Brat Pack – where are they now?
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Dear faithful readers – by now you all know that I am a child of the 80s. And ever since the unexpected demise of John Hughes I was thinking what in the world’s name has happened to all of the actors that used to be the members of the Brat Pack? You know the ones that stared in movies such as Class, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire to name a few.
For any of you who were born well after the 80s here is the quote from the ever dependable Wikipedia
The Brat Pack is a nickname given to a group of young actors and actresses who frequently appeared together in teen-oriented coming-of-age films in the 1980s. The term, a play on the Rat Pack from the 1950s and 1960s, was first popularized in a 1985 New York magazine cover story, which described a group of roughly interchangeable, but already highly successful and rich, teen stars.The group has been characterized by the excessive partying of core members such as Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson and Emilio Estevez,while their films have been described as representative of “the socially apathetic, cynical, money-possessed and ideologically barren eighties generation.
So lets see what they are up to now.
Don’t know about you dear faithful readers but for me Andrew McCarthy was the first actor that would come to mind when someone said Brat Pack. Since I never watched Lipstick Jungle nor am I a big fan of Gossip Girl (that is an understatement since I haven’t seen one episode ever) I was quite happy to see Andrew McCarthy in Royal Pains, my frothy light TV series of the summer. It is also quite satisfying to see quite a number of movies in pre-production on his IMDB listing.
Quite liked him on West Wing and I saw him a few times on Brothers and Sisters. But since that is a show I do not really watch I cannot really comment on his performance. Strangely enough no movies whatsoever in pre, post or any other production.
Hm Judd Nelson has quite a number of movie credits to his name, although some of them might be of disputable quality (Santa Jr. or Cyber Mutt anyone? Honestly how do these movies even get the financing I will never know). But he did have a role on CSI and CSI: NY respectively as well as a whole array of films in pre, post and in production. Lets hope they are better then Cyber Mutt.
Emilio Estevez might have boosted his image quite a lot with his work on Bobby (he directed and written the movie) however some of his credits after the Breakfast Club do include The Mighty Ducks; Mighty Ducks 2 and the Mighty Ducks 3. Lets hope the one movie he has in pre-production will have nothing to do with ducks of any kind.
No list of Brat pack actors would be complete without mentioning Molly Ringwald. In a way she was the original IT girl of the 80s. Ever since her appearance in the Breakfast Club, 16 Candles and Pretty in Pink Molly did both TV and movies (although some of the movies are a bit on the iffy side – Not Another Teen Movie anyone?) Currently you can catch Molly Ringwald on the Secret Life of the American Teenager.
The original member of the Breakfast Club Anthony Michael Hall at least enjoyed a long and fruitful career ever since. Some of the TV credits include Murder She Wrote, Tales From the Crypt and my personal favorite The Dead Zone (based on the Stephen King book). He also stared in the last year’s biggest hit The Dark Knight and has one movie in post production. Side note – he played Bill Gates in the Pirates of the Silicon Valley – how appropriate.
Arguably the most successful of the lot Robert Downey Jr is currently working on Iron Man 2. Given at one point many thought he will not make it given his battle with drugs but I’m so glad this man was one of the rare few who finally got his shit together – he is a fantastic actor and he was the one who actually made me like Iron Man. I cannot believe I enjoyed a superhero movie (other then Superman and Batman that is).
James Spader did his fair bit of movies and a good few TV shows. His TV credits included The Practice (which I loved) and Boston Legal (which got canceled this year after 5 seasons). Currently he has no movies or TV shows in pre-production.
Honorable mentions (and last seen) – Demi Moore (on Twitter); Matthew Broderick (on Broadway and SPJ’s arm respectively); Kiefer Sutherland (on 24) and John Cusack (a whole bunch of movies and The Huffington Post occasionally) .
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James Spader is set to star in a new David Mamet play “Race” that will be on Broadway this fall. Previews begin Nov. 16 and the play opens at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Dec. 6.
Coastlover thanks for letting us know. I’m sure he will do splendidly