Jeff chats with Breakfast Club Sixteen Candles Vacation Actor Anthony Michael Hall

Talking about John Hughes movies with Anthony Michael Hall

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Jeff Stevens. Thanks for checking out my eighty show
podcast with a Superstar. You know this guy, you love him.
He's in all the movies we love back in the
eighties and nineties. Well, and actually he's still very busy today.
It's Anthony Michael Hall.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Jeff, how are you doing today?

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Really great to talk to you, man. How's it going
doing really well?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Man? Thank you, good to talk with you, Jeff. Thank
you for doing this.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Absolutely, And I know that you're going to be kind
of all around our area coming up on. You're going
to be in Grand Rapids, You're going to be in Indianapolis,
You're going to be in Hobart, Indiana. Is this something
that's like really fun for you to kind of go
back and do this with people, because we're talking about
you basically hanging out and kind of you know, watching
the movie and then taking questions afterwards for the Breakfast

(00:40):
Club or Weird Science or sixteen Candles?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Right?

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Is this pretty fun for you?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah? Well let me jump in. Absolutely. No, thank you
for the setup. I mean, honestly, this is why I
do this a minute. I wouldn't be here without John Hughes.
And so it's a great opportunity to hit the road.
I started doing these tours about five six years ago,
and it kind of fun from doing signing and doing
these comic cons around the country, which I love doing.
I love meeting fans and just hanging out and enjoying
and seeing the country. And so basically I started doing

(01:06):
these tours and I like going to the Midwest. That's
where John was from.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yeah, and as you.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Said, I have the tour coming up. It's right now.
We have two weeks planned. So we're going to be
September twenty sixth at the Wealthy Theater and Grand Rapids
and people can go to Madhattershows dot com at m
A D H A T T e R. Matt Hattershows
dot com And that's the promotions company I've been working
with on this tour and they're doing a good job
so far. So we'll be there September twenty sixth, and

(01:31):
we're showing the Breakfast Club as you said, September twenty seventh,
will be at the Irving Theater in Indianapolis. It's an
eight pm show and it that's closest to you. And
then on the twenty eighth we're going to be at
an APM show at the Art Theater in Hobart, Indiana,
So the tour is going to extend past that, and
on that night we're going to be showing sixteen channels.
So yeah, the intention is to show that John Hughes
films they're a lot of fun and it's a great

(01:53):
you know, even if people have seen these movies a
lot over the years. What I do is I keep
the miccot so I kind of you know, married throughout
the film and to keep the audience really involved and
we have fun with it.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
And then after the show, I hit.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
The stage and I tell stories from the road and
share insights from my career, and we take questions from
the audience and we just keep it really loose and fum,
you know.

Speaker 3 (02:12):
So there's a lot of laughter and people have a
good time.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
And then we finished the night with the Meet and
Great and the Lobbie and we submerch and get out
there and just hang out with sands and enjoy it.
So we wind up shutting the theaters down usually we
come into town, but took a lot of tun and
it is a way to pay tribute to John Houghsey,
who gave me my career and got me started as
a young man all those years ago. So I mean,
I've had a forty eight year career in counting now
and I'm fifty fix years old. So you know, it's

(02:35):
important for me to obviously harken back to where I
started and to acknowledge and to honor John. And it's
a great way to do it.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
It's a fun thing and it's a fun night of
entertainment for people.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Well, Anthony, it's you. What a brilliant guy, John Hughes.
I mean, my goodness, we could watch his movies and
I still do, and like you said, they're on all
the time. But there's there's got to be something about
sitting in the movie theater and watching these movies like
we did back in the eighties, and then, oh, by
the way, one are the stars of all these great
movies is going to hang out with this afterwards. I

(03:06):
think it's funny and awesome that you keep the mic
live during the movie. I had I never had heard
that before, so that's got to be super fun to
just you know, throwing little anecdotes on the side, right right.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, there's also that thing. It became like aphobia for people.
You go to a certain movie theater, some people are
prone to talk back as the screen anyway, So it's like,
you know what, we just loosen it all up and
it's fun and people come out and see the film.
You know, I said, I get the stage afterwards, and
I you know, I've never been a stand up and
I'm profess to be. I'm not trying to be, but
you know, I just get really loose up there.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
I have fun.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
So people can throw a lot of questions about anybody
I worked with. You know, we go from John Hughes
all the way after Halloween Kills. You know, so from
Hughes to Halloween Kills. You know, working with Jamie Lee
Curtis a couple of years ago and becoming a part
of that franchise was a big thing for me. You know,
I was really honored by that. I didn't grow up
a big, you know, horror fan, but the first Halloween
was like one of the first that I ever saw
as a kid, grown up in the seventies. You know,

(03:57):
So I love I love those movies. I just love
movies in general. And so in a world now that's
evolved into we're all on our phones, and we went
from looking for pay phones thirty years ago. So now
everything's on your phone, your wallet, everything is on your phone.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
I phone away and go to a movie once in
a while. Yeah, yes, experience, and I really enjoyed doing them.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Then, Yeah, that's really cool. And you know, and Jamie
Lee thought, I thought your performance in Halloween Kills was
was pretty amazing too. And like you said, you're such
a key part of those John Hughes films, but then
you've been in so much other stuff and then to
be in another huge franchise like Halloween, that's pretty awesome.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
I've getting really blessed and fortune no, thank you. Yeah,
because going back to like two thousand and eight, I
was in the Dark Night and there was another one,
you know, to be a part of that franchise, right.
It was another connection too because when I was a
kid in the seventies, they used to love the old
Batman series, the first one that was on in the seventies,
way back in the day. And so you know, it's
been a real magical thing for me to know that

(04:55):
I'm a part of these these franchises as well. But
you know, all the working in between, you know, all
the tennis films and all the TV shows and all
the things that Good Lord's blessed me to do. Man.
I mean that so really fortunate. I'm really grateful, and
so you know when I do these tours.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
I started doing them, as I mentioned, about five or
six years ago.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
It was just a real natural thing that came together.
You know, the idea of watching a film with fans,
having people come out to the theater and making it
a whole night event, you know. And then I just
fund for me to get up the States to stories
and make jokes and crack jokes about myself and others
that I've worked with is really cool toe because it
kind of brings down the wall of the illusion of Hollywood.
You know, We're just people making stuff for other people.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
You know.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
It's not some big, you know, big magical thing. You know.
It's just it's just a job and it's a career,
and I'm grateful for it. But I keep it a
perspective too, you know. So I'm grateful for all the
work and all the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
I'm sure it gives people makes people like you even
more to see that, hey, Anthony's just a just a
regular guy. You can just kind of hang out with
us in a movie theater. And speaking of franchisees, I'm
thinking about it. I don't want to forget about about
Vacation because Chevy Chase one of my favorites of all time.
And whether it's Fletch or the Vacation series in SNL,

(06:07):
I mean, just brilliant. But what was that like, sitting
in the desert and having a having a beer with
Chevy Chase.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Well, you know, it's so funny.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
People ask you about that scene and I'll tell you what, man,
it was like. That was actually an empty pan. So
you know when you watch the movie credits and you
see like believe you see all these random jobs like
a grip a key grip of yeah, folding is actually
the sound apartment, and those guys are expert that they
come in and they you know, if you need a
horse walking down the road, they'll have a pair of
coconuts on the table, you know, coconut shelves and the
making the horse sound, you know, or in this case,

(06:35):
you know, me slipping a beer a fourteen year old.
It was probably some you know, middle aged guy in
nineteen eighty two on a lot, you know, making a
gulping sound, you know, in the sound stage, so that
can was actually empty. We were shooting in Monument Valley,
which is you know, with the four corners of our
great Southwest connect Yeah, and I also got about one
hundred and five degrees, so crew members were passing out.
I mean it was crazy, you know. But the Vacation

(06:56):
film was incredible because that's you know, that was the
first John Hughes script that I was in, and so
I didn't meet John in that film. That wasn't after
that until after that when I met him on Sixteen Panels,
and then I wound up doing the trilogy of films
right there, so, you know, just to be blessed. And
it was like divine intervention in many ways, I feel, honestly,
because you know, I had not worked with John Hughes,
I wouldn't even have a career, you know, And here

(07:17):
he is, you know, the author of the first four
films I made, and three of them he directed. So
I consider it a great opportunity to honor John Hughes.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
And hate legacy.

Speaker 2 (07:26):
I always have and I always will.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
I'm never uptied about it.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
You know, I certainly have transcended just being an actor
from the eighties. Because I've had a very long career.
I've seen a lot of people come and go, and again,
I always put God first, and I thank God for
all my blessings and all the good fortune I've had
throughout my career. And here I am still chipping away
at it. You know, I've had a forty eight year
career at fifty six, so you know, the work that
I did even predate those films in the eighties. I
did a play in the seventies with Steve Allen, the

(07:51):
late great Steve Allen. Wow, I thought that was an
eight year old boy, you know.

Speaker 3 (07:55):
So I've had this kind.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Of Sammy Davis Junior kind of you know, I was
a little kid, and again, grateful for it all, you know.
So it's fun when I hit the stage after the movies,
I mean out there, I can go for two or
three hours just on stories. I usually have to get
pulled off the stage because sting questions at me about
working with John or John Candy or Chevy Chase. And
then we go all the way up to the Halloween

(08:17):
Kills era, you know, a couple of years back, when
I was part of that great franchise. So yeah, Yeah,
I feel very cless fortunate, just look forward to meet
fans and for people come on and have a great time.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
Well, Anthony Michael Hall, it's great to hear you so
so down to earth and so appreciative and and you
know what you've You've just always stayed out there. That's
what I love about your career is obviously it started
with the John Hughes stuff, but but yeah, I mean
right up to the upcoming third season of Reacher. That's
that's gonna be awesome here pretty soon too. Do we
know when that's coming out for sure?

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Well, thank you for that plug. Yeah, you know, I
shot it. I started shooting last summer and then we
had the actors strike unfortunately, right so what happened was
we resumed in the fall.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
We shot till June.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
So that'll be out I think first quarter next year.
I think between I would think like March or April.
They don't have a definitive date yet. But season three
that's going to be really kick ass. You know, it's
a great show. I had a great experience working on
that in Toronto, and then I went from that right
into I got a call from Tim Burton to join
the cast of Wednesday. So I just got back from Dublin.
I was with my family in Dublin, Ireland, with my

(09:14):
wife and son, and I was.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
Shooting Wednesday for Netflix.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
So wow, it's incredible. You know, thanks you too for
you'd work for studios and networks and these days were
all working for two or three streamers. You know, everybody's
working from Amazon or for Netflix, and I'm proud to
do so. You know, they have a global reach and
so you know, it's very exciting being a part of
these two of the shows that are that are both
huge hits, you know, the global, international hits. So I
feel very fortunate, you know, very blessed to be a
part of them.

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Anthony, what an awesome career. Can't wait to see you
in both of those, folks. Remember Grand Rapids September twenty
sixth for screening The Breakfast Club Indianapolis Is September twenty
seventh for Weird Science and Hobart Indiana September twenty eighth
for sixteen Candles. Anthony, A true joy to talk to you, man.
Congrats on a great career and just being awesome. Thanks man,

(09:58):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (09:58):
So appreciate your time. Man.

Speaker 2 (09:59):
Back t buddy