Gwynne Watkins
'St. Elmo's Fire' Turns 30: The Brat Pack Cast Then and Now
- 1/10
‘St. Elmo’s Fire,’ one of the quintessential “Brat Pack” movies, opened on June 28, 1985. Joel Schumacher’s film followed a group of college friends through the rocky realities of post-graduation life. The young cast featured (from left to right) Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Mare Winningham, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Andrew McCarthy. Click through to see a gallery of the cast then and now.
- 2/10
Moore’s performance as Jules, the hard-partying friend who spirals out of control, set her on the road to stardom. The character hit close to home: Moore struggled with addiction in real life, and went to rehab (at director Schumacher’s insistence) before shooting 'St. Elmo’s Fire.’ “I think it was kind of like, she knew that if she did it, then she would have a movie and have a career and have a new life. Which she did,” producer Lauren Shuler Donner said in the book ’You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried.’
- 3/10
Lowe’s sex symbol status was solidified by his performance as Billy, the saxophone-playing bad boy who can’t get his life together in 'St. Elmo’s Fire.’ In a 2011 interview with 'The Telegraph,’ Lowe described Billy as “my fantasy version of myself, but also how people actually did perceive me: rock’n’roll guy, at the right place, right time, a ladies’ man, little bit wild.”
Yahoo News is better in the app
- 4/10
Sheedy played Leslie, an aspiring architect reluctant to commit to her boyfriend Alec (Judd Nelson). According to 'You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried,’ Sheedy came to her 'St. Elmo’s Fire’ audition straight from the set of 'The Breakfast Club’ — and was still wearing her “basket case” character Allison’s signature black clothes.
- 5/10
“There were a lot of laughs,” Nelson has said of the 'St. Elmo’s Fire’ set. He played quintessential yuppie Alec, an aspiring politician who stuns his friends by switching from the Democratic to Republican party.
- 6/10
Despite having a love scene with Rob Lowe in 'St. Elmo’s Fire,’ Mare Winningham never really got stuck with the “Brat Pack” label. (She has called it “a bullet that I dodged.”) Winningham played frumpy social worker Wendy, and was pregnant with her third child during filming.
Yahoo News is better in the app
- 7/10
McCarthy played Kevin, a cynical aspiring writer who is secretly a romantic. In a 2012 interview with ’The Guardian,’ McCarthy, who is now a travel writer, said that his 'St. Elmo’s Fire’ role “particularly suited me.”
- 8/10
Estevez, who played lovesick law student Kirby, was dubbed the “unofficial president of the Brat Pack” by ’New York Magazine.’ “I’ll bet if you asked everyone in the cast who their best friend is, they’d all say Emilio,” 'St. Elmo’s Fire’ director Joel Schumacher told the magazine. “He’s that kind of guy.”
- 9/10
Fashion model MacDowell had only appeared in one movie before 'St. Elmo’s Fire:’ 'Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes,’ in which her voice was dubbed by Glenn Close. The actress was nervous about playing doctor Dale Biberman, the object of Emilio Estevez’s obsession — but Estevez put her at ease. “I told him I was frightened, and he said not to worry, that acting was like dancing — you just get up and do it,” MacDowell told 'People.’
Yahoo News is better in the app
- 10/10
Writer-director Schumacher got his inspiration for 'St. Elmo’s Fire’ from living in Washington D.C.’s Georgetown (where the movie takes place), a neighborhood full of recent college graduates. “At the time, we had no idea this was going to connect with anyone,” he told The Hollywood Interview in 2012. “No one had heard of most of the cast. I had to get Ally Sheedy and Rob Lowe approved by the studio. It was all sort of thrown together in three weeks. It was all really lucky.”
Gwynne Watkins
·Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated
‘St. Elmo’s Fire,’ one of the quintessential “Brat Pack” movies, opened on June 28, 1985. Joel Schumacher’s film followed a group of college friends through the rocky realities of post-graduation life. The young cast featured (from left to right) Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Emilio Estevez, Mare Winningham, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Andrew McCarthy. Click through to see a gallery of the cast then and now.
Source: Yahoo Magazines PYC