Saturday Detention: A story about a few unlikely friends

On Feb. 15, 1985 — 40 years ago Saturday, appropriately enough — writer and filmmaker John Hughes’ “The Breakfast Club” opened in theaters nationwide.

The film featured high school students with absolutely nothing in common who are brought together for Saturday detention and end their day with a newfound appreciation of themselves and each other.

John Hughes' Second Film

John Hughes was already an up-and-coming figure in Hollywood, having written the scripts for “Mr. Mom” and “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” both of which were released in 1983.

John Hughes

Hughes wanted to direct his own material, so he began writing scripts with his own directing ideas in mind. He presented two teen comedies, “Sixteen Candles” and “The Lunch Bunch,” to Universal Pictures, which selected the former to be Hughes’ directing debut. He filmed the latter — changing its name — in late 1984 for release in early 1985.

Along the way, Hughes had to deal with studio executives complained bitterly that the movie featured no bare breasts, a panty scene, guys drinking beer or other typical teen movie tropes.

Hughes’ original idea had been to produce a sequel every 10 years in which the characters would get back together and catch up on their lives. But as his career went on, Hughes became reluctant to revisit the teen comedy genre — especially after the huge hit he had in 1990 with ”Home Alone.”

Filmed on a budget of just $1 million, “The Breakfast Club” brought in $51.5 million worldwide and, in 2016, was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Members of 'The Breakfast Club'

John Bender, played by Judd Nelson

"The Criminal"

Actual Age: 25

IN DETENTION FOR: Pulling a false fire alarm.

Also considered for the role: John Cusak, Rob Lowe, Jim Carrey and Nicholas Cage. Nelson researched his role by hanging out with disreputable kids at a local high school. Hughes hated the way Nelson stayed in character, even off-camera.

Andrew Clark, played by Emillo Estevez

"The Athlete"

ACTUAL AGE: 23

IN DETENTION FOR: Taping a student’s buttocks together.

Also considered for the role: Michael J. Fox, Tom Cruise and Matthew Broderick. Estevez was originally hired to play Bender, but Hughes switched him to this role and made him a wrestler instead of a football jock.

Allison Reynolds (left), played by Ally Sheedy

"The Basket Case"

ACTUAL AGE: 23

Showed up for detention because she had nothing better to do.

Also considered for the role: Brooke Shields. Sheedy had auditioned for the lead role in “Sixteen Candles” but Ringwald won the role. Sheedy based some of her character’s quirks on Sean Penn, her co-star in “Bad Boys.”

Claire Standish, played by Molly Ringwald

"The Princess"

ACTUAL AGE: 16

IN DETENTION FOR: Skipping school to go shopping.

Also considered for the role: Robin Wright, Laura Dern and Jodie Foster. Because of child labor laws, Ringwald could work only so many hours and had to attend school. She turned 17 three days after the movie opened.

Brian Johnson, played by Anthony Michael Hall

ACTUAL AGE: 17

IN DETENTION FOR: Bringing a flare gun to school.

Hall went through a growth spurt while filming this movie. He was shorter than Nelson when production began but noticeably taller when filming wrapped. He and Ringwald dated for a while after the making of this film.

'We're All Pretty Bizarre. Some of Us Are Just Better At Hiding It'

The library set was built inside the gym of a suburban Chicago high school that had shut down two years before. The Chicago Public Library donated 10,000 books to be used on the set. Most of the film takes place in that one room — Hughes thought it’d be easier to film that way. He had his cast rehearse the entire film before filming began, as if it were a play.

The scene in which the students sit on the floor and tell each other about why they were in detention wasn’t scripted. Hughes told the cast members to make up their stories themselves and then ad-lib their lines. Hughes was open to ideas throughout shooting — for example, Sheedy suggested she put Cap’n Crunch in her sandwich to give it extra crunch.

Originally, only Claire was to dance. Ringwald felt awkward about filming the sequence — “I took dance lessons,” she told an interviewer, “but I was more of a singer. I was like, ‘Ah, God, I don’t know about this.’ So Hughes was like, ‘What if we make everyone dance? Would that be better?’ ” The result was one of the more popular scenes in the movie.

At one point, John Kapelos — who played Carl the Janitor — warned the young actors not to overdo their intensity levels and joked that Martin Sheen had a heart attack while filming “Apocalypse Now,” six years before. This upset Estevez greatly. Kapelos was horrified when he was told later that Sheen is Estevez’s father.

Hughes based the character of the heavy-handed vice principal Richard Vernon — played by Paul Gleason — on a wrestling coach who had flunked Hughes in gym class during his own high school days. Years later, Hughes ran into that coach, who told him he loved the movie but that the teacher character was “a real jerk.”

Sheedy said she absolutely loathed the scene in which her goth-like character gets a nice-girl makeover by Ringwald’s character. Even more troubling, by today’s standards, is the way Ringwald’s character falls for Bender at the end, after Bender harasses and verbally abuses her. He never apologizes but still gets the girl in the end.