What Ally Sheedy Really Thought About Her 'Breakfast Club' Character's Makeover

Ever since it hit theaters in 1985, "The Breakfast Club" has been a coming-of-age movie that every generation sees a piece of themselves in. The movie breaks its five high school protagonists into simple categories that every teenager could fall into, even if the monikers have changed over time: "jock," "brain" or "nerd," "princess," and the very problematic classifications of "basket case" and "criminal." And, as "The Breakfast Club" shows, even though these cliques may not have much in common on a surface level, they are all going through the same challenges that every teen faces. But one moment in the movie has always felt wrong to many fans, and actor Ally Sheedy agrees with them.

Universal Pictures

In the film, Sheedy's character, Allison — whose personal style would be considered goth today — gets an extreme makeover, turning her into a "princess" with a pink dress and matching bow. For other goth kids, this has long been a disappointment, with the movie seemingly saying that, for Allison to be happy, she must change who she is. In 2022, Sheedy talked about the dramatic makeover her character goes through with Page Six, saying, "It was uncomfortable even when we were filming it. It was one of those things, though. ... But I agree Allison is much more delicious before the hair bow goes on." Sheedy still holds the movie in a special place in her heart, saying that it was "nothing but a gift."

Ally Sheedy still feels a special connection to her "Breakfast Club" character, saying in fellow '80s Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy's 2024 documentary "Brats," "So in high school I did not have many close friends. I didn't fit in. I was really lonely ... So when Allison came along ... I wanted her to look on the outside the way I always felt on the inside during high school." But, as perfect as she is in the movie, Sheedy almost didn't get to join the cast of "The Breakfast Club." Writer/director John Hughes originally wanted to cast Molly Ringwald as Allison. 

At the time, Hughes and Ringwald were wrapping up filming on "Sixteen Candles" when he asked the actor to take on the part. But, after reading the script, Ringwald desired to be the "princess" character Claire, explaining to the New York Times, "She was so different from the way that I saw myself, and more the way I saw my older sister, because my sister was very popular." Ringwald got the role of Claire and, for some time, Hughes considered Joan Cusack for Allison before landing on Sheedy. After being cast, Sheedy collaborated with costume designer Marilyn Vance to find Allison's goth look. As for the makeover Sheedy gets at the end of the movie, even Ringwald distances herself from it, saying at a C2E2 reunion panel in 2025, "I just wanna say I am not responsible for the makeover and I was really not happy with it" (via People).

As it turned out, Sheedy wasn't the only one who could relate to her character in "The Breakfast Club." Sheedy's goth ensemble — wearing all black with dark eyeliner and unkempt hair — made her an icon to the '80s kids who preferred bands like The Cure over Hall & Oates, and, even decades later, people still identify with the character. The movie's impact on pop culture continues to surprise Sheedy, who explained in "Brats," "It still astonishes me how many people found themselves in that film." The actor further explained her surprise at the movie's lasting legacy in an interview on "Behind the Velvet Rope," admitting, "We had no idea that it was going to have this life that it has had." 

For Sheedy, making the movie was a truly magical time. The actor reminisced, "It was really wildly wonderful to work on it because we were on one set, the five of us, all the time ... We got to mess around and improv, and he [John Hughes] trusted us." Still, looking back on the movie, she admits that some elements don't hold up well under a modern light, including her character's makeover. "I think there's some cringe moments in it," Sheedy added, when asked about how parts of the film could be called misogynistic. But none of that has kept "The Breakfast Club" from being a perennial favorite. The movie has been homaged on TV shows, including "Community" and Nickelodeon's "Victorious," as well as movies like "Spider-Man: Homecoming" and "Ready Player One." Musician Ezra Furman, best known for her work on the teen comedy "Sex Education," even named a track on her 2022 album "All of Us Flames" "Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club."