Anthony Michael Hall Says the Brat Pack Never Existed

Anyone who grew up watching the coming-of-age movies churned out by John Hughes and other filmmakers in the ’80s is familiar with the Brat Pack, the group of young actors who turn up in just about every teen comedy from the era. The commonly held belief is that, like the Rat Pack, the members of the Brat Pack frequently partied together when they weren’t filming. But according to a recent interview with Anthony Michael Hall, that’s hardly the case.

Hall, who was a staple of Hughes films in the ’80s like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, made the revelation while speaking with Insider. “Even when I was a kid and doing the John Hughes movies and doing one year on SNL, I was never in a clique,” he insisted. “I never benefited from being in a gang in Hollywood.”

Naturally, that prompted the reporter interviewing him to ask about the Brat Pack, which by all accounts was a Hollywood clique.

“It didn’t exist,” Hall responded. “It was a media ploy. Whoever was the editor of New York Magazine at the time, it was a set up. ‘Let’s get all these guys together and get them talking shit.’ The truth is in that time frame, I was at the very young end of that group. I was literally still in high school. When we did The Breakfast Club, Emilio and Judd were in their early 20s and they are going out and having beers and I was a teen. So when they did that article I did feel that was a ploy to get all them yapping.”

Hall pointed out that he’s never even met fellow Brat Packer Andrew McCarthy, and he hasn’t seen his Breakfast Club costars Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson in over a decade. “I also think audiences want the actors that they watch together in projects to be actually connected in life,” he said. “They expect that. People will be like, ‘How are Emilio and Judd?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen them in 14 years.’”