Molly Ringwald revealed that two iconic roles in The Breakfast Club were originally supposed to go to a famous sibling duo.
“From my understanding, John Cusack was gonna play Bender and Joan Cusack was going to play Allison,” Ringwald said during a cast reunion featuring the leads of John Hughes’ 1985 film earlier this month.
Ringwald recalled that Hughes offered her and Anthony Michael Hall the roles of “the princess” Claire and “the brain” Brian without auditions, having just worked with them on his previous high school coming-of-age hit, 1984’s Sixteen Candles.
The Cusack siblings, who had small supporting roles in Sixteen Candles, were apparently in the running for Hughes’ next project as well. But ultimately Hughes cast Judd Nelson in the role of “the criminal” Bender and Ally Sheedy in the role of “the basket case” Allison.
Though they didn’t land roles in The Breakfast Club, both Cusacks carved out impressive careers. John emerged as a leading man by the late 80s, with standout roles in Say Anything, The Grifters, and High Fidelity. Joan, who played John’s on-screen sibling in Say Anything, racked up two Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominations for Working Girl and In & Out. In total, the siblings have shared the screen in ten films.
Nelson, whose performance as the anti-hero Bender earned widespread acclaim, beat out not only John Cusack but also Nicolas Cage and Alan Ruck for the role, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Ruck ended up starring as Cameron, the neurotic best friend to Matthew Broderick’s title character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—yet another of Hughes’ beloved 1980s teen classics.
Ringwald, Hall, Nelson, Sheedy, and Emilio Estevez—who played “the jock” Andrew—reunited on April 12 for a panel discussion in Chicago in honor of The Breakfast Club’s 40th anniversary. Reflecting on the shoot, Sheedy described it as a “joyful experience.”
“I was really happy when we were making this movie,” she said. “I don’t know if you can tell but we all really do love each other. It was a dream.”
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