For the most part, I've stayed as far away as possible from high school movies. I just don't find them to be that relatable to everybody? They become like this: 'Look at that period of time. Isn't that interesting?'
I think I was, like, 23 or something [on The Breakfast Club]. I was the oldest of the five. Emilio [Estevez] and Ally [Sheedy] were a year younger. The only real difference was that Molly [ Ringwald] and Michael [Hall] still had to go to school. They could shoot, like, a half day. So a lot of my close coverage was done with Molly's stand-in, so Molly could do her schoolwork.
'Superbad' and 'Remember the Titans' - two movies I can watch over and over again. I watch 'Superbad' whenever I need to laugh.
When I was younger, I always did movies that teenagers would watch, not adults. I did 'Crazy/Beautiful' or comedies like 'Bring It On.'
It often strikes me that the actors in high school movies look too old.
I grew up in the '80s and John Hughes was the filmmaker making serious movies for teenagers.
If you watch any John Hughes film of the eighties, that was my childhood experience.
For me, the best high school movie is, like, 'Fast Times' and what Cameron Crowe is like.
I love John Hughes films.
I did try to get a few of those teen high-school movies, but they just didn't like me. I guess I wasn't a certain type.
I didn't want to make teenage comedies, and I didn't want to make really trashy films. I wanted to make films that were a bit challenging.
An entire empire built on teenage angst, yes? Thank you, John Hughes!
In a lot of teen movies nowadays, you just get the rote six stereotypes like the jock, the cool guy, the nerd, the hot girl, the girl who cares, and the girl who has glasses and is supposed to be ugly but is actually beautiful.
When I was in high school, there was 'Superbad' and 'The Girl Next Door' and 'Wedding Crashers' and all these great movies. You hope to be a part of something that's smart, funny and in that Todd Phillips-vein. You want to make something like 'Superbad.' That movie was so good and so funny.
