'80s film fans rejoice: The Brat Pack is getting a documentary

In 1985, writer David Blum pronounced the group of young actors known for their roles in John Hughes movies and more as “the Hollywood ‘Brat Pack.’” Like the ’60s stars from whom the name was derived, the group was described as “a roving band of famous young stars on the prowl for parties, women, and a good time” who spent time together on- and offscreen. At first, the name haunted the ’80s cohort, including Pretty In Pink’s Andrew McCarthy. But he eventually came to embrace the iconic moniker, so much so that it’s the subject of his new Hulu documentary feature premiering later this year, Brats.

“McCarthy crisscrosses the country to meet up with some of the stars of those beloved films, including, among others, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Jon Cryer, Lea Thompson, Timothy Hutton and key members of production, including directors, casting directors, screenwriters and producers,” reads a synopsis for the film (via Deadline). “He also sits down for a first-time conversation with writer David Blum, who fatefully coined the term Brat Pack in a 1985 New York Magazine cover story. A potent mix of Hollywood fascination, movie history and deeply personal revelations, Brats reveals how the label caused a frenzy and impacted each of them, personally and professionally, in this entertaining, intimate and evocative film.”

McCarthy wrote and directed the film, which comes from Neon, Network Entertainment, and ABC News Studios (which produced Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields). “The Brat Pack has cast a long shadow over my life and career,” McCarthy said in a statement. “After all these years, I was curious to see how it had affected my fellow Brat Pack members. What I found was surprising—and liberating.”

The set of young stars featured in Blum’s article were undoubtedly at the center of a cultural phenomenon, and these days, “The Brat Pack” has a positive connotation. But in the wake of the piece—which focused as much on the group’s partying as it did on their talent—many of those stars felt their reputations had been negatively impacted by it. (Estevez still found the phenomenon “annoying” in 2020, complaining to The Guardian “That [term] will be on my tombstone.”) “The instant the Brat Pack label came out…we were members of the Brat Pack,” McCarthy reflected in a 2023 episode of the Inside Of You podcast. “Martin Scorsese’s not going to call anyone in the Brat Pack! And he never did.”

McCarthy began making his own peace with the term with his 2021 memoir Brat: An ’80s Story. “After that book I wrote, it occurred to me, I’ve never talked to any of the old gang about it. It was a very life-changing event for me, the Brat Pack. It changed who I would become and my place in the world. Thirty-five years later, when I’m introduced, that’s going to be in the introduction. And who would’ve thunk that at the time?” He said in an interview with Salon regarding the then in-process documentary. “I went back and dug up a bunch of the guys from back then. I hadn’t seen Rob Lowe in 30 years, Emilio Estevez in 35 years. Demi Moore, and Ally Sheedy, I hadn’t seen them in so long. I went to each of them and said, ‘Hey, will you talk to me about this? Because we were members of a club that we didn’t ask to join that no one else was. We’re the only ones that know what it was like.’”

McCarthy described working on the film as “a life changer,” after taking “decades to come to terms with it and see it as a beautiful thing.” The Brat Pack designation “was really an albatross for a lot of us career-wise and we hated it. Who wants to be called a brat? Who wants to be stuck in a pack? We found it really adversely affected our careers when we were young. So to have this thing stay with you for so long, it ultimately transforms into this beautiful kind of thing.”

McCarthy recognizes that for fans he represents “their own youth”—“It’s a beautiful, attractive phase. It’s a moment and it doesn’t last long. To represent that for people, I’ve come to realize that’s a real gift,” he told Salon. “But that took me years to acknowledge and to understand. I went back and chatted with everybody, to find I had so much affection for everyone when I didn’t particularly at the time. We were young and competitive and scared and insecure. To go back and see everybody and just have so much affection. Rob, when I saw him, I’m like, ‘Wow.’ He was the first one I ever was in a movie with at 19 years old in 1982. I think everyone was wonderfully surprised by it, not only affection for each other, but then for our own youth. That was very, dare I not say healing, but it was a nice experience to have.”