Star-Studded 'Breakfast Club' Screening Bridges Generations

Downers Grove IL

28 July, 2021

5:11 AM

Description

DOWNERS GROVE, IL — Watching the "The Breakfast Club" is a rite of passage. From start to finish, the film is filled with lines and moment that are impossible to forget, but elicit fresh laughter or tears no matter how many times you've seen it. Thus, the crowd at Downers Grove's Tivoli Theatre on Monday couldn't help but knowingly giggle when a 14-year-old named Isadora in the audience sweetly asked Anthony Michael Hall, "How many times have you seen 'The Breakfast Club'?" "I think like a lot of people here, Isadora, we've seen it about 500 times," said Hall, who was hosting a benefit screening of the movie for hundreds of people at the Tivoli. A Timeless Treasure When Hall starred in "The Breakfast Club" in 1985, he was 16 years old, right around Isadora's age. Now 53, and notably less naive than the geeky Brian Johnson he portrayed in the movie, Hall admitted he and the cast never imagined the film would become so iconic. There's no denying the cultural significance of "The Breakfast Club," which even strikes a chord with teens of Isadora's generation more than 35 years after its debut. The John Hughes classic teaches life lessons about isolation, compassion and unlikely connection that are timeless. Though many in the all-ages audience at the Tivoli may have watched "The Breakfast Club" countless times, they were still excited to watch the Brat Pack classic once more. Some attendees even donned their old high school letterman's jackets to snap photos with Hall before the show started. In between handshakes, Hall could be seen applying hand sanitizer, a quiet reminder that the coronavirus pandemic that had closed the now-brimming Tivoli Theatre for months is still ongoing. Bringing Generations Together for a Good Cause The July 26 movie screening featured appearances by Debbie Gibson and other stars of Hall's most recent project, "The Class." Hall called the film, which depicts six teens who are forced by circumstance to spend a day in high school, a modern-day retelling of "The Breakfast Club" for the "new generation." Directed and written by Elmhurst native Nicholas Celozzi, "The Class" features Brat Pack-era celebrities and blossoming Generation Z actors. The film stars Hall, Gibson and a diverse young cast that features Hannah Kepple of "Cobra Kai," Lyric Ross from "This Is Us," up-and-coming actor and singer Charlie Gillespie, Michael Sebastian, Colin McCalla and Celozzi's daughter, Juliette. Hall and "The Class" have been in town filming at Elmhurst University, which Celozzi said he chose because "having a real setting was important." "I wanted these kids to feel like they were really in a classroom," he told Patch. Indeed, the deeply relatable experience of being in a high school setting is what helps make "The Breakfast Club," which was filmed at Maine North High School in Des Plaines, so immersive. In an interview ahead of the showing, Hall told Patch the event was a way to bring the two generations together with a shared experience that celebrates the cast and crew of "The Class" and "pay[s] tribute to John Hughes," who died in 2009. Gillespie and other cast members from "The Class" told reporters the film, like "The Breakfast Club," delves into some of the real-life challenges teens face. In addition to introducing the standout cast, the benefit screening also raised funds for Dan Cantillon, who is battling multiple system atrophy, a neurological disorder that affects breathing, swallowing, muscle rigidity and balance. The event featured guest appearances from Jimmy Chamberlin, drummer of the Smashing Pumpkins, former White Sox player Ron Kittle, "Millionaire Matchmaker" star Marisa Saks and Cubs National Anthem singer John Vincent. "Coming To Chicago Has Always Been My Heart" Cast members from "The Class" settled in among the audience as Hall answered questions from the crowd. At one point, actor John Kapelos rolled a mop and bucket onto the stage to reprise his role as Carl Reed, the janitor in "The Breakfast Club." The audience erupted in applause at Kapelos' surprise appearance and shared laughs as attendees asked Hall to repeat some famous lines from his earlier movies. Hall complied, joking that the lines may have sounded a little more convincing back when he was going through puberty. Hall, now a mentor for the young cast of "The Class," spoke about how meaningful it was to spend time with Hughes in Chicago during his own formative years. He fondly recalled attending a show at Zanies and raved about Chicago's comedy scene and the local performers who have made their way onto Saturday Night Live. "Coming to Chicago has always been my heart…the people are the heart. [They're] as real as it gets," Hall said. One young person in the audience showed some of her own heart, telling Hall, "I want to thank you for all your works and everything because they've made more impact than I think you realize...on a lot of people." "Don't You Forget About Me" That impact was clear as the lights fell in the theater at the start of the screening. The audience of teens who were live on Snapchat, middle-aged parents, senior citizens and others gasped in anticipation as the familiar chords and the "Hey, hey, hey, hey" of "Don't You (Forget About Me) by the Simple Minds rose to the rafters of the Tivoli Theatre. Throughout the film, the crowd erupted in laughter, shouted out their favorite lines, ooh-ed and ahh-ed and giggled like teenagers when cast members leaned in to kiss. It was difficult not to wonder how the script struck the younger generations in attendance and hit the older generation from a new perspective years after they first saw "The Breakfast Club." Even personally, as someone who just turned 40, such lines as, "When you grow up, your heart dies" and, "My God, are we gonna be like our parents?" reverberated deeply for me. As the characters in "The Breakfast Club" aired their personal traumas with one another, audible sobs rippled through the audience, who were gathered in attendance for one of the first larger events at the Tivoli and in the area since coronavirus brought its own host of traumas more than a year ago. A theater full of strangers sharing laughter and tears amid their own mutual, unspoken feelings of isolation, compassion and unlikely connection. On the big screen, Judd Nelson walked across a high school football field as the voice of a young Anthony Michael Hall began speaking the film's legendary last lines, a testament to what brings together generations and strangers and turns them into friends. Hall's character reads, "Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you're crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us — in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain..." Then the rest of the motley crew chimes in, one by one: "and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a criminal." The drumbeats of the film's signature song rang out and the audience at the Tivoli Theatre joined together in chorus, singing, "Don't you forget about me." Then, they filed out into the nightfall of downtown Downers Grove, fondly recalling a movie and a moment that will remain unforgettable. Watch Anthony Michael Hall's question and answer session below. Also on Patch: Tivoli Theatre Marquee Puts Love In The Spotlight Tivoli Theatre Reopens With 2nd Screen, More Concessions