Molly Ringwald Gets Emotional, Judd Nelson Talks Who Was Legal at “Breakfast Club” 40th Reunion
When the cast of The Breakfast Club reunited for the first time in 40 years, it brought audience members and Molly Ringwald close to tears at Chicago’s C2E2 Convention on Saturday, April 11.
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“I feel really very emotional and moved to have us all together,” Ringwald told the crowd. “This is the first time that Emilio has joined us. We don’t have to use the cardboard cutout anymore because he is here. So, yeah, I feel really moved that we’re all together.”
While some of the fabulous five — Judd Nelson, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy and Anthony Michael Hall — have appeared at various forums over the years, never have all of the primary cast members reunited until today.
Estevez is the rarity of the group, who explained why now — after 40 years — it felt right to join the love affair attached to the film.
Credit: Popverse/screengrab to live panel
“I skipped all of my high school reunions, so this just was something that finally I felt I needed to do just for myself,” he says. “This one felt special. It’s here in Chicago where we made the film, obviously the 40th anniversary, and it just felt like it was time. I heard this, somebody told me that Molly said, ‘Well, does Emilio just not like us?’ That broke my heart. ‘No, of course, I love all of them,’ and it just made sense. So here I am.”
All of the cast openly shared their endearments to one another for one hour, fielding questions from the moderator and fans. Anthony Michael Hall still provided much of the levity and humor to the panel.
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At one point, the cast started reflecting on socializing after filming and what they would do during their downtime in Chicago, where The Breakfast Club was filmed.
“We had one night off. Saturday night,” Judd Nelson explained. “Emilio and I and Ally are old enough to legally drink. Molly and Michael are not. Molly and Michael also have to log hours in school with a tutor during the day while making the movie. So there’s one night to go out for three people.”
Credit: Popverse/screengrab to live panel
Nelson continues: “Ally stays in her room mostly. I have no idea what goes on in there. So on Saturday night, Emilio and I would drive into Chicago.”
Hall jumps in: “This is why Emilio wasn’t showing up all these years. He didn’t want these stories out.”
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That doesn’t deter Nelson from finishing his story: “We drive into Chicago, it’s 1983, 1984, we cannot find a single place on Division or Rush Streets that will let in a guy wearing sneakers and a guy wearing motorcycle boots. We find one place called the Jazz Bowls, which no longer exists anymore. And if any of you have been there or know any of those people involved, it’s the greatest place in the world. They let us in. They didn’t care. And so we enjoyed Chicago, the city for three hours once a week.”