At one point, Hughes grew angry enough he considered firing Nelson, but Ringwald and others convinced him against it.
The Naked Teacher
At one point, the screenplay included a scene with a naked teacher swimming in a pool, Ringwald told Fallon. This was ultimately cut.
‘I’m So Popular…’
The entire scene in which Ringwald smokes pot was improvised.
No Weedy for Sheedy
Hughes originally wanted Bender to get everyone else high in the weed smoking scene while he stayed sober, as a way to show how he was attempting to control the others. However, Sheedy strongly felt her character wouldn’t smoke weed, so the script was changed to show everyone smoking except Allison.
The Classic 1980s Freeze Frame
According to SlashFilm, Bender’s fist bump at the end of the film was improvised by Nelson.
Club Cash
Made for just $1 million, The Breakfast Club was a box office hit, bringing in over $50 million.
‘I’d Much Rather Stir Controversy’
The film received mixed reviews upon its release. “I’d much rather stir controversy than fade away,” was Hughes’ response. “I think the picture, to its credit, people either liked it or disliked it strongly. If a picture is doing that, something is going on with it.”
Hughes’ Message
It may have been a success at the box office, but Hughes believed many adults misinterpreted the film. “They looked at it as an assault, which it was not. A lot of people said, ‘Well, he’s presuming to say that all children’s problems are a result of their parents,’ and what I was saying is that those kids are concerned about their parents. They wouldn’t talk the way they did about their parents if they didn’t have some concern for them.”
Hughes wanted viewers to hear what the characters were really saying to adults: “‘Please listen to me. I’m young, but I have problems. They may not seem particularly important to you, but it’s really hurting me.’”
The Lunch Club?
In a 2021 interview with The Independent, Hall said that, before he died, Hughes mentioned the possibility of making a sequel to The Breakfast Club. “It would have been all of us in our middle-age. His idea was to pick up with them in their 20s or 30s. That (idea) was on his mind, but that was the last conversation I had with him.”
Still the Breakfast Club
Their characters may have been at odds, but the five star actors enjoyed their time together. “We loved each other. We all got along great,” Hall said in an Inside of You interview.
