At the Tribeca world premiere of his new documentary Brats, actor-turned-director Andrew McCarthy shared his evolving perspective on the “Brat Pack” label. Initially received as a “horrible” moniker, McCarthy revealed it ultimately became a “blessing.”
Speaking during a post-screening Q&A session on Friday night, McCarthy, who turned 60 last year, reflected on how he began to reassess significant moments from his past. 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. I wanted to bring it up into my present. 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.”
The Q&A was attended by McCarthy’s fellow actors Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, and Jon Cryer, as well as casting director Marci Liroff, Pretty in Pink director Howard Deutch, and journalist David Blum. Blum’s 1985 cover story for New York magazine coined the “Brat Pack” term, encapsulating a group of young actors including Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, and McCarthy himself.
The label had a profound impact on their careers. Estevez and McCarthy noted that a project they were collaborating on fell apart following the article’s publication, as both sought to distance themselves from the “Pack.” The designation, according to McCarthy, deterred top-tier directors like Spielberg and Scorsese, who perceived them as shallow and unserious.
Demi Moore reflected on the personal toll, saying, “The greatest loss of it was the time we’ve lost with each other over these years. There was a fear that if we didn’t try to just move out on our own that we would somehow be seen as less. And the joy of this has been the reconnection and the opportunity that we have now, for something that was really a defining and beautiful moment of joy in all of our lives.”
In the documentary, McCarthy seeks to reconnect with other “Brat Packers,” often discovering that many had not seen each other for over three decades. When asked if making the film met his expectations, McCarthy admitted, “I don’t know what I wanted, but as Demi said, we’re all back in touch again.” He likened their bond to that of puppies from the same litter, saying, “We’re all from the same litter. There’s something that we all have, where we can just look at each other and go, ‘Oh, hello.’ And that’s a beautiful thing. I didn’t have that for 30 years.”
David Blum’s role in the documentary included an awkward on-camera conversation with McCarthy, which was revisited during the Q&A. Blum faced some jeers from the audience after revealing McCarthy had asked him if he wanted to apologize for the original article, a moment that didn’t make the final cut of the film. Blum defended his intentions, claiming his article was meant to “celebrate” the emerging talent. However, McCarthy countered that the article’s impact was far from celebratory. Blum suggested that the attention the piece garnered helped draw audiences to their films and bolster their careers.
Brats is set to debut on Hulu on June 13.
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