The stars of the iconic 1980s films that defined a generation came together for a night of nostalgia and celebration in New York City. The Brat Pack, a group of young actors who rose to fame in the 80s with movies like St. Elmo’s Fire, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and About Last Night, reunited to support their fellow actor Andrew McCarthy at the Tribeca Film Festival.
The occasion was the world premiere of McCarthy’s documentary “BRATS,” which delves into the golden age of the Brat Pack and the impact it had on the entertainment industry. The film debuted at the OKX Theater at Borough of Manhattan Community College on Friday, June 7, as part of the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival.
A Star-Studded Reunion
The premiere event was a star-studded affair, with Ally Sheedy, Demi Moore, Jon Cryer, and Howie Deutch among the celebrities who graced the red carpet to support McCarthy, 61. The actors, who had shared the screen in some of the most iconic films of the 80s, smiled and posed together, rekindling the camaraderie that had made them household names decades ago.
In “BRATS,” McCarthy interviews his friends and former co-stars, including Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Moore, Sheedy, and Cryer, who starred in the hit films that were so popular among a certain age group that a New York Magazine article dubbed them “The Brat Pack” in a June 1985 article.
The Legacy of the Brat Pack
The documentary explores the origin of the “Brat Pack” nickname, which was intended to be a play on words by writer David Blum, inspired by Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr.’s Rat Pack from the Golden Age of Hollywood. In the trailer for “BRATS,” McCarthy describes the nickname as a “brand” that was automatically stamped on the actors’ careers from that point forward, whether they liked it or not.
“It had professional ramifications,” McCarthy told PEOPLE about the cheeky nickname in an interview ahead of the film’s premiere. “The public embraced us, but the business reacted to it in a negative way.”
Unpacking the Brat Pack Experience
For Emilio Estevez, 62, unpacking the experience with a peer is what made him decide to talk about life in The Brat Pack at all. “I turned everything down,” he told McCarthy in the trailer. When pushed to explain why he decided to participate in the documentary, he said he did it because McCarthy called him. “It was time that we clear the air on a couple of things,” the Mighty Ducks star added.
“Being in The Brat Pack not only changed all of our lives, it changed what entertainment is,” Lowe, 60, told McCarthy in the film, before backtracking a bit. “I’m not going to say we were The Beatles or anything, but…”
Cultural Impact of the Brat Pack
While perhaps not at the same level as The Beatles, Lowe believes he and his fellow actors of the era impacted the culture in a quantifiable way. “Every summer movie that’s out is geared toward that audience. It wasn’t always like that,” Lowe, who starred alongside McCarthy and Moore in St. Elmo’s Fire said in a PEOPLE exclusive clip of the film. “But we were there at a time when that began. Maybe we had something to do with it, which would either be the good news or the bad news.”
Along with exploring the meaning and impact of the term The Brat Pack, the documentary promises to take viewers on a nostalgic journey, with actors reliving moments from that time in their lives, from memories on set to crushes and beyond.