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"The movie is really about the passing of time," Brats director Andrew McCarthy tells Gold Derby. "I turned 60 not that long ago and I realized that I had begun to look at events of my life in a different way than I used to."

For the first time in decades, McCarthy reunites with fellow Brat Packers Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, and Ally Sheedy, along with other stars of that era like Jon Cryer, Timothy Hutton, and Lea Thompson, to discuss their rise to stardom in the 1980s and how the term "Brat Pack" — coined by journalist David Blum in an article for New York Magazine — impacted their careers.

Reflecting further, McCarthy says his fascination lies less with the Brat Pack itself and more with how perspectives on life evolve with time. "When I was 22, we hated it — all of us," he says. "We felt stigmatized — it was very limiting.

Anthony Michael Hall may not be getting any younger with each passing day, but his incredible performances over the years have most certainly cemented a legacy that very few could overpower; one that will live forever. In fact, his early roles in the entertainment industry among pieces like The Breakfast Club (1985) even had the actor cum producer recognized among the ‘Brat Pack.’

Anthony Michael Hall | Credits: Reacher / Prime Video.

So when it came to the 2024-released documentary on the same, titled Brats, Hall was expected to grace the screens with his appearance alongside Demi Moore and Rob Lowe as well. And, for the record, he was asked to be a part of the project. But Hall turned down the chance of starring in the same of his own accord as he wanted to move forward in life instead of looking back.

Anthony Michael Hall deliberately opted out of Brats of...

Debates can be had over whether certain actors “count” as members of the Brat Pack, a label applied to a certain subset of young actors who all came of age in the 1980s. Molly Ringwald is without question one of them, but she’s not a fan of the term. “I think it kind of in a way sort of minimized the work that we were doing. I mean that’s the way that I felt,” she said on a recent reunion panel for The Breakfast Club at MegaCon Orlando.

NME reports that the now-veteran actor called the Brat Pack term “a pejorative,” one that proved hard for those actors to escape over the years since New York Magazine writer David Blum coined it for a 1985 feature.

This isn’t the first time someone dubbed a member of the Brat Pack has spoken out about the term’s effects on...

The moment

On Feb. 15, 1985, The Breakfast Club was released, setting the standard for teen films and cementing writer-director John Hughes as the master of the genre, while making its ensemble instantly famous. There are aspects to the beloved film that have not aged well; however, The Breakfast Club‘s impact on filmmaking and the zeitgeist — from its poster to its cast to its music to its universal message — cannot be understated four decades later.

The setup

Hughes had made a name for himself the prior year with his directorial debut, Sixteen Candles. Up to this time, “teen movies” had largely evolved from cautionary rebellion films in the 1950s to beach party films of the 1960s to slasher films of the 1970s to sex comedies in the early 1980s. But Hughes had the uncanny ability to capture both the joys and the trials of the teenage years, both in written word...

One of the prolific young actor ensembles in Hollywood in the 1980s was the Brat Pack. A label coined by journalist David Blum in 1985, the Brat Pack was a play on the term, the Rat Pack, led by Frank Sinatra in the '60s. The core group consisted of Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, and Andrew McCarthy. By Blum's definition, the Brat Pack was composed of the main young actors in the two successful 1985 movies "The Breakfast Club" and "St. Elmo's Fire."

The actors in the Brat Pack would appear together in a number of films throughout the '80s and early '90s, including projects before 1985. For the purposes of this article, an official Brat Pack movie needs to feature at least two actors from the previously mentioned ensemble, rather than simply just one. With 12 movies from the...

Emilio Estevez made his big screen debut at the age of 11 in the film "Badlands," Terrence Malick's mood drama starring Emilio's father Ramón Estévez, who was better known by his screen name Martin Sheen. When Emilio was 14, he flew with his father to the Philippines for another film shoot. Sheen was playing the lead role in Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," and the young Emilio was hired to appear as an extra. Sadly, his scenes were cut, but Estevez was inspired by his experience to write a play called "Echoes of an Era," and perform in the lead role. He was officially an actor like his father. 

After graduating high school, Estevez eschewed college and entered show business. What followed was a decades-long and prolific career that brought him into the center of the Hollywood mainstream. In the 1980s, Estevez was part of a generation of rising actors...

Some of the best, most iconic movies of the '80s starred the Brat Packthe name was a play on words of Rat Pack of the 1960s and was coined in a cover story by David Blum for New York in 1985. While there's no official list of actors included in the group, those most often associated with it include Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, and Ally Sheedy. The recent documentary Brats, directed by McCarthy and streaming on Hulu, explored the careers of the actors, specifically the ways they were impacted by the "Brat Pack" label.

Rob Lowe says that talks about a potential St. Elmo’s Fire sequel are very real.

The actor shared in a recent interview that a follow-up to the 1985 film co-written and directed by Joel Schumacher is happening, but don’t get your hopes up just yet.

“We’ve met with the studio and I have been talking about doing it for about four months,” Lowe said in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. “But it’s very, very, very, very, very early stages. So we will see.”

Lowe noted that the Brats documentary “only added to the excitement around” a sequel to the coming-of-age film, which also starred Emilio Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Andie MacDowell, and Mare Winningham.

Deadline reported in June that Sony was exploring the possibility of making a new version of St. Elmo’s Fire after McCarthy’s documentary Brats relived the memories of the “Brat Pack.

Anthony Michael Hall was asked to be part of Brats but turned down the opportunity.

“I was asked to be a part of it, but you know what, I’ll tell you my attitude is you have to wish everyone success,” Hall told TV Insider. “It was just something I chose not to do because I’m always trying to move forward and make new things and do new stuff.”

Brats, a Hulu documentary from Andrew McCarthy released in June, explored the 1980s group of young actors who often appeared in coming-of-age films. Hall, a member of the group, appeared in 1985’s The Breakfast Club and 1984’s Sixteen Candles when he was just 15 and 16.

The documentary included appearances from actors Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Timothy Hutton, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe and Lea Thompson, along with writer-director Howard Deutch, producer Lauren Shuler and David Blum, the journalist who coined the term “Brat Pack.

Plot: In the mid-eighties, a group of young actors known for starring in movies like St Elmo’s Fire and The Breakfast Club became popularly known as The Brat Pack, but many members of that group felt the term torpedoed their careers.

Review: If you grew up in the eighties, you for sure knew what the name “The Brat Pack” meant. I was born in ’81 and only watched the movies this gang was known for in the nineties, but if you had asked me as a kid who was in The Brat Pack, I probably still would have been able to list them off by name. There was Emilio Estevez (a recent Wtf Happened to this Celebrity pick), Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, and Andrew McCarthy. Some of them became enduring stars, and some didn’t. For those whose fame perhaps didn’t endure beyond the eighties,...

For those who took a look at Andrew McCarthy’s revisit with his Brat Pack brethren with the new Hulu documentary Brats, some may have noticed that a few key names did not make an appearance. Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald were revealed to have declined involvement with the film. However, one name that was even neglected to get mentioned was Sixteen Candle‘s Anthony Michael Hall. Hall (who has recently given his endorsements to remakes of his 80s classics Weird Science and The Breakfast Club) spoke with The Wrap, where he shed some light on his absence from the doc.

When asked if McCarthy had called him up for an appearance, Hall explained, “He did. And I can go on record saying, I politely declined because I’m always making new stuff and always moving forward and looking ahead. So that was my own impetus for why I chose...

My guest on 20 Questions this week is Anthony Michael Hall.

In his latest film, Trigger Warning, which is streaming on Netflix, Hall stars as a gang-boss villain opposite Jessica Alba’s Special Forces commander character as she sets out to investigate her father’s untimely death.

Hall shot to fame in the 1980s as a part of the fabled “Brat Pack,” starring in such films as National Lampoon’s Vacation, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science when he was only a teenager. When the term “Brat Pack” appeared in a 1985 New York magazine story by journalist David Blum, with Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and Judd Nelson on the issue’s cover, Hall fell under that label’s umbrella with a group that included Andrew McCarthy, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore and Ally Sheedy.

Related: ‘Brats’ Review: Andrew McCarthy Reexamines The Brat Pack Legacy – Tribeca Festival

But when McCarthy approached Hall...

The Hulu documentary Brats reunites the iconic Brat Pack stars to discuss their careers in the '80s and beyond. The Brat Pack, coined by David Blum, faced challenges and success as they transitioned to adult acting roles. Members like Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, and Demi Moore continue to impact pop culture today.

The 2024 Hulu documentary Brats brings the story of the iconic Brat Pack to a new generation, but who was the most successful Brat Pack member? The Brat Pack characterizes a group of young actors from the '80s who appeared in several coming-of-age teen movies throughout that decade. There are core members, including Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, and Ally Sheedy, as well as others that many believe belong in the "club" as well.

David Blum coined the name in New York Magazine as a take on the Rat Pack.

The Brat Pack label wasn't actually applied to Andrew McCarthy in the article that came up with the name, despite common belief. McCarthy's documentary "Brats" delves into the effects of the term coined by David Blum in 1985. Blum listed specific members of "The Brat Pack", including those such as Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, and Sean Penn, but not McCarthy

Movie Legend: Andrew McCarthy wasn't actually named as member of "The Brat Pack" in the famous New York magazine article that coined the term, "Brat Pack."

Last week, Andrew McCarthy, who has built himself a fine career as a TV director, released a new documentary called Brats, which was based, in part, on his own recent memoir, Brat: An '80s Story. The film deals with the effects of a journalist, David Blum, dubbing a generation of male actors in Hollywood as "The Brat Pack" in 1985, turning what was intended to...

After nearly four decades since the theatrical release of St. Elmos Fire, Sony Pictures is reportedly considering the possibility of producing a sequel to Joel Schumachers classic coming-of-age drama. The movie was led by some of the brightest young stars of the 1980s, including Emilio Estevez, Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Andrew McCarthy, and Mare Winningham.

According to Deadline, Sony Pictures is hoping to reunite the original cast of St. Elmos Fire for a potential sequel, which would tell the story of how their characters have turned out after the events of the first movie. The project is reportedly still in the very early stage of development, as it currently has no script yet. It is also unknown if the studio had already discussed the project with the cast. Most of the cast members of St. Elmos Fire were considered honorary members of the iconic Brat Pack,...

Brats documentary explores how the Brat Pack label affected members like Estevez and McCarthy, halting potential collaborations. Estevez pulled the plug on "Young Men With Unlimited Capital" due to the stigma surrounding the Brat Pack, affecting potential partnerships. The movie never got made, but Estevez and McCarthy could still collaborate to bring the Woodstock story to life and honor their Brat Pack legacy.

Waves were made when David Blum's "Hollywood's Brat Pack" article came out in New York Magazine, and as the documentary Brats revealed, the fallout killed one of the "best scripts" Emilio Estevez had ever read. A new Hulu documentary by Andrew McCarthy, star of the Brat Pack movies St. Elmo's Fire and Pretty in Pink, revealed new details about the article's impact. Brats explores how the "Brat Pack" label affected his fellow Brat Pack members. His first interview was with fellow St. Elmo's Fire actor Emilio Estevez,...

Sony Pictures is considering a new version of St. Elmo's Fire, possibly involving the original cast. St. Elmo's Fire, a signature Brat Pack film, focused on friends adjusting to adulthood post-college in the '80s. Despite initial poor reviews, the film was a financial success, spawning a hit song, and can be streamed on Hulu.

Andrew McCarthy's Hulu documentary Brats, which looks back on the impact of 'The Brat Pack' and the effect it had on the lives and careers of those who were a part of it, has increased interest in the films featuring some of its members. While many movies could be called "Brat Pack" entries, one that has taken the lead is 1985's St. Elmo's Fire, primarily because the film stars many of the actors featured in the documentary. The movie was a hit in the '80s and now Sony Pictures is exploring the possibility...

Back in 1985, Emilio Estevez and Andrew McCarthy shared the screen in the Joel Schumacher-directed coming-of-age film St. Elmo’s Fire, which was a box office hit that’s still remembered fondly to this day, even though the critical response wasn’t very positive. In the build-up to the release of that film, Estevez and McCarthy were set to co-star in another project, called Young Men with Unlimited Capital… but unfortunately, eighteen days before the release of St. Elmo’s Fire, New York Magazine published an article by David Blum in which Blum dubbed several of the hottest young actors of the day the Brat Pack. The actors mentioned in that article were shocked and offended by the Brat Pack label – so much that Estevez refused to do Young Men with Unlimited Capital with McCarthy, killing the project. Thirty-nine years later, the story of Young Men with Unlimited Capital has still never made it to the screen.

Being labeled the Brat Pack stunted members' Hollywood careers by contributing to typecasting and self-doubt. The group felt they couldn't work together post-label to avoid reinforcing the negative connotations. The Brat Pack actors were seen as a group, making it difficult to secure individual roles after the article.

Andrew McCarthy's Hulu documentary Brats recounts the experiences of the group of actors known as the "Brat Pack," including how being labeled this way derailed their careers. Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, and McCarthy himself are the most widely recognized members of the Brat Pack in the 1980s. These actors, along with some other co-stars, were at the forefront of the increase in movies starring young actors and inherently about being young in the early and mid-1980s. Many of them had aspirations of long-term careers in Hollywood.

However, the lives...

Hollywood transitioned in the 80s to focus on youth narratives, led by the Brat Pack actors. The Brats documentary explores the cultural significance of 80s films and their impact on Hollywood. The Brat Pack movies revolutionized cinema by centering on young adults and their friendships.

In the new Brats documentary by Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy, the group's connection to the transition cinema made in the 1980s is explored in detail. The Brat Pack movies of the mid-1980s are as fun to watch as they are definitive of a transition happening in American film culture. Memorable coming-of-age flicks like The Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, St. Elmo's Fire, and Pretty in Pink gave young people a reflection of their own life on the big screen that was previously unavailable in Hollywood cinema.

David Blum's New York Magazine article coining the term "Brat Pack" positioned the actors as immature and somewhat undeserving of their success.

Editor’s Note: Journalist David Blum might have forever coined The Brat Pack era, but it was Carl Kurlander who provided the reason the infamous New York magazine article got written. St. Elmo’s Fire was a script Kurlander wrote with director Joel Schumacher, inspired by events in his life. Now an academic, Kurlander has written several guest columns for Deadline including a 35th anniversary remembrance of St. Elmo’s Fire. Why is he tapping again into those memories? He just watched Brats, the Hulu documentary that premiered at Tribeca Festival, directed by and starring Andrew McCarthy. He was part of the St. Elmo’s Fire ensemble that felt maligned by Blum’s article published the week before the film was released and became a surprise hit.

Here, Kurlander supplies some great dish — did you know Demi Moore’s drug demons almost forced Joel Schumacher to replace her with the young singer Madonna?...

St. Elmo's Fire is one of the iconic 1985 movies that helped cement the Brat Pack. The majority of the St. Elmo's Fire cast is still alive and working, including Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy. Many cast members have held prominent recent roles, including Rob Lowe's long-term stint on 9-1-1: Lone Star.

The St. Elmo's Fire cast has worked quite a bit in the nearly four decades since it premiered. The movie, which was helmed by The Phantom of the Opera and The Lost Boys director Joel Schumacher, was one of two 1985 releases - along with John Hughes' The Breakfast Club - that helped cement the idea of the Brat Pack, a term that was coined by David Blum in an article for New York magazine. The Brat Pack was a group of young actors who made a variety of movies about teens and young adults throughout the mid to late 1980s.

Timothy Hutton is considered the unofficial godfather of the Brat Pack, despite not being a member. "Ordinary People" set the stage for youth-centered films in the 1980s, earning Hutton an Oscar. Hutton's success early in his career made him a role model for the Brat Pack, despite his aversion to the label.

Content warning: the following article contains discussions of suicide and suicidal ideation

Actor Timothy Hutton is one of the many actors interviewed for the Hulu documentary Brats; though he's not a member of the Brat Pack, he's considered its unofficial godfather. The documentary was created by official Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy, who produced it as a catharsis to process how the "Brat Pack" label affected his career. The coin was termed in a 1985 New York Magazine article by David Blum (who also appears in the documentary). McCarthy interviewed fellow Brat Pack members Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy,...

Brats documentary explores the impact of the "Brat Pack" term on young actors' careers in the 1980s. David Blum stands by coining the term despite backlash, believing it didn't affect actors' careers. Members of the Brat Pack felt labeled and diminished professionally by the infamous article.

Hulus new documentary, Brats, focused on how David Blums famous phrase, the Brat Pack, affected the group's young actors and whether he regretted coining the term. The Brat Pack resulted from Blums 1985 New York Magazine profile on Emilio Estevez and his peers. Blum came up with the nickname to describe a group of young actors in the 1980s who often worked together and seemed to have formed friendships outside of their work. Andrew McCarthys Brats documentary had several reveals, including the fact that most of the members of the Brat Pack hated the nickname.

Other 80s actors in the Brat Pack included Anthony Michael Hall,...

For viewers of a certain age — or, perhaps more likely at this point, most ages — the term “Brat Pack” evokes nostalgia at its fondest. Movies like “The Breakfast Club” and “Pretty in Pink” remain rites of passage for teenagers coming of age nearly 40 years later, and few would argue that the 1980s didn’t represent a high-water mark for teen movies. For actual members of that coterie of actors, it’s a little more complicated.

That’s especially true of Andrew McCarthy, who remains so conflicted about the term coined by David Blum in his June 10, 1985 cover story for New York that he made a documentary about it (after earlier publishing a memoir entitled “Brat”). A core Brat Packer whose filmography is headlined by the likes of “Pretty in Pink” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” McCarthy has more recently stepped behind the camera and directed episodes of “Orange Is the New Black” and “13 Reasons Why,...

The New York Magazine article introduced the "Brat Pack," forever changing the careers of young actors in the 80s. Members of the Brat Pack were devastated by the label, feeling it limited their career opportunities in Hollywood. Andrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald are key figures in the Brat Pack narrative.

On June 10, 1985, a New York Magazine article came out about a group of young actors calling them the "Brat Pack," drastically altering their careers as explored in the documentary Brats. For most, there is a rift in their careers before and after the article came out. The new documentary by quintessential Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy explores how the label affected members of the group of actors under the label's umbrella. The documentary revealed that each member's outlook on the article had ramifications but that most members of the Brat Pack hated the nickname.

The Brat Pack was a group of actors who were known for starring in 1980s teen movies. Members of the Brat Pack now range in age from the 56-year old Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall to the 64-year-old Judd Nelson. Secondary members of the Brat Pack include the 65-year-old Mare Winningham and the 64-year-old James Spader.

The stars of the Brat Pack have aged out of their iconic roles from the 1980s. The members of the group, which was named in a New York magazine story by David Blum in 1985, were a cadre of popular young actors who were known for starring in teen movies throughout the decade. The group was the center of Hulu's Brat Pack documentary Brats, which premiered on June 13, 2024, and was directed by another well-known 1980s actor, Andrew McCarthy.

To be considered a main member of the Brat Pack, a star generally had to meet two criteria.

Everyone of a certain age has a core memory of the iconic “Brat Pack,” even those born after their heyday. But what about the group itself? On June 13, 2024, that is the question that Hulu’s “Brats” asks as actor and director Andrew McCarthy interviews fellow Brat Packers Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Jon Cryer, Timothy Hutton and Lea Thompson.

Centering on 1980s films starring the “Brat Pack” and their profound impact on the young stars’ lives, “Brats” is certified fresh with a score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes. The term was notably coined by New York Magazine writer David Blum (it wasn’t a compliment), who was hoping to gain attention in the journalism world. And yes, he is confronted in the film. Read our full review round-up below.

See Demi Moore movies: 12 greatest films ranked from worst to best

Nick Schager of The Daily Beast notes, “Filled...

At times, watching Brats is like watching a high school reunion, if the high schoolers in question frequented the Sunset Strip in the 1980s and the theater teacher was John Hughes.

In the doc, director Andrew McCarthy asks members of the Brat Pack to reflect on and unpack what it meant to be a part of one of Hollywood’s most exclusive clubs — like the Frank Sinatra-fronted Rat Pack before them. There are moments of embarrassment, humility and catharsis, with apologies offered and new perspectives gained.

The “Brat Pack” was coined by journalist David Blum in a 1985 New York Magazine profile of Emilio Estevez that contextualized Estevez and peers like Judd Nelson and Rob Lowe within the new dynamics of a Hollywood that sought to cater to the tastes of younger audiences. It was a not-wholly-flattering portrait that at times painted the actors as undertrained and overestimated, scoring free...

It’s often hard to pinpoint the precise origin of a cultural phenomenon. The opposite is true when it comes to Hollywood’s Brat Pack. The catchy moniker that came to define the ’80s cineplex can be traced to June 10, 1985, when New York Magazine published a cover story pegged to the release of “St. Elmo’s Fire.” The piece, written by David Blum, followed three of the film’s stars — Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and Judd Nelson — over several nights of heavy boozing and douchey antics, like ogling Playmates, encouraging groupies and trash-talking their rivals. Blum dubbed the group of young movie stars the “Brat Pack,” a phrase still recognizable four decades later.

The trio’s “St. Elmo’s Fire” co-star Andrew McCarthy remembers the exact moment when the film’s producer, Lauren Shuler Donner, burst into an office on the Paramount lot waving a copy of the magazine. At first glance,...

Brats, the new documentary film from ABC News Studio (premiering Thursday on Hulu), is a must-watch for the Gen X crowd that knows its John Benders from its Duckie Dales.

Back in the spring of 1985, New York Magazine writer David Blum set out to pen a profile of Emilio Estevez. But when the buzz for St. Elmo’s Fire caught, well, fire, that feature blew up into a cover story that infamously christened Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore et al “Hollywood’s Brat Pack.”

More from TVLineAndrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore and Others Revisit ‘Brat Pack’ Ignominy in Hulu...

In June 1985, a young group of talented actors was ready to take the world by storm as the release of Joel Schumacher‘s “St. Elmo’s Fire” approached. Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, and Demi Moore had already done fine work in other films both together and apart, but “St. Elmo’s Fire” was the best showcase any of them had ever gotten, in an era when youth movies were better and more numerous than they had ever been before. Nothing stood in the way of their becoming the next generation of great American screen actors — except for a New York magazine writer named David Blum.

Blum spent a night out with Estevez and several of his friends for what was supposed to be a simple profile of the actor but turned into a cover story in which the journalist dubbed the entire group the “Brat Pack...

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Back in the 1980s, Andrew McCarthy was part of an ambitious posse of young actors who were primed to take Hollywood by storm: Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald. Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Jon Cryer, and Lea Thompson among them. Surely, being cast as Kevin, a cynical scribe, in the ensemble cast of St. Elmos Fire changed everything for the actor. So did the New York Magazine article on costar Emilio Estevez by David Blum, which dubbed the St. Elmos Fire cast as being part of Tinseltowns so-called Brat Pack.

McCarthy tracks the impact of having that title thrown upon him and other stars in his revealing new documentary, Brats, which held its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Its more than a fun nostalgia trip although theres plenty of that because in this outing, McCarthy is in full introspective mode,...

In 1985, journalist David Blum applied the title "Brat Pack" to a group of young actors, including several stars of the then-new movie The Breakfast Club.

Since then, speculation has been that the Brat Pack was just a media ploy.

Was it, and how close was the group?

The Basis For the Naming of the Brat Pack

The Brat Pack was named when Journalist David Blum was assigned to interview Emilio Estevez for New York Magazine in 1985.

Emilio invited him out for an evening with Emilio and his friends.

Related: The Controversial Origins of the Brat Pack

Those friends were Rob Lowe and Judd Nelson, who were hanging out with Emilio at the Hard Rock Cafe on a Thursday evening just ahead of the premiere of St. Elmo's Fire (1985).

Blum then turned his article into a mostly unfavorable review of several Hollywood actors, grouping them as the "Brat Pack," a name...

Many young stars were rising in Hollywood during the 1980s. It was one of the most critical decades in movie production due to its switch from focusing on films directed at adults to tween and teen flicks.

The '80s was an excellent decade for young movie fans. However, some movie stars, including Rob Lowe, had less fun, especially after journalist David Blum labeled them "The Brat Pack" in 1985.

Here's how Rob Lowe went from being a Brat Packer to being a family man and changed how he was perceived in Hollywood.

The Humble Origins of the Lowes

The term "Hollywood Icon" didn't always apply to Rob Lowe.

He was born in Charlottesville, Virginia, on March 17, 1964, but spent most of his childhood living in Dayton, Ohio.

Related: The Brat Pack: Dissension in the Ranks

His dad was a lawyer, and his mom was a teacher.

When he was still a baby,...

During a bit of small talk, an anonymous cashier mishears director Andrew McCarthy’s explanation of the project he’s working on: “The Rat Pack?” The Brat Pack, McCarthy corrects. “That sounds familiar,” replies the younger man in the polite tone of someone who has no idea what you’re talking about.

It’s a throwaway moment in the film, but one that gets at the good-natured humility that makes the whole thing tick. The marketable hook of Brats is that it’s a documentary about the (in)famous 1980s young Hollywood cohort, helmed by one of its own. What makes it truly compelling, however, is its willingness to step outside that perspective and reconsider the phenomenon from a broader context with the wisdom of age.

At first, Brats feels like watching a man poke at his own bruises. “I’d lost control of the narrative of my career,” McCarthy...

Some movies and actors stick with you through the decades, leaving you with random moments of nostalgia that can occur at any time.

While the '80s have different levels of fame, perhaps the greatest gift it gave was The Brat Pack, a group of young, up-and-coming actors often seen on film together and occasionally off-screen.

What actors belong to the group varies by who you ask. Some people consider the members to be those listed by reporter David Blum in his now infamous 1985 article in the New York Magazine.

But 1980s Brat Pack fans have their own list of eight core members we grew up watching act together. It started with The Breakfast Club and then St. Elmo's Fire.

Now, they're on some of our favorite movies and series. But regardless of what they do, they're often still associated with belonging to the Brat Pack.

Related: Quit Your Day...

The Brat Pack was a group of the hottest, coolest young actors of the 1980s, a group who often worked together in many of the decade's biggest films. They included Emilio Estevez, Andrew McCarthy, Robe Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Jon Cryer, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, and Anthony Michael Hall, give or take some other actors who floated in and out of their orbit. Now, Andrew McCarthy is exploring the group and both their impetus and influence in his documentary Brats, which recently premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and is streaming on Hulu. He spoke with MovieWeb about how the Brat Pack signaled a major change in Hollywood:

"Those who were at the forefront, they didn't create that change, but they were the results of that change, which was when Hollywood discovered that young people go to the movies five, six, seven times and grown-ups go once. So, the hell with the grown-ups.

The Brat Pack has been through a lot, but time has only strengthened their offscreen friendships.

While discussing Andrew McCarthy’s new Brats documentary at its Tribeca Film Festival premiere on Friday, Jon Cryer had some less-than-fond memories of his Pretty in Pink (1986) co-star.

“When we made Pretty in Pink, we didn’t get along because he was a d***,” said Cryer on a panel Friday with McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, and Demi Moore, according to Entertainment Weekly.

McCarthy admitted to Cryer, “That’s very true,” as Moore disagreed. “Well I didn’t think he was a d***,” she said.

“Well he wasn’t a d*** to you,” Cryer quipped to Moore, whom he dated while working on their 1984 movie, No Small Affair.

Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer and Andrew McCarthy in ‘Pretty in Pink’

Not talking out of school here, btw, he was sitting two feet away when I said this.

Last Updated on June 10, 2024

The Brat Pack helped define the 1980s, that disillusioned group who navigated Saturday detentions, unrequited love and eventually adulthood. With a rotating group that featured the likes of Molly Ringwald, Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, and so many more, the Brat Pack label served both as a play on the “Rat Pack” and a fitting stamp that laid out their reputation…And some of them hated it…

During the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of documentary Brats, director Andrew McCarthy – who starred in 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire and 1987’s Pretty in Pink – said that he originally thought the label was “horrible” but came around to it much later. “I turned 60 last year, and you start to look at your life a little differently. I looked back at this seminal moment in my past, that I’d been dragging around for so many years, and...

Actor Jon Cryer, known for starring in the popular sitcom Two and a Half Men, has recently opened up about his association with the 80s ensemble of young stars known as The Brat Pack. The subject of Andrew McCarthy’s latest documentary, The Brat Pack comprised young stars of the era such as Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, and Demi Moore, known for their frequent presence on the big screen.

Jon Cryer in Two and a Half Men

While Cryer was also considered to be part of the group, and even makes an appearance in the upcoming documentary, Brats, the actor has recently shared that he did not perceive himself as cool enough to be classified as a core member.

The Two and a Half Men Star on His Association With The Brat Pack

While starring in the 1984 romantic comedy, No Small Affair, actor Jon Cryer and Demi Moore briefly dated,...

Andrew McCarthy reflects on the Brat Pack era with his new documentary Brats, and tells us how films like St. Elmo's Fire shaped perceptions of friendship on screen, resulting in the hit TV series, Friends. The documentary Brats explores the influence of '80s films and the cultural impact of the Brat Pack with new interviews and insights. McCarthy tells us that his role in St. Elmo's Fire was a pivotal moment that changed his professional life.

Andrew McCarthy went from being a beloved '80s star to the talented television director behind dozens of episodes from series like Gossip Girl, Orange Is the New Black, The Blacklist New Amsterdam, and Condor. He's bridging those two career paths in his new documentary, Brats, an exploration of the Brat Pack era that he directs and stars in. The Hulu film had its world premiere yesterday, June 7, at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The Brat Pack were icons to those who grew up in the 1980s.

The young stars' were in all the coming-of-age movies that shaped us.

One might think they had it all, but the "Brat Pack" label was not ideal for them.

Brat Pack Inception

It was June 10, 1985.

St. Elmo's Fire, featuring stars like Rob Lowe, was set to premiere just fifteen days later.

Related: The Age of Nostalgia: Why Young Audiences Are Seeking Out Old TV

John Hughes' The Breakfast Club had premiered a few months prior, on February 10.

June 10 changed the world as we knew it.

It was the day David Blum published this article in New York Magazine, branding several young stars with the "Brat Pack" label.

The initial article mentioned stars Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, and Rob Lowe of St. Elmo's Fire, the three men with whom Blum spent a night on the town before writing the article.

Hulu’s recent Bon Jovi Documentary has reignited an interest in the music of the 80s and 90s. Now, Brats, Andrew McCarthy’s new Brat Pack documentary promises to delve into the movies of the 80s and a group of actors known as The Brat Pack.

Andrew McCarthy Brat Pack – YouTube Who Coined The Phrase ‘The Brat Pack’?

Before the phrase “The Brat Pack,” actors such as Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Rob Lowe, and Emilio Estevez were actors. However, after that monicker, their lives changed. This happened in 1985 when New York Magazine writer David Blum decided to make a play on the “Rat Pack.” This trio consisted of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., a group considered the pinnacle of the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Although this was a clever label, it wound up haunting many actors in this group. That is because their livelihood as actors was negatively affected by this label.

At the Tribeca Festival world premiere of Brats, actor-turned-director Andrew McCarthy said the Brat Pack Label, which he had “received as horrible,” turned into a “blessing.”

That unlikely arc was actually what compelled him to make the film, McCarthy said Friday night during a post-screening Q&a. “I turned 60 last year, and you start to look at your life a little differently,” he said. “I looked back at this seminal moment in my past, that I’d been dragging around for so many years, and it seemed frozen in the past. And I wanted to bring it up into my present. And by examining it, I could sort of honor it. And if I honored it, it started to turn into a blessing. And then I was fascinated by the journey.”

McCarthy was joined onstage by acting contemporaries Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore and Jon Cryer, along with casting director Marci Liroff,...

Andrew McCarthy’s documentary Brats, based on his book Brats: An ’80s Story, offers an intimate exploration of the Brat Pack — a group of young actors who became cultural icons in the 1980s. Through candid interviews and nostalgic reflections, McCarthy delves into the nostalgia of the “Brat Pack” label, coined by journalist David Blum in a 1985 New York magazine article. This term, intended as a playful nod to the Rat Pack of the 1950s and ’60s, had lasting effects on the careers and personal lives of its members.

McCarthy reunites with his past co-stars including Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Jon Cryer, Lea Thompson and Timothy Hutton, many of whom he had not seen in more than 30 years. This reunion aims to answer a central question: What did it mean to be part of the Brat Pack? The documentary’s real-time narration by McCarthy adds a sense of immediacy,...

What are we to make of the fact that Andrew McCarthy’s first effort as a documentary filmmaker is a bitter excoriation of the Brat Pack tag that defined him — and is also ostentatiously named after it?

It would be just ducky to be able to report that “Brats” is the inside deep-dive we might wish it to be. But really, it’s a lightly-indulgent passion project that leaves us wanting so much more.

McCarthy begins by noting frankly that “we were who you wanted to hang with, who you envied, who you wanted to party with.” The “we,” of course, also refers to Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore and Rob Lowe, as well as Pack-adjacent stars like James Spader, Lea Thompson and Jon Cryer. The cool kids of ’80s movies like “The Breakfast Club,” “Pretty in Pink” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” they were...

The Brat Pack is a group of actors given that nickname in the 1980s.

Known for appearing in ensemble movies, often together, members of the group didn't join by choice.

A journalist named David Blum initially labeled them that way, which caused many problems for the Brat Pack's members.

The "Brat Pack" Label's Influence on Public Opinion

The term "Brat Pack" was a callback to the Rat Pack, a group of performers in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Those performers included singers Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra.

Related: The Age of Nostalgia: Why Young Audiences Are Seeking Out Old TV

They were known for their talent, wit, and charm.

Although, they were also known for heavy partying and involvement in certain scandals.

They were essentially Hollywood's bad boys of the period.

Many of us were kids in the 1980s and were obsessed with Brat Pack members before they had that name.

The 1980s was the age of the Brat Pack.

Before the phrase was even coined in 1985, many of the young actors later named Brat Pack members starred in unforgettable films.

In preparation for the release of the 2024 documentary Brats, we're looking at that explosion of Brat Pack movies and what made them so special.

Defining the Brat Pack and Their Films

Before we can delve into what made the Brat Pack films great, we must define them.

There are varying opinions about which movies are actual Brat Pack films.

Related: The Controversial Origins of the Brat Pack

Most people seem to agree that to be considered a Brat Pack film, a movie had to come out between 1983 and 1990 and include at least two Brat Pack actors.

The only problem is that everyone's list of Brat Pack actors seems different.

Journalist David Blum coined the phrase "Brat Pack" in his 1985 article,...

Many things made the 1980s a unique decade, including big hair, brightly colored outfits, and MTV music videos.

The movies of the '80s were especially iconic. This decade gave us The Goonies, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and many more greats.

It was also the period when the Brat Pack was taking Hollywood by storm.

The Era of Teen Movie Cast Repetition

On February 15, 1985, the John Hughes classic coming-of-age teen flick The Breakfast Club, about five teens stuck in Saturday detention, premiered.

A few months later, St. Elmo's Fire was released.

It was another hit movie about the ups and downs of relationships and love featuring stars like Andrew McCarthy.

Related: 11 Characters Who Have the Worst Luck in Love

Other teen movies, such as Sixteen Candles (1984) and Pretty in Pink (1986), also premiered around that same time.

As a young kid in the '80s, I vividly recall...