Anthony Michael Hall on 'The Breakfast Club' at 30 and Remembering Harold Ramis
Much has changed in Hollywood over the last 35 years, from technology to tastes to the top-billed players, and Anthony Michael Hall has had a front row seat for all of it.
His career began in TV commercials and was quickly kickstarted with a slew of iconic roles in the early-to-mid ’80s, including Rusty Griswold in Vacation, Geek in Sixteen Candles, Brian Johnson in The Breakfast Club and Gary Wallace in Weird Science. He went on to appear in the infamous 1985-86 season of Saturday Night Live, and then followed that with three decades of character work, including parts in major films like Edward Scissorhands, The Dark Knight Rises, and this year’s Oscar contender, Foxcatcher.
He’s also the star in this year’s Aftermath, a bloody thriller eight years in the making that will finally hit theaters in New York on Friday. It was the last film to feature the late Chris Penn, who died shortly after its completion in 2006, one of several factors that led to a very long delay. Hall plays a foreman on a construction project who fires the wrong man after a worker goes missing — and very much regrets it.
Yahoo Movies spoke with Hall about The Breakfast Club, working with the late Harold Ramis, and his next role as a Russian kettlebell trainer married to Brooklyn Decker.
Next year is the 30th anniversary of The Breakfast Club.
Wow, dude, I’m getting old. That’s a trip, I’m 46 now, and I made that movie when I was 16, so yeah, there it is.
How have your feelings about that film changed over the years?
I’ll tell you the truth, the thing I like about it most is that it’s done that for others, it’s one of these films that over time that has kind of become generational. People love those John Hughes films. I just had the good fortune of starting my career with him. And making those three movies [The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and Sixteen Candles] as a kid changed my whole life.
Hall in Sixteen Candles
Your characters were bullied geeks back then, but now 30 years later, geeks have inherited the earth.
Right! Obviously the word existed for centuries probably, but “the geek” like that Geek character — who knew that it would have so much cred 30 years later, that geeks would run the world?
Would Brian from The Breakfast Club be the cool guy now?
At MIT and Harvard, they’d be like, “What’s up, we’ve got our own companies. Have you graduated yet?”
They’re remaking Vacation, did you see that?
I did man, that’s cool too. You know you’re getting old when, a) people go “It’s the 30th anniversary of your film” and b) “They’re remaking your movie.”
What do you think it needs to have the same sort of magic as the original?
I think the root of this conversation is [Vacation’s late director and writer] Harold Ramis and John Hughes. These guys were really great writers. And Harold Ramis was around even before John Hughes. These guys were mentors of mine that touched my life.
They were real auteurs of comedy. And it’s interesting, every year, there’s such a big deal made about Oscars and all this s—-. And that’s all fine — people love it — but I also think that comedy for some reason doesn’t get a fair shake at the Oscars. In TV, it’s much more recognized. So when John Hughes passed, to be a part of that tribute to him was awesome.
What memories do you have of working for Harold?
He’d always have that Buddhist smile, that comfortable and genuinely happy smile on his face. He had great wisdom. He was a great writer. He wrote jokes for people all the time. He was really cool about using his gifts — he wasn’t hoarding it.
You’re in an Oscar-contending film this year, Foxcatcher, as the assistant to Steve Carell’s twisted John du Pont.
It was incredible. I saw these guys really bare down and focus. Channing [Tatum] and [Mark] Ruffalo were in a zone, and so was Carell in a different way. He was in more of a cerebral zone, and those guys were going to the gym every day for six months, and really bonded as brothers. My character was cool — I liken it to Robert Duvall’s character in The Godfather. He’s the assistant, always kind of lurking.
What was it like to see Carell transform like that?
As everyone knows and talks about, he’s the nicest guy in the world. He’s just totally chill. And in character, he just got more quiet. To me, he was still the same nice guy, but it was almost like this meditative thing. Seriously, if you’re sitting in a makeup chair for four hours every day, you’ve almost got to Zen out and calm down. So I’d go in the morning and they were all sitting there for two hours already. Channing would say, “Hey Mike” and Carell would wave and nod, but he was already in character, almost like he was receding into it as they were making it.
What is the story behind the long gestation of Aftermath? How much work needed to be done after Chris passed?
I’m not really clear. The truth is that the film was funded through [director] Tom Farone and his family, and the post-production process was something that he just took his time with. There were some setbacks and hurdles to get over.
Do you see yourself directing more features?
Yeah, I definitely will. My company, we have a partnership with a company called Clear TV and they’re actually going to fund some projects. I’m writing the first one now, we’re going to start next year. It’s called The Liberty, I’m writing it right now and we’re going to direct it. We’re going to shoot in Boston next year. I can’t say anything about the plot, but we’ll make it next spring.
Are you going to act in it?
No, that one I’m just going to direct. But I did a film with Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, Brooklyn Decker, and Giovanni Ribisi.
The Andrew Bujalski movie, Results.
It’s kind of like a rom-com. Guy is living in Austin — he falls in love with this girl, Cobie, and she’s kind of this uptight, bitchy trainer. It’s their love story and they’re both great in it. I play a Russian kettlebell trainer named Grigory, and my wife is Brooklyn Decker. Mention in the article that I said it in the Russian accent.
Photo credit: Getty Images
