Then & Now: Breakfast Club Stars Molly Ringwald & Ally Sheedy Reunite In Adorable Pic
Staying in touch with high school friends can be tough. As people get older, they tend to grow apart. Still, those connections live on in the heart and the mind, even if the high school experience was in itself fictional, and running into someone who played such an important role in your early life decades later can bring back those good feelings. That's what happened when alums of the 1985 classic "The Breakfast Club," Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy, met up for a rare reunion nearly four decades later.
Sheedy went to see Ringwald perform in the Off-Broadway show, "Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been," and the duo spent some time catching up afterward, with Ringwald sharing the moment for fans of the classic '80s teen movie on Instagram on July 27. Even decades later, the two actors still look like the characters they made famous. Ringwald, who played the "princess" Claire, wore all pink in the pic, and Sheedy, who helped popularize the goth look with kids all over the world, was decked out in black. And for those who loved Sheedy's look in "The Breakfast Club," they're surely happy to see that the stunning movie makeover she got at the end of the film didn't stick.
Fans of the John Hughes film chimed in, celebrating seeing the two legendary thespians together, with one commenter saying, "Glad to see when you grew up, your hearts didn't die," referencing Sheedy's unforgettable line from "The Breakfast Club," "When you grow up, your heart dies." Another popped in to exclaim, "Two Brat Pack icons!" calling back to the moniker Ringwald, Sheedy, and their young peers were given in the 1980s. But one person may have summed the moment up perfectly with "*squeals in GenX*."
Ally Sheedy was almost left out of The Breakfast Club until Molly Ringwald switched roles
The cast of "The Breakfast Club" is one of the most impressive things about the movie. It's hard to imagine anyone else playing any of those roles, but, like with any movie, there were a number of alternatives that were considered. When John Hughes was preparing to make the movie, he wanted Molly Ringwald to play the role of "basketcase" Allison, but Ringwald wanted to play "princess" Claire. To get that role, Ringwald had to audition and beat out Jodie Foster, Robin Wright, and Laura Dern. Once Ringwald won the role she wanted, Hughes needed to find someone to fill in the Allison spot. The director considered Joan Cusack for the part before landing on Ally Sheedy.
The two stars have looked back on their work in "The Breakfast Club" over the years, both agreeing that the movie was a pivotal part of their careers. Speaking at a 30th anniversary screening in 2015, Sheedy explained (via People), "It was the first time I felt like I really belonged. ... It was a really happy time in my life." Ringwald, who also attended the anniversary screening, backed up her costar, saying, "I was really loving the work that I was doing. ... I didn't know I'd be talking about it 30 years later! But it was a great experience."