"The Breakfast Club" cast members reunite at SXSW
Ensuring film-lovers won't forget about them, actresses Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy reminisced about making "The Breakfast Club" at a screening of the fully-restored 1985 film on Monday.
To kick-off the South by Southwest film festival screening, which commemorated the film's 30th anniversary, the Barton Hills Choir serenaded attendees with their own rendition of the movie's theme song, the Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)."
The audience at the Paramount Theatre -- which was greeted with a table stacked with glazed doughnuts -- sang along with the children's choir, then enthusiastically welcomed Ringwald and Sheedy to the stage for a question-and-answer session.
Sheedy, who now volunteers as a teacher at LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, said the movie's message was a loving one.
"You do matter, we are interested in you, and we're going to tell your story," she said, adding that she was a bit lonely after production wrapped.
The film chronicles five teens subjected to spend Saturday in detention at the fictional Shermer High School in Illinois. Played by Ringwald, Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall and Judd Nelson, the students aren't all initially friends, but become close by day's end.
A blonde Ringwald said she recently saw the movie with her teenage daughter and was surprised to find that her daughter most related to Hall's character, Brian Johnson. Nicknamed "the Brain," Johnson was a straight-A student who attempted suicide after flunking an assignment in shop class.
"She felt that I had too many expectations on her," Ringwald said. "It was this incredible moment where I realized I was the parent."
Ringwald and Sheedy spoke of their admiration for the film's writer and director, John Hughes, who died in 2009.
Hughes fan Beth Gleason, 60, took the day off of work as a pastor at an Austin church to volunteer at the theater for the screening. She said she watches the flick at least once a year and "absolutely" wanted to be there Monday.
"It took me back," she said as she exited the auditorium, grinning.
Mike Firoved, of Irvine, California, said the screening was his favorite event of the film festival, which ends Friday. Also a frequent viewer, Firoved said the movie "can't help but remind you of your high school days."
The re-mastered film is already available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD and will hit theaters March 26.