May 15, 2025 • 10 mins
Perfect for a Throwback Thursday, we welcomed Anthony Michael Hall on The Show and talk all bout his career from the Breakfast Club all the way to his latest part in Reacher
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, I gotta tell you, this couldn't be more perfect
for Throwback Thursday. We have a guest coming up that
his career is really remarkable when you look at it,
because you know a lot of the eighties stars, they
kind of have dissipated into the ether and you know,
gone away or whatever. Not Anthony Michael Hall. Anthony Michael
(00:22):
Hall is still making great stuff. Like we're all big
fans of Reacher. He was just in the last season
of Reacher and all kinds of great stuff, including Roswell
Delirium that we're going to talk to him about right now.
Anthony Michael Hall joins the show this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
How's it going, Anthony, Hey, guys, good morning to you.
Thank you for that more and welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Absolutely. Man, I'm telling you, your career has been really,
really remarkable. When I was sitting there thinking about it,
and I'm like, man, obviously you were kind of the
king of the eighties. I mean the amount of movies
you were in in the eighties and you know, all
that stuff, and then but still still to this day
you're making great stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Man. I appreciate that. I'm glad I didn't disappear into
the eighth like a lot of other people you mention
it can't happen.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It can't happen, you know, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I thank god, guys. You know, I was interesting. I
was in New York in February with my wife and
I was there to take part in the SNL fiftieth
and then, you know, while I was doing interviews for that,
I realized, Wow, man, I started nineteen seventy six. I
actually started one year later, when I was an eight
year old kid, all those years ago. So I feel grateful,
you know, and I'm just blessed that I've had such
a long career and still chipping away at it.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Man, that's fantastic. So tell me about that Saturday Night
Live show because we all watched it, you you know,
were in that interesting year and time for Saturday Night Live.
What was it like being a dog?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I know, well, you know what's interesting, it was it
was actually a very shaky situation. Then the eleventh season,
it was Louren Michael's first year back. And you know
when if you saw the documentary it was on Peacock
that I took part and it really kind of spelled
it all out. You know, it was after ten year
run of the show doing well, but they weren't sure
where it was going, you know. So and in that
(02:01):
season we were on was not the best as it were,
but you know, in the context of things fifty years later,
you know, you can look back and go, wold, don't
worry about it. It was pivotal and here we are.
We were there, you know, we were part of it.
So I'm grateful.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
But you were so young, yeah, and to be part
of something so big. What did it ever just hit
you or were you just too young to realize?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I think both. I think yeah, I don't know if
it hit me, And it was also maybe too young
to realize that I was a kid, you know. So
it was just an incredible experience. It was far beyond
thirty Rock, which was also a great show, but it
was it was that kind of you know, six day
a week job. You'd come in and everybody would be
writing and then the second half of the week is
rehearsing and doing all that and just an incredible show,
you know, to be a part of. Just the energy levels,
(02:44):
kind of rock and roll, theater, stand up, everything rolled
into one.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You don't even imagine that. Well, speaking of the eighties,
talk to me about the Roswell Delirium, which is streaming
on Prime Video and Apple TV, because I believe it's
set in the eighties, right.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It is, well, it's actually setting the modern day, and
it kind of flashes back to the eighties, and they
tells the story of this young girl who has a
challenging relationship with her mother and so ultimately what happens,
even though they're these sort of sci fi themes, it's
ultimately about the mother and the daughter, and it's kind
of an exploration of mental health in a way because
it's really about her relationship with her mother. And so
(03:20):
we have a bunch of really talented young actors that
were really great in the film, a bunch of child actors.
But we also have some great cameos from people like
de Wallerstone who people remember from ET and a lot
of other great movies, Reginald Bell Johnson from Family Matters,
and Lisa Welsch ol Sam Jones. So we kind of
sprinkled it with some really cool people that were supportive
of what we're doing here. And this is a co
(03:41):
production between my company, Manhattan Films and the writer director
Rick Bakewell and his company like Force. So it's someone
we're really proud of. And it's available on Amazon and
also on Apple right now.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
That's very cool. Yeah, we'll definitely have to check it
out now. You know, you were in so many amazing
eighties movies, Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Vacation, which I mean,
I can keep going and going. Sea one gets brought
up the most to you.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You know. I think the Breakfast Coach, I think the
message kind of endures. I mean, look, all the three
films I did with John were really great experiences. But
I think with The Breakfast Cup, it's interesting because it's
a story that people can relate to, and I think
I joke with people when they watch it. It's almost
like group therapy in a way, even though it's a
forty year old film now. But I think the message
really holds up. You know, it has got a really
(04:26):
interesting message that we're all kind of more like than
we are different, you know, and I think as we
leave our childhood years and school and all that, we
think life is going to be so much different. Ultimately,
I think life is very much like high school on
some levels. But you know, it's a film that holds
up and stands attested time. So for that reason, I
think that film, you know, and it's interesting too that
(04:47):
over the years it has kind of an anti bullying
message too. It wasn't really intended, but I think that
that comes through as well. So I think of the
three John Hughes films that I did, that one I
think kind of listen people's hearts, but the common we're
great too, like Sixteen Channels and Weird Science, who were
all great films to be a part of. And working
with John was an incredible experience. He was just very
generous and very open minded and very cool guy to
(05:10):
work for.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Well, and everything you said is so accurate about Breakfast
Club because high school doesn't really change now. It is
the same for everybody. And your character specifically did go
through some tough stuff and I think kids can relate
to that.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Even now, right right, And I appreciate that. Yeah, I
mean it holds up for me too, I mean it
really does. It's interesting film, you know, and interesting doing
all these In the last couple of years. I do
a lot of signings across the country, and we did
one in Chicago a couple of months ago, and it
was actually the first time Emilio joined us, and it
was really fun to have us all. That's awesome there Again,
(05:47):
you know, it's surreal. I'm fifty seven now, so it's
a trip. In the last couple of years. A lot
of my early films all turned forty in the least
couple Yeah, I feel oh lately. But it's all good man.
I'm grateful and again I thank God for everything. And
you know, after such a long career, this success is
the longevity as well, I'm grateful to that primarily.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah, we're talking to Anthony Michael Hall this morning.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, and I was thinking about Christmas, but not Christmification
National The Pun's Vacations are my favorite movies. I love it.
It's hysterical. And I watched my dad growing up. Were
you asked to do Christmas Vacation? Because I always thought
it was so odd that the original Rusty wasn't in
Christmas Vacation and it's only six years apart.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, no, I was. And you know what's so funny
about that, that was actually it was John Hughes's fault because
you know, he'd given me these opportunities and I was
actually doing weird science, so I couldn't do the sequelification
because I was in La shooting Weird Science all those
years ago with John.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You know what a bummer?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Well, speaking of Weird Science, so out of all your films,
that one is my personal favorite, a favorite, everybody's got
a favorite.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That one.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
I've seen like eight billion times. But it always looks
like you're having well not all of them, but so
much fun, like especially in Weird Science. So out of
all those amazing movies these you did when you were younger,
which one would you say was the most fun to
actually film?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That's a great question. Yeah, well, no, it's a good
point because I think Breakfast Club was almost like filming
a play. So I think in terms of the stuff
I did with John, Yeah, Vacation, which was directed by
Harold Ramis, was was a great trip, you know, and
again John wrote that script. But then sixteen Channels and
Weird Science were a blast too. You know. I almost
felt like farmer Ted became Gary, you know, the character
in Word Science. He got a little hipper and John
(07:28):
was taking us on this evolution. You know. It was funny.
We were shooting Breakfast Cup and we were about three
weeks into it. One day John pulled me aside in
the hallway and he goes, I just started working on
our next one, and I'm looking, I'm baffled. I'm a
kid at the time. I'm going with this guy's like,
I'm making a second movie with him, and he's telling
me about a third one. The night before he had written. Yeah,
he was. He was incredible. But it turns out the
night before he had written thirty pages of what became
(07:51):
Weird Science. He goes, it's going to be you and
this other kid. You're going to make a girl on
a computer. And I was like, this is nineteen eighty four.
I'm standing in a hallway. We're shooting in the breakfast club.
You know, well, this guy's wow. But sure enough, next
thing you know, we were on that set. We were
shooting that film less than a year later, you know.
So he was just a He was a magical guy.
He was really a great guy. He was humble, he
was down to earth. He was such a great writer
(08:11):
and director and just fun to be with, you know.
He was really a wonderful person.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So and the fast forward to today. We are massive
fans of the show Reacher, and in the last season
you had a pretty pivotal role in it where you
were kind of a bad guy, but yet were you
like you eventually kind of saw the lights. How was
that role for you?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Well, it was a lot of fun, you know when
I it was just a great show to be a
part of it. You know. It was interesting because I'm
playing a guy who's an arms dealer, but like you said,
he's kind of a strange from his son and he
has this challenging relationship with him, and and that's what
was cool about it for me that he was a
very dynamic character, you know, and he's a criminal in
one hand. At the same time, he's kind of a
(08:56):
sad dad who's trying to make peace with his son,
you know. So it was a great role for all
those reasons. And we shot up in Toronto last year,
and what happens. We started at the beginning of the summer,
and then the actors strike happened, so we kind of
resumed four months later and we shot all through the year.
And yeah, look, that's a big, huge hit. I'm really
happy to be a part of it. And it was
a lot of fun, especially if I was watching the
lead actor and the big giant eat all day. These guys.
(09:18):
They were feeding these guys meals. I think they ate
about eight or ten times a day, the two of them.
I was they didn't any of us on set.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
I mean, those are huge dudes, man. Yeah, I was
thinking about that. Was that camera work or are they
actually that big?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
No, it's just steroids.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Actually, I kind of was thinking it, but I didn't
want to say it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
No, no, no. I think Alan copped to it though. He's
a big boy as it is, but he works out hard.
You know, the giant. There was a guy named Olivia
Richters from Holland. He was a fun guy. He's actually
a professional bodybuilder, so he you know that guy. You know,
they were big guys. Guy.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Awesome talking to you, man. We were excited to see
Roswell Delirium, which is streaming right now on Prime Video
and Apple TV. Thanks so much for your time this morning.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I appreciate it. Guys, same to you. Thank you for
your time and for supporting the movie.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
There you go. You got Anthony Michael Hall doing this morning.
Very cool. I mean it's unbelievable, dude, It's crazy.
Well, I gotta tell you, this couldn't be more perfect
for Throwback Thursday. We have a guest coming up that
his career is really remarkable when you look at it,
because you know a lot of the eighties stars, they
kind of have dissipated into the ether and you know,
gone away or whatever. Not Anthony Michael Hall. Anthony Michael
(00:22):
Hall is still making great stuff. Like we're all big
fans of Reacher. He was just in the last season
of Reacher and all kinds of great stuff, including Roswell
Delirium that we're going to talk to him about right now.
Anthony Michael Hall joins the show this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
How's it going, Anthony, Hey, guys, good morning to you.
Thank you for that more and welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Absolutely. Man, I'm telling you, your career has been really,
really remarkable. When I was sitting there thinking about it,
and I'm like, man, obviously you were kind of the
king of the eighties. I mean the amount of movies
you were in in the eighties and you know, all
that stuff, and then but still still to this day
you're making great stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Man. I appreciate that. I'm glad I didn't disappear into
the eighth like a lot of other people you mention
it can't happen.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
It can't happen, you know, no doubt about it.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I thank god, guys. You know, I was interesting. I
was in New York in February with my wife and
I was there to take part in the SNL fiftieth
and then, you know, while I was doing interviews for that,
I realized, Wow, man, I started nineteen seventy six. I
actually started one year later, when I was an eight
year old kid, all those years ago. So I feel grateful,
you know, and I'm just blessed that I've had such
a long career and still chipping away at it.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Man, that's fantastic. So tell me about that Saturday Night
Live show because we all watched it, you you know,
were in that interesting year and time for Saturday Night Live.
What was it like being a dog?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
I know, well, you know what's interesting, it was it
was actually a very shaky situation. Then the eleventh season,
it was Louren Michael's first year back. And you know
when if you saw the documentary it was on Peacock
that I took part and it really kind of spelled
it all out. You know, it was after ten year
run of the show doing well, but they weren't sure
where it was going, you know. So and in that
(02:01):
season we were on was not the best as it were,
but you know, in the context of things fifty years later,
you know, you can look back and go, wold, don't
worry about it. It was pivotal and here we are.
We were there, you know, we were part of it.
So I'm grateful.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
But you were so young, yeah, and to be part
of something so big. What did it ever just hit
you or were you just too young to realize?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I think both. I think yeah, I don't know if
it hit me, And it was also maybe too young
to realize that I was a kid, you know. So
it was just an incredible experience. It was far beyond
thirty Rock, which was also a great show, but it
was it was that kind of you know, six day
a week job. You'd come in and everybody would be
writing and then the second half of the week is
rehearsing and doing all that and just an incredible show,
you know, to be a part of. Just the energy levels,
(02:44):
kind of rock and roll, theater, stand up, everything rolled
into one.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
You don't even imagine that. Well, speaking of the eighties,
talk to me about the Roswell Delirium, which is streaming
on Prime Video and Apple TV, because I believe it's
set in the eighties, right.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
It is, well, it's actually setting the modern day, and
it kind of flashes back to the eighties, and they
tells the story of this young girl who has a
challenging relationship with her mother and so ultimately what happens,
even though they're these sort of sci fi themes, it's
ultimately about the mother and the daughter, and it's kind
of an exploration of mental health in a way because
it's really about her relationship with her mother. And so
(03:20):
we have a bunch of really talented young actors that
were really great in the film, a bunch of child actors.
But we also have some great cameos from people like
de Wallerstone who people remember from ET and a lot
of other great movies, Reginald Bell Johnson from Family Matters,
and Lisa Welsch ol Sam Jones. So we kind of
sprinkled it with some really cool people that were supportive
of what we're doing here. And this is a co
(03:41):
production between my company, Manhattan Films and the writer director
Rick Bakewell and his company like Force. So it's someone
we're really proud of. And it's available on Amazon and
also on Apple right now.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
That's very cool. Yeah, we'll definitely have to check it
out now. You know, you were in so many amazing
eighties movies, Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Vacation, which I mean,
I can keep going and going. Sea one gets brought
up the most to you.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
You know. I think the Breakfast Coach, I think the
message kind of endures. I mean, look, all the three
films I did with John were really great experiences. But
I think with The Breakfast Cup, it's interesting because it's
a story that people can relate to, and I think
I joke with people when they watch it. It's almost
like group therapy in a way, even though it's a
forty year old film now. But I think the message
really holds up. You know, it has got a really
(04:26):
interesting message that we're all kind of more like than
we are different, you know, and I think as we
leave our childhood years and school and all that, we
think life is going to be so much different. Ultimately,
I think life is very much like high school on
some levels. But you know, it's a film that holds
up and stands attested time. So for that reason, I
think that film, you know, and it's interesting too that
(04:47):
over the years it has kind of an anti bullying
message too. It wasn't really intended, but I think that
that comes through as well. So I think of the
three John Hughes films that I did, that one I
think kind of listen people's hearts, but the common we're
great too, like Sixteen Channels and Weird Science, who were
all great films to be a part of. And working
with John was an incredible experience. He was just very
generous and very open minded and very cool guy to
(05:10):
work for.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Well, and everything you said is so accurate about Breakfast
Club because high school doesn't really change now. It is
the same for everybody. And your character specifically did go
through some tough stuff and I think kids can relate
to that.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Even now, right right, And I appreciate that. Yeah, I
mean it holds up for me too, I mean it
really does. It's interesting film, you know, and interesting doing
all these In the last couple of years. I do
a lot of signings across the country, and we did
one in Chicago a couple of months ago, and it
was actually the first time Emilio joined us, and it
was really fun to have us all. That's awesome there Again,
(05:47):
you know, it's surreal. I'm fifty seven now, so it's
a trip. In the last couple of years. A lot
of my early films all turned forty in the least
couple Yeah, I feel oh lately. But it's all good man.
I'm grateful and again I thank God for everything. And
you know, after such a long career, this success is
the longevity as well, I'm grateful to that primarily.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Yeah, we're talking to Anthony Michael Hall this morning.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Yeah, and I was thinking about Christmas, but not Christmification
National The Pun's Vacations are my favorite movies. I love it.
It's hysterical. And I watched my dad growing up. Were
you asked to do Christmas Vacation? Because I always thought
it was so odd that the original Rusty wasn't in
Christmas Vacation and it's only six years apart.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Yeah, no, I was. And you know what's so funny
about that, that was actually it was John Hughes's fault because
you know, he'd given me these opportunities and I was
actually doing weird science, so I couldn't do the sequelification
because I was in La shooting Weird Science all those
years ago with John.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You know what a bummer?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Well, speaking of Weird Science, so out of all your films,
that one is my personal favorite, a favorite, everybody's got
a favorite.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That one.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
I've seen like eight billion times. But it always looks
like you're having well not all of them, but so
much fun, like especially in Weird Science. So out of
all those amazing movies these you did when you were younger,
which one would you say was the most fun to
actually film?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
That's a great question. Yeah, well, no, it's a good
point because I think Breakfast Club was almost like filming
a play. So I think in terms of the stuff
I did with John, Yeah, Vacation, which was directed by
Harold Ramis, was was a great trip, you know, and
again John wrote that script. But then sixteen Channels and
Weird Science were a blast too. You know. I almost
felt like farmer Ted became Gary, you know, the character
in Word Science. He got a little hipper and John
(07:28):
was taking us on this evolution. You know. It was funny.
We were shooting Breakfast Cup and we were about three
weeks into it. One day John pulled me aside in
the hallway and he goes, I just started working on
our next one, and I'm looking, I'm baffled. I'm a
kid at the time. I'm going with this guy's like,
I'm making a second movie with him, and he's telling
me about a third one. The night before he had written. Yeah,
he was. He was incredible. But it turns out the
night before he had written thirty pages of what became
(07:51):
Weird Science. He goes, it's going to be you and
this other kid. You're going to make a girl on
a computer. And I was like, this is nineteen eighty four.
I'm standing in a hallway. We're shooting in the breakfast club.
You know, well, this guy's wow. But sure enough, next
thing you know, we were on that set. We were
shooting that film less than a year later, you know.
So he was just a He was a magical guy.
He was really a great guy. He was humble, he
was down to earth. He was such a great writer
(08:11):
and director and just fun to be with, you know.
He was really a wonderful person.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
So and the fast forward to today. We are massive
fans of the show Reacher, and in the last season
you had a pretty pivotal role in it where you
were kind of a bad guy, but yet were you
like you eventually kind of saw the lights. How was
that role for you?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Well, it was a lot of fun, you know when
I it was just a great show to be a
part of it. You know. It was interesting because I'm
playing a guy who's an arms dealer, but like you said,
he's kind of a strange from his son and he
has this challenging relationship with him, and and that's what
was cool about it for me that he was a
very dynamic character, you know, and he's a criminal in
one hand. At the same time, he's kind of a
(08:56):
sad dad who's trying to make peace with his son,
you know. So it was a great role for all
those reasons. And we shot up in Toronto last year,
and what happens. We started at the beginning of the summer,
and then the actors strike happened, so we kind of
resumed four months later and we shot all through the year.
And yeah, look, that's a big, huge hit. I'm really
happy to be a part of it. And it was
a lot of fun, especially if I was watching the
lead actor and the big giant eat all day. These guys.
(09:18):
They were feeding these guys meals. I think they ate
about eight or ten times a day, the two of them.
I was they didn't any of us on set.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
I mean, those are huge dudes, man. Yeah, I was
thinking about that. Was that camera work or are they
actually that big?
Speaker 2 (09:33):
No, it's just steroids.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Actually, I kind of was thinking it, but I didn't
want to say it.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
No, no, no. I think Alan copped to it though. He's
a big boy as it is, but he works out hard.
You know, the giant. There was a guy named Olivia
Richters from Holland. He was a fun guy. He's actually
a professional bodybuilder, so he you know that guy. You know,
they were big guys. Guy.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Awesome talking to you, man. We were excited to see
Roswell Delirium, which is streaming right now on Prime Video
and Apple TV. Thanks so much for your time this morning.
We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
I appreciate it. Guys, same to you. Thank you for
your time and for supporting the movie.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
There you go. You got Anthony Michael Hall doing this morning.
Very cool. I mean it's unbelievable, dude, It's crazy.
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