Where were you when the Brat Pack took over Hollywood?
Core 1980s Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy revisits his iconic teen past alongside his fellow “It” actors for documentary “Brats,” which McCarthy writes and directs. Reclaiming the term first coined in David Blum’s 1985 New York Magazine cover story, “Brats” unpacks the teen films (like “The Breakfast Club,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” and “Pretty in Pink”) — and their stars — of the ’80s that shaped a generation.
McCarthy’s former co-stars Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Lea Thompson, Timothy Hutton, and Jon Cryer are among those featured in the documentary. McCarthy says he had not previously seen most of his past colleagues for more than 30 years.
Notably, Molly Ringwald is not part of the doc, despite her discussions on the role of the Brat Pack in cinematic history. The actress previously cited that she was typecast because of the moniker, telling The Guardian that “darker roles” weren’t available to her as she exited the teen-star phase.
“The ones that I wanted to do, I didn’t get,” Ringwald recalled. “I was too young for certain roles. I was at this weird in-between stage.”
And thus begs the real question of McCarthy’s “Brats”: What did it mean to be part of the Brat Pack? And the one that hangs in the air for Estevez in the trailer: Would he go back in time and erase the term from the Hollywood lexicon if he could?
The feature is produced by Neon and Network Entertainment for ABC News Studios, with Derik Murray and Adrian Buitenhuis producing. Writer/director McCarthy executive produces along with Brian Liebman, Neon’s Dan O’Meara and Tom Quinn, Network Entertainment’s Brian Gersh, Paul Gertz and Kent Wingerak, and Victoria Thompson for ABC News Studios.
The film will debut at the Tribeca Festival and premiere June 13 on Hulu. Watch the trailer here:
Moore, who will appear in “Brats,” recently led buzzy Cannes title “The Substance” alongside Margaret Qualley. The film confronts the gendered ageism of Hollywood with a feminist body horror twist.
Moore told IndieWire that she tapped into an unprecedented “vulnerability and rawness” for the role that originally “felt risky” to take on. Early reactions deemed the film a “batshit” take on “The Fly” and “Death Becomes Her.”
