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Celebrating 40 years of The Breakfast Club

A behind-the-scenes report card on our favourite high school delinquents
The Breakfast Club movie poster

Don’t You Forget about… The Breakfast Club! It’s been 40 years since we first met the so-called “criminal”, “princess”, “athlete”, “brain” and “basketcase” serving a Saturday detention at Shermer High School.

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Launching the careers of Emilio Estevez, Paul Gleason, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, The Breakfast Club is considered one of the best movies of the ’80s and one of the best teen flicks ever.

Read on to discover things you might not have known about the film…

1. Judd, now 65, who plays “criminal” John Bender stayed in character when the cameras stopped rolling, bullying co-star Molly, 56, to the point that director John Hughes almost fired him. Paul, now deceased, who played vice principal Vernon, defended Judd.

2. Unusually for a film, it was shot in chronological sequence.

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3. Judd improvised the iconic closing of the film, when John raises his fist in defiance as he walks away.

4. Just like the end scene, the heart-wrenching “confession circle” scene, where each of the teens describes why they’re in detention, was all ad-libbed.

5. The theme song of the movie, Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds, was written specifically for the film.

6. The movie has been preserved in the US’ National Film Registry, having deemed to be “culturally, historically and aesthetically significant”.

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7. The Breakfast Club heralded the arrival of the 80s “Brat Pack”, a media-generated name for the new wave of young stars that either starred in this or St Elmo’s Fire. Members included Emilio, 62, the “unofficial president”, Anthony Michael Hall, 56, Rob Lowe, 60, Andrew McCarthy, 62, Demi Moore, 62, Judd, Molly and Ally, 62. Robert Downey Jr, 59, is sometimes added as an honorary member.

The Breakfast Club movie poster

8. There was supposed to be sequels to the film, with the idea being one movie would be made every 10 years to catch up with the five main characters. This didn’t happen due to the volatile nature of the relationship between director John, who died in 2009 aged 59, and star Judd, as well as the fractured relationship between John and Molly, who expressed a desire to move on from teen movies and star in mature films instead – a move that angered John.

9. Ally, who played Allison, nicknamed Anthony (Brian) “Milk and Cookies” because she thought he was sweet, but he hated the nickname.

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    10. Plenty of now A-listers auditioned for Molly’s role Claire, including Laura Dern, Robin Wright and Jodie Foster.

    11. The marijuana that the crew smoke in the movie was oregano.

    12. It was Molly’s idea for her character to have sushi for lunch. At the time, sushi was considered rather posh and out-there, especially for a teenager to eat. So, it played into her “princess” vibe on-screen.

    13. Molly and Anthony dated in real life for a while after the movie.

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    14. Have you always thought the high school the film is set in is familiar? It was also used as a location for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – the real building is Maine North High School in Des Plaines, Illinois, which closed in 1981 due to low attendance.

    15. Director John wrote the entire screenplay in just 48 hours.

    16. “Basket case” Allison doesn’t speak until 25 minutes into the film.

    17. In real life, Molly couldn’t do the lipstick trick – they had to do some clever filming to make it look like she could!

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    18. The Chigaco Public Library donated more than 10,000 books to be used as props in the movie. The set was built from scratch in the school’s gym because the actual library wasn’t large enough.

    19. Ally and Molly weren’t fans of Allison’s makeover at the end of the film, where Molly’s character Claire covers Allison in make-up and then puts her in a pink dress. They both thought it sent the wrong message that you have to change who you are to get boys to like you. They asked that the director change the ending, but it was the ’80s and the “ugly-duckling-turns-into-a-swan” narrative that won out.

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