ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL - Be Open TO CHANGE

The actor shares stories from his early years in Hollywood and his amazing life today

- Susan Hornik

There’s a moment in Anthony Michael Hall’s latest film, The Class, where his charismatic smile immediately reminds you of his nerdy, scene-stealing teen roles in The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science back in the ’80s. “I’ve always been sort of a grinner, because I got a complex when I had braces as a kid,” Anthony, 54, confides to Closer. “So I was always grinning instead of smiling with my teeth, like most normal people do. I have had a lot of awkward smiles in my life!” Fondly remembering his early brush with fame, Anthony experienced a déjà vu feeling while starring in and executive-producing The Class, a sweet coming-of-age drama that was written as a tribute to The Breakfast Club. “It really took me by surprise. I never had any anticipation or thought of doing a film inspired by one of my other movies…. It felt like a real homecoming.”

What was it like to work on The Class? 

In the ’80s, I made a number of films in Chicago, so it was a lot of fun to land back there and to show my wife the town and to kind of re-experience it. I really loved it.

What drew you to the project?

I was really just taken by the screenplay. There’s a lot of real-world issues that have certainly existed since we made