A 2008 New York Magazine article that first termed the phrase Brat Pack rocked the world of Andrew McCarthy and his co-stars of St. Elmo’s Fire — a lot that every of the actors went years, even many years, with out speaking to one another. As McCarthy says, “actors want to be free of that baggage.”
Not anymore. McCarthy is now behind an ABC News documentary referred to as Brats that addresses how that one phrase captured the zeitgeist and ceaselessly altered the careers of then 20-something actors like Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Mare Winningham and Molly Ringwald. Even then, it was not completely clear who was a member of the Brad Pack (although the article by David Blum would go on to level fingers at Timothy Hutton, Tom Cruise, Nicholas Cage and Sean Penn as nicely).
“We took such offense early on,” McCarthy stated Saturday on the Television Critics Tour. “It altered the perception of how we were perceived in business, in the world … this had such a profound effect on my career. A magazine article came out on Tuesday and by Friday the entire nation was using the phrase Brat Pack. It was a life-changing kind of thing. We felt suddenly unseen. I felt like I lost control of the narrative of my career.”
For his ABC News Studios doc that may air on Hulu later this 12 months, McCarthy went again and talked to fellow “Brats” like Lowe, Moore, and Estevez. Ringwald didn’t wish to discuss for the doc, nor did Nelson — who apparently informed McCarthy that “the Brat Pack didn’t exist so I’m not talking about it.”
McCarthy stated it was significant reconnecting together with his previous co-stars, particularly since all of them simply appeared to scatter when the time period Brat Pack first got here into existence. (Ironically, McCarthy says, the New York Mag article began out as a profile of Estevez however ended up as an evaluation in regards to the altering face of films within the ’80s).
“No one would be seen in a movie together. I hadn’t seen Rob in 30 years. I hadn’t seen Emilio since the premiere of St. Elmo’s fire. I hadn’t seen Demi. I know they have not been in touch,” recalled McCarthy. “I’m surprised at how much affection we had for each other.”
Now, the time period Brat Pack merely evokes a “warm and fuzzy” feeling of a sure era. “At the time, it was not the case. We all resisted it and tried to position ourselves from it. I tried to ignore it … it’s such a blessing now. In many ways, the Brat Pack was an extraordinary blessing. It still has this currency to a certain generation.”