Andrew McCarthy Reexamines the Impact of the Brat Pack in 'Brats'

"The Brat Pack wouldn't have happened or mattered if there wasn't this seismic cultural shift that had just taken place."

In the 1980s, a group of actors called the "Brat Pack" came to define a generation. Turns out, the term came from one sentence in a New York Magazine article. Now, 40 years later, one of those stars, Andrew McCarthy, is reevaluating the impact that description had in his new documentary Brats (on Hulu). "It just became the catchphrase." In the film, McCarthy meets with fellow Brat Pack-ers like Rob Lowe, Demi Moore and Emilio Estevez—some for the first time since the '80s—to find out why they took such offense to the moniker. All agree the article wouldn't have the impact today it had back then. "As Malcolm Gladwell said in the movie, there is no unifying pop culture anymore." And regarding the broad impact of the phrase, McCarthy is now able to see how the public views this crop of actors, with affection. "It took me a long time to realize that, until people came up to me on the street after so many decades. When they see me, they go, 'Oh, my God. When I was a kid...' I realized very quickly, they're not talking to me anymore, they're talking to their own youth."

SUBSCRIBE TO THE PARTING SHOT WITH H. ALAN SCOTT
ON APPLE PODCASTS OR SPOTIFY

Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

I was surprised at how emotional the documentary was. Have other people had that kind of response?

Some people have, yeah. I'm glad to hear you say that. I think most people come for the nostalgia, and they think it's gonna be a fun romp, and that's not at all the sort of movie that I was interested in making. I mean, obviously, people are going to come for that, and that's why they get there, but I wanted to make much more of a personal subjective reexamination of the past and [bring] the past up into the present. There's a difference between nostalgia, which is looking back with sort of rose-colored glasses, and actually [doing a] reassessment and a reconsideration of the things that happened. Because 30 years ago, I felt one way about it, and now I feel 180 degrees differently about it. And what changed? That's what I was interested in exploring.

The term "Brat Pack" was just one description from one article, but it came to define this group of actors. What impact do you think the Brat Pack had on Hollywood?

The article sort of gets left in the dust very quickly. As far as the impact the Brat Pack had, it just became the catchphrase, and people didn't even realize it came from an article. But I think that was one of the things that was interesting to me that I really discovered in making the film was what set of circumstances came together that a made this possible, and then why it came about. At a certain point, in the early '80s, Hollywood discovered that kids go to the movies five, six, seven times, and grownups go once. So to hell with the grownups, let's make movies about kids. And this happened kind of overnight. And we happened to be the kids who are coming of age at that time, who happened to be in the right place at the right time. And then David Blum [the author of the article] comes along and puts a label on it. So now there's a handle and you can carry this satchel around and it's called the Brat Pack and we're just going to take this wherever we go. The Brat Pack wouldn't have happened or mattered if there wasn't this seismic cultural shift that had just taken place. So it was just a way to get a handle on it. And even [then], movies generally have always been about an adolescent mentality. Even the Marvel movies, it's just adolescent stuff. So that's what those movies were and that wasn't what movies were about before that moment in time. And that change happened so abruptly that a lot of people in the old guard in Hollywood, they said, "What the hell just happened to our jobs? All these kids [are] taking our jobs?" And then the article comes out that it was very pejorative, a negative thing. It was perceived as they were no good. They've gotten their comeuppance. And so it affected us on the immediate as a very negative thing. Over time it's become this iconically affectionate term for this moment in time, and for a certain generation, we have become the avatars of their youth.

Were you able to see that change overnight?

It's funny, people always talk about, "Oh, can you imagine now if it had happened." And my response is always, "It would never happen now." It could not happen now. Because, as Malcolm Gladwell said in the movie, everything is so splintered and fractured, there is no unifying pop culture anymore, and certainly not a unifying youth culture anymore. But back then, every kid went to that movie on Friday, you went to Karate Kid this Friday, next Friday you went to Teen Wolf with Michael J. Fox. Everybody did the same thing. Now everything's so fractured that it just wouldn't be possible.

So when it came out, and it was such a catchy [and] witty [phrase], it caught fire so quickly. And because there was fewer outlets, everybody picked it [the article] up. And then all the newspapers. And literally, within a week, we were branded the Brat Pack. And that was it. And here we are, 35 years later, and we're still that.

To me the interesting thing was yes, that happened. Absolutely. And it was a crazy wonderous time, amazing in so many ways, and then sort of perplexing. But the relationship to it is why I made the movie and why I wanted to talk to everybody. What's your relationship to what we all know what happened at that moment? We viewed it negatively because we felt it affected us negatively, for a time. Anytime you're pigeonholed, you're branded, you're called a brat. Who wants to be called a brat? Who wants that? But how has the relationship to that evolved over time? That's really what was interesting to me. What we didn't realize at the time, and what the movie industry didn't realize at the time, but that the public always realized was, "No, this is cool. These guys are us. We want to be at a party with those guys. And we'll call 'em the Brat Pack" They didn't think about what the words meant. They just thought, "Oh, the Brat Pack, I love those guys." And it took me a long time to realize that, until people came up to me on the street after so many decades, their eyes glaze over when they see me and they go, "Oh, my God. Oh, when I was a kid...," and they started talking, and I realized very quickly, they're not talking to me anymore, they're talking to their own youth. They're talking to themselves when they were 20 years old, they're coming of age and blossoming. And that's a fantastic time. And we represent that to that generation.

I've come to understand that, but I didn't really experience it until I saw Rob [Lowe], in the movie. We hug each other, and he says, "How long has it been?" I'm like, "It's been 30 years, Rob." And we go, "Oh, my God," we hug each other again. And I had the exact same experience as fans. I looked at Rob and I went, "Oh my God," because Rob was the first person I met in show business, we auditioned together for a movie that we did, and I just saw him and instantly saw myself at 19. I was like, "Oh, my God, you are my youth dude." And it was such a warm, affectionate feeling. People ask me, "What was the biggest surprise for you?" And the biggest surprise to me was the affection we all feel for each other. That didn't exist back then.

There does seem to be something special about the Brat Pack insofar as we're still talking about them in a nostalgic way unlike other teen actors who were allowed to grow into adult actors. What do you think it is about the Brat Pack that makes that so?

It is a bit of a mystery to me. Using John Hughes [director and writer of films like Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles] as sort of as an umbrella figure, those movies were the first that honored young people and took their emotions and their life seriously. That goes deep, when people feel seen. You're no longer alone. And if we see somebody on screen, and they're just like me, oh, thank God, I think that's a big deal. That's why that generation now shows their kids the movies. Someone said this to me the other day, "I show my daughter, she sits down and she's laughing at the movie for the first 15 minutes. Then the next 15 minutes, she was laughing with the movie. And then the last hour, she was riveted and in tears." Because they look at the funny hairdos and the old-time classic rock music their parents listen to, and the editing that's too slow for nowadays, but it's the emotions in the story that they walk away with. They end up going, "That's what I feel like." So that's why those movies still endure. And so we represent that to their generation, I've come to realize that's an extraordinary gift.

The media is a big part of this, considering it all started because of an article. Actors and journalists have always had a love-hate relationship. How much do you think media and how we cover talent has changed since you first started?

When I first came to Hollywood in 1982, and people said, "Oh, you should have been here before, it's over now." "Oh, it's so hard now." "Oh, back in the day." And in the relationship between media and [talent], this symbiotic relationship and this need and this distrust, it's not something that interests me particularly. I went to see David [Blum] on a purely human level going, "Dude, I hated what you did to me and those people, and now I'm looking at you and I have affection for you. How the hell did I get here without ever having met you?" That's what was interesting to me. And I want to see where are you at with it? Because, no matter what, it's followed him just like it's followed us. And at one point he says to me, "I hope I'm not remembered for the guy who did the Brat Pack." And I said, "Dude, you sound like a member of the Brat Pack." I was just much more interested in the human level. How did it affect you? How did you come up with it? That's what was interesting to me. I'm not really that interested in that whole conversation about the love hate between media and celebrity and stuff.

Considering how the Brat Pack was treated by the media, do you think media has changed in how they treat young talent?

Oh, no, I certainly don't think that happened. It's also the next generation of reporters when people come up, and they're doing the same thing. If that article came out now, it wouldn't have had any kind of impact at all, because I could have instantly pushed back on my social platforms. I just don't think it could happen now, because we're so fractured. But I don't think people learned anything or we decided we're going to treat people better now, that would be naive.