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Anthony Michael Hall on Revisiting John Hughes & "Nation's Dumbest"

Anthony Michael Hall discusses his last conversation with director John Hughes on a 'The Breakfast Club' sequel, Nation's Dumbest, and more.

If there's anything Anthony Michael Hall can tell you as far as tips are concerned, being a working actor in Hollywood, it's that staying versatile and flexible helps, even if it's not typically within your wheelhouse. As he started in comedy with the famed Brat Pack, some of his earliest notable works were the John Hughes coming-of-age comedies like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and the sci-fi romp Weird Science. As much as he's embraced his past, he's always had an eye toward the future, expanding himself into a staple in action and drama with works like Bosch: Legacy, Wednesday, Reacher, and the upcoming S.W.A.T. Exiles for Starz. Hall spoke to Bleeding Cool to reflect upon his relationship with Hughes and how he had an idea to revisit The Breakfast Club into adulthood that tapped the actor and John Candy, long before the current wave of nostalgia content in the streaming age came to fruition and how it never came to be, his ode to Hughes with his production company film The Class, and his foray into reality TV in Nation's Dumbest

Anthony Michael Hall on Getting Pitched for 'The Breakfast Club' Sequel from John Hughes and John Candy, His Tribute in 'The Class' & Nation's Dumbest

Bleeding Cool: There were some adaptations back in the day as some executives tried to recreate the John Hughes magic in TV adaptations of 'Ferris Bueller' after the movie came out. There was also the USA Network version of 'Weird Science,' and I always wondered, given the demand of hopping back into the nostalgia and getting the original cast back together, so maybe we see a 'Cobra Kai'-type setting asking where these characters are now? Was it something that you ever spoke with your co-stars about, like, "Hey, could you maybe do a project like this with what happened to Brian from 'The Breakfast Club' or Gary from 'Weird Science,' and seeing where they're doing nowadays with a modern update?

Hall: That's a great question, Tom. I can tell you that this is kind of a sad answer to it, but it was the last conversation I wanted to have with Mr. John Hughes before he passed. He called me, and I think it was in 1988, and a couple of years had gone by, and we had not worked on the films that he'd offered me, like 'Ferris Bueller,' which was written for me. Obviously, 'Pretty in Pink' was so similar to 'Sixteen Candles,' but I just felt like it wasn't the right thing to do, and it led to, very honestly, a rupture in our friendship that was very sad for both of us.

It was an olive branch when he called me one day with John Candy on the phone, if you can imagine that. The three of us- Tom, we wound up hanging out on the phone for like two and a half to three hours. I'm not kidding. Just shooting the shit and just talking and that hanging out on a call. This was long before those Zoom calls. It was just a conference call, and I can tell you this. On that call, John [Hughes] did bring this up. He thought about it, and I don't know if he had written it, but he was playing with the idea of 'The Breakfast Club' [characters] in the workforce, 10 or 15 years later, and where they would be.

I think it was something that he was entertaining. I don't know if it would become a sequel or not, but it was something he played with, you know? I'm happy to say I reconnected with his elder son, John Hughes III, over a year ago. We did a signing at 'The Breakfast Club.' We were at one of his Comic Con signings in Chicago, and it was the first one that Emilio [Estevez] had joined us on. Anyway, John showed up with his two college-age daughters, and it was a moment; it was so surreal, because not only did he look like a ringer for his dad, but it was just so beautiful to reconnect with my old friend.

When I worked with John as a kid, and I knew he and his brother, James, or "Jaime" as he went by then, they were like two little Macaulay Culkin's and here I was, a 15-year-old me, you know, Farmer Ted version of me, but I would often see what John Hughes and his family on the weekends, and that's how much love we had. He was like an older brother, or he just felt like the coolest older brother that I've never had. It wasn't like a fatherly thing, because he was only 35 and I was 15, but it was like we were both 15, or I was 35 and 15, because we just got along so incredibly well. As for your question, that was something he was playing with, and I learned that on the call with John Candy and me at that time. It was pretty great.

Would you be open to revisiting it if the circumstances were right and a good script came together?

I'd tell you I don't think it would happen, because again out of respect to John and his legacy, I don't know what I would entertain any of the John Hughes films per se, Having said that, I have a production company called Manhattan Films, and we've produced two indies in the last four years that were released and sold and one of them was called 'The Class,' which is a modern day set on 'The Breakfast Club' and fans and your readers might want to check it out. It's on Amazon Prime Video. Again, it's not a remake. It's a standalone film with six kids in detention. I produced it with the writer-director, a guy named Nick Celozzi. It's a much more multi-ethnic cast, which is more fitting in the current world that we're living in, right?

I played Faulk, the Dean, like the Paul Gleason character (Richard Vernon) this time. I was the main professor who was overseeing the class. We also got Debbie Gibson to play the art teacher, Miranda, who oversees their detention. Again, it was inspired by 'The Breakfast Club,' but it was an original project; it was six kids in detention, and I'm very proud of it. The film turned out really nicely.

The other film we did was called 'Roswell Delirium,' so I am continuing to move forward in my career all these years later. I'm building out my production company, working on capitalizing it and getting it funded so I can grow it, and I'm still working on that. It looks very good with a couple of different sources. My heart remains in this business, and I want to continue to act. I also want to get behind the camera and direct, and part of that would be some comedy. I would love to do for others what John did for me, and doing some youth-led comedies would be really a lot of fun.

Final question: How do you feel about tapping into the reality TV space with 'Nation's Dumbest,' and what did you enjoy about its premise?

It was something that really took me by surprise, Tom. Honestly, it's nothing I was looking for, but I was very pleasantly surprised when it came. At first, I had to get past the title. I'm like, "Wait a minute! What the hell is this about?" But honestly, it forced me to reframe my thinking. I took my family up to Toronto, and we shot it. It was done in 12 days. It was really quick and fun, and I was really happily surprised by everybody's humanity.

Everybody in the cast was super cool and got along great. There was a wide swath of people. They did a great job putting together a wide multi-generational group of people, you know. I fell into the category of all the OGs. I was there with Ice-T, Steve-O, and Dr. Drew (Pinsky). It's funny, because when I see commercials for the show now this summer, I keep mistaking myself for Dr. Drew. I'm like, "Is that me or Dr. Drew with the white hair?"

We got the same short haircut now, but to be honest with you, Tom, it was the thing that I needed that I didn't know I needed. It's really good, because I went up there, had fun with it, and it forced me to loosen up. I enjoyed all the people and had some laughs with it. As you'll see as the season progresses, I get more of those. I started playing even more and joking with the others in the cast, and also breaking the fourth wall, where you kind of talk to the camera a lot. I goofed off a lot of that, so it was really fun in that regard, and nothing I expected, but something turned out that I needed.

Nation's Dumbest, hosted by Jack Whitehall, airs Wednesdays on FOX.

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