ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL - Be Open TO CHANGE

The actor shares stories from his early years in Hollywood and his amazing life today

- Susan Hornik

There’s a moment in Anthony Michael Hall’s latest film, The Class, where his charismatic smile immediately reminds you of his nerdy, scene-stealing teen roles in The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science back in the ’80s. “I’ve always been sort of a grinner, because I got a complex when I had braces as a kid,” Anthony, 54, confides to Closer. “So I was always grinning instead of smiling with my teeth, like most normal people do. I have had a lot of awkward smiles in my life!” Fondly remembering his early brush with fame, Anthony experienced a déjà vu feeling while starring in and executive-producing The Class, a sweet coming-of-age drama that was written as a tribute to The Breakfast Club. “It really took me by surprise. I never had any anticipation or thought of doing a film inspired by one of my other movies…. It felt like a real homecoming.”

What was it like to work on The Class? 

In the ’80s, I made a number of films in Chicago, so it was a lot of fun to land back there and to show my wife the town and to kind of re-experience it. I really loved it.

What drew you to the project?

I was really just taken by the screenplay. There’s a lot of real-world issues that have certainly existed since we made The Breakfast Club in the ’80s that are kind of perennial issues for people. But this film really humanizes all these kids’ characters with real conflict. So whether it’s alcoholism, or their sexuality, or a life-threatening disease, the kids are all dealing with challenging real-world issues. It takes The Breakfast Club even further.