The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
‘Pretty in Pink’ fit perfectly
With re-release, director recalls the making of the snapshot of ’80s teen culture
Howard Deutch had directed music videos for musicians including Billy Idol and Billy Joel and had a thriving business cutting movie trailers for Hollywood studios when, in 1985, he landed a dream gig directing his first-ever feature film.
At the time, Deutch, now 69, says he was just happy for the opportunity, never thinking that 35 years later he’d still be talking about that movie — teen romantic comedy “Pretty in Pink,” written and produced by John Hughes.
“It’s a funny thing,” Deutch says of the movie that recently arrived on Blu-ray as part of the new Paramount Presents line of remastered releases. “Because no, we didn’t expect this, John and I.
“He just wanted to make a good movie, and I was thrilled to get a break, you know,” he says. “Even when it happened, when it opened successfully and Paramount was thrilled and John was happy and I was relieved, in the context of all the immediacy of that, there’s no time to revel or enjoy it.
“It’s on to the next, keep working, get your next movie and use that momentum to have a career,” Deutch says.
“Pretty in Pink” is considered one of the iconic teen movies of the ‘80s, if not all time. It’s the story of Andie (Molly Ringwald), a high school girl from the wrong side of the tracks who falls for rich kid Blane (Andrew McCarthy) while her best friend and fellow outsider Duckie (Jon Cryer) tries to work up the courage to tell her how he really feels about her.
The production captures the style and feel of the ‘80s perfectly in everything, from its depiction of Andie’s thrift shop chic style to the funky used record store where she works with the older and wiser Iona (Annie Potts). And its soundtrackis a classic collection of new wave pop.
Deutch, who also does a new interview about “Pretty in Pink” for the new release, took time to answer a few questions about the making of the movie.
Q
When you look back at it, to what do you attribute its enduring resonance with its original audience and newer audiences, too?
A
I think authenticity is kind of the right word. John was a great writer and he wrote these characters from his heart. He knew these people. They weren’t manufactured. It was about what he went through in his own life, and it was slivers of him in each one of those characters.
Q
Molly Ringwald did “Pretty in Pink” immediately after the John Hughes movies “16 Candles” and “The Breakfast Club,” all three of them big hits. What was it about Molly that made her perfect in those roles and especially your film?
A
She’s so good in it because she becomes the audience, because she’s like a mirror and she’s able to reflect our feelings in her and her choices as an actress. But it’s funny, Paramount wanted somebody else. They wanted me to meet other actresses, so I did, and in the end she was really the only one to do it. Even though she was only 16, there was a certain kind of antenna that she had about this part and about the movie, and I could sense that.
Q A
And working with her?
(I]) let her have as much input as possible, because she captured the zeitgeist and the essence of what John’s writing was in both those other movies. So she was instrumental in all the decisions. Casting, wardrobe, you know, everything. And she was a real 16-year-old girl, so when I say authentic, I mean it wasn’t about, like, she’s acting this role. She was it.
Q
Let’s talk about the infamous test screenings where the audiences revolted at the movie ending with Andie and Duckie together instead of Andie and Blane. First-time director, how’d that feel?
A
It’s like dropping a bowling ball on your foot. What’s the worst pain? It was terrible. We were all in shock, because the whole story was built for true love, for Duckie to get Molly, and the girls in the audience are not gonna have it. They wanted her to have the cute boy.
And so John had to reverse-engineer everything and figure out, “How can I get them together?” It took him a while, and Paramount was freaking out, and I was certainly freaking out. But then he walked into the editing room one day and he said, “I got it. We’ve got to change the scene where Andrew McCarthy has a date at the prom. He’s gotta come along, and then that way Jon Cryer can sacrifice himself.”
There’s a logic to it from there, but that was the key decision. And then gave me one day to reshoot all of it, and we did. And that was that.