Anthony Michael Hall rose to stardom in the early 1980s, becoming a household name almost overnight. After starring as the original Rusty Griswold in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), Hall was cast in John Hughes' Sixteen Candles (1984), followed by The Breakfast Club (1985) and Weird Science (1985). While all three are beloved by fans, The Breakfast Club is undoubtedly the film most associated with Hall and Hughes from the decade. Now, with his new movie The Class, Hall has come full circle.

The Class is a coming-of-age film that follows "a group of high school seniors forced to spend a Saturday at school completing an exam they either missed taking or failed. By the end of the day, they find their own values, betrayals, and love within themselves and their classmates." If the film's synopsis sounds familiar, it should. Director Nicholas Celozzi intended to pay homage to The Breakfast Club and even cast two of the film's original actors -- Anthony Michael Hall and John Kapelos. Rounding out the adult cast is another iconic name from the '80s, actress and singer Debbie Gibson.

While Hall played the nerdy Brian Johnson in The Breakfast Club, his role in The Class is akin to Paul Gleason's Vice Principal Vernon. However, over the course of the film, his authoritative, gruff demeanor gives way to a more reflective character. As Hall says, "you see this humanity in him."

The Class stars Charlie Gillespie, Lyric Ross, Hannah Kepple, Colin McCalla, Juliette Celozzi, Michael Sebastian, John Kapelos, Debbie Gibson, and Anthony Michael Hall. It releases on September 9th on Digital and in select theaters.

A Classic Story for a New Generation

The Class (2022) Full Cast
Brainstorm Media

MovieWeb: You have starred in some of the most influential films and TV shows for an entire generation and have not slowed down. What do you look for in an ideal project at this point in your career?

Anthony Michael Hall: It's a good question. It's the material. It's always the screenplay and the writing, and with The Class, I was really taken by surprise. This kind of came out of the blue. I was approached by Nicki [Celozzi], and next thing you know, we struck up a conversation and started speaking. I read the script, and I was really impressed. I never in my life anticipated doing anything close to what I had done at the beginning of my career with John Hughes. I never thought that would happen and had no way of anticipating that, obviously, so I was really taken by surprise. And pleasantly surprised by the quality of his screenplay.

I read it, and that began a series of conversations that Nicki and I had, and we just really hit it off. I found him to be very interesting and a good guy. I think it goes back to the screenplay and the quality of the work and, obviously, the people you want to work with. So, a couple of things come into play in terms of my decision-making.

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But with this, Melissa, it was really interesting because, as I said, I was just shocked, I think, that with this project, it's obviously not a remake, but it's certainly inspired by structurally what The Breakfast Club was. It's six kids instead of five, but the thing that was the most compelling for me was the quality of the writing and that the stakes were higher. Considering art reflects life, we're trying to bring something to life for a younger millennial audience. I think that coincided nicely with this material.

All the character arcs are really strong. All the challenges, conflicts, and the things they're dealing with interpersonally and individually make it special. I was happy to read the screenplay and to see he really captured that. He did a great job with it.

The Class Cast Connects On-Screen and Behind-the-Scenes

The Class (2022) Cast
Brainstorm Media

Anthony Michael Hall: As I said, the stakes are all higher for the characters, and that's certainly important if it's going to reach a younger audience. The Breakfast Club was a film we made all those years ago in 1984, and we never anticipated it having kind of the impact that it's had. I think what's interesting about that film -- and hopefully, this film will connect in a similar way -- is that it is sort of like a deconstruction of stereotypes.

You get all these different renderings of types of people, but I think, ultimately, the lesson is that everybody's more alike than they are different. There's certainly a chord of humanity that is struck that's really powerful. That's why that film really stands alone, particularly of all the John Hughes films that I did. It's almost like a group therapy experience that people kind of project themselves onto the different characters or multiple. I think The Class achieves that as well in a beautiful way.

The other thing that I extended to Nicki was that John would always carve out rehearsal time for us, and that was helpful because these kids really became friends. They were doing fun stuff together on set. They were working together. They were encouraging, supporting, and championing each other. Away from the set, they'd go to amusement parks and have meals together at night, and they'd be at the gym together. They were doing all kinds of stuff together, so that really fed the work, and they all delivered beautiful performances.

I thought they all did a great job, including Debbie [Gibson] and John Kapelos, from the original Breakfast Club. So it was wonderful how it all came together.

MovieWeb: While the themes and conflicts were updated to reflect modern times, The Class didn't shy away from serious topics, just as we saw in The Breakfast Club.

Anthony Michael Hall: True to the tradition of John, Nicki really captured, again, the sense of conflict. As a writer, I know you can appreciate this, whether it's a drama or a comedy, a key ingredient you have to always have is conflict, and it was there. There are also great moments of brevity where there's humor and a kind of cathartic release because there's a lot of intense stuff going on. These kids are exposing themselves and unraveling in the course of the day, consistent and true to the form of the original film, which I thought was great.

I’m impressed by all these young actors and happy for them because this is a good piece of work that they delivered. We're happy with the film and how it turned out.

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“John Hughes Would Be Very Much Impressed...”

The Class Starring Debbie Gibson and Anthony Michael Hall
Brainstorm Media

MovieWeb: How important was it to have the adults play such pivotal roles alongside the teens?

Anthony Michael Hall: What was interesting and where it diverged from the original film is that Nicki gives a lot of humanity to Debbie's character. She's wonderful in the film. She's such a good actress, natural, and very likable. Even with my character, though he appears more gruff, he makes a nice turn as well where you see this humanity in him.

You get the sense -- and this is something that Nicki and I kind of delineated, and we wanted to make sure we got -- that he got stuck in his hometown. He wound up teaching high school in the area that he grew up in, and he, as well, had aspirations musically and other things. So there's a nice turn where I give Hannah Kepple the guitar -- she really has a great gift for singing -- and there's a nice turn for both Debbie and myself where the kids really embrace us. It's not just about us embracing them.

MovieWeb: Even through your facial expressions and body language, I could see your character coming around to what's happening and the stories told.

Anthony Michael Hall: He kind of gets overwhelmed by it because the kids were so good. I think a really important aspect of acting and just in life, too, is listening and active listening. I was kind of letting myself go in those moments because, yeah, it's almost something that he wants to contain. The fact that he's being reached and it touches him emotionally.

And, again, back to the stakes and Nicki's screenplay, he did a beautiful job because all of them have these really strong arcs. They're all coming in with their own composite of issues and different things going on, but, ultimately, at their core, the thing they all have to reveal is powerful. I really believe John Hughes would be very much impressed and proud of what Nicki's done here. He was able to elevate all of that to a modern-day for a younger audience.