Molly Ringwald’s name is synonymous with the ’80s and teenage angst.
Her three highly successful John Hughes films — “Sixteen Candles” in 1984, “The Breakfast Club” in 1985 and “Pretty in Pink” in 1986 — made her the queen of the decade’s teen film genre.
For Ringwald, who currently stars in the film“All These Small Moments,” there’s a current movie that she feels truly encompasses those beloved Hughes’ classics.”
“[The John Hughes movies] were really unique and really fun and he basically got that whole teen ‘thing’ in a way that nobody has gotten since, except for a movie that I really love that I think is the inheritance of John Hughes,” Ringwald told CNN in a recent interview. “To my mind, I think ‘Eighth Grade’ completely gets it. Elsie Fisher’s performance is incredible. I think what it really shares with the John Hughes films is the fact that it’s really funny and yet it’s really moving.”
Fisher recently won a Critics’ Choice Award for her role as Kayla Day in the film, which was directed and written by Bo Burnham.
“I watched part of it with my husband and he was like, ‘I don’t know if I can watch this.’ It was so emotional because it’s a father and his daughter and we had just gone through that,” Ringwald, who has three children, explained. “My daughter is now in ninth grade, so we’ve kind of gone through that year. I really do think it’s so perfect to make a movie about eighth grade because it’s really the pinnacle. It’s like the worst year possible. I really think that if you can get through eighth grade you can get through almost anything.”
Ringwald’s latest role in “All These Small Moments” is also a coming-of-age story of sorts. She plays a mother who’s dealing with a crumbling marriage. The film, directed and written by Melissa Miller Costanzo, also stars Brian d’Arcy James, Brendan Meyer, Sam McCarthy, Harley Quinn Smith and Jemima Kirke.
“What really moved me about this particular woman is she was just so real. She’s so flawed,” Ringwald said. “She’s so sharp. She’s in crisis. I look at her and if she can get out of bed that day and put on mascara and put her hair back, then it’s a victory.”
Related: Molly Ringwald feels differently about ‘Sixteen Candles’ in the wake of #MeToo
Ringwald addressed the essay she wrote for The New Yorker last Aprilin which she discussed scenes in films like “Sixteen Candles” that wouldn’t hold up in the current #MeToo era, clarifying that she was not trying to criticize Hughes.
“I feel like I had a real connection to all of those characters in those John Hughes movies,” she said. “[I’ve had some] really amazing feedback from people I really respect. I think for the most part people understood it was a nuanced conversation. It was also something that was difficult for me to write. I didn’t want it to be misinterpreted and look like in any way I was turning my back on John Hughes or those movies because I still think they have tremendous value.”
“All These Small Moments” is in theaters and available on Demand and Digital HD.
