John Hughes Opens Up About the Controversial Alternate Ending to ‘Pretty In Pink’
Pretty in Pink is one of the most popular teen movies from the 1980s, starring Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, Andrew McCarthy, and James Spader. John Hughes wrote the classic, along with other iconic ’80s films such as Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club. Turns out, he had written a very different ending for the film but changed it after test audiences didn’t like it. In the film, Ringwald plays Andie while Cryer plays her best friend Duckie. The pair are often bullied by the rich kids, including Steff McKee (Spader).
Things change when Andie is noticed by rich boy Blane (McCarthy) and they fall in love. After some drama, they eventually end up together at the end of the movie. It wasn’t always meant to be that way. Originally, Hughes had Andie choose Duckie in the classic tale of choosing the best friend over the popular handsome teen. Reportedly, the original script featured Andie and Duckie going to prom together and Blane never apologized.
Paramount/Everett Collection
This ending was filmed, but test audiences preferred Andie with Blane over Duckie, so Hughes re-wrote the ending. While the film became a cult classic, he always remembered the original ending. So much so, that a year later, a similar movie called Some Kind of Wonderful came out.
Everett Collection
In the film, Eric Stoltz plays Keith who has a best friend named Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson). He has a crush on a popular girl named Amanda (Lea Thompson) but ends up realizing he is in love with his best friend. Hughes was finally able to see his original Pretty in Pink ending on screen.
Paramount Pictures/Everett Collection
However, it has been explained that Hughes actually wrote the script for Some Kind of Wonderful before Pretty in Pink was finished. It makes you wonder if Hughes was ever in love with his best friend as a teen since he was always rooting for that kind of relationship. Either way, he gave us so many great films that still hold up today.
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