The 1980s Brat Pack phenomenon left an indelible mark on Hollywood, but it also led to the demise of a promising project: a major film about the 1960s Woodstock music festival starring Andrew McCarthy and Emilio Estevez. In McCarthy’s new documentary “Brats,” now streaming on Hulu, the actors delve into the ill-fated Woodstock movie, which they were eager to headline. However, the pervasive and career-derailing Brat Pack label ultimately killed the project.
Estevez, now 62, reflects in “Brats” that working with fellow Brat Packers was virtually impossible at the time. “We were kryptonite to each other,” he says. McCarthy, 61, echoes this sentiment, telling USA TODAY that the Brat Pack term was a significant obstacle. “Nobody wanted to be seen in a movie together,” he explains, adding that they were too young to overcome the stigma associated with the label, which they all despised.
The Brat Pack term, coined from a 1985 New York Magazine cover story, became a limitation for these young actors. “Had we been older and more secure in ourselves, we would have said, ‘To hell with them. Let’s do this movie together. It will be awesome,'” McCarthy says. “But we allowed it to exert power in our lives that it did not need to have.”
In “Brats,” McCarthy captures his first meeting with Estevez since the 1985 premiere of “St. Elmo’s Fire,” a cornerstone Brat Pack film also starring Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, and Judd Nelson. Estevez reveals that the Woodstock movie was “one of the best scripts I had read in a long time.” McCarthy confirms that the film would have been based on the book “Young Men With Unlimited Capital: The Story of Woodstock,” by festival organizers Joel Rosenman and John Roberts, along with author Robert Pilpel.
Estevez was the first to pull out of the project. “You were going to do it, and they wanted me to do it too, and then they told me that you didn’t want me to do it. It hurt my feelings a lot,” McCarthy recalls. Estevez explains, “I didn’t want to have anything to do with any of us. If it were Judd (Nelson), I would have said the same thing.”
In the documentary, McCarthy comes to terms with the Brat Pack label through heartfelt discussions with members like Lowe, Sheedy, and Moore. Speaking to USA TODAY, McCarthy expresses peace with missing out on the Woodstock movie, which would have been a significant departure. “Who knows what would have happened?” he says with a smile. “I could never grow facial hair, so that movie probably wasn’t for me.”
Rob Lowe, in a clip from “Brats,” reflects on the Brat Pack’s impact on the ’80s entertainment landscape. “We were so lucky to be in the right place at the right time,” he tells McCarthy. Lowe notes that the movie business was transitioning to focus on films for 18-to-20-year-olds, a shift that the Brat Pack was part of. “Maybe we had something to do with it, which would either be the good news or the bad news,” he adds. “But not only being in the Brat Pack, but being around at that time, it not only changed all of our lives — it changed what entertainment is.”
Directed by McCarthy, “Brats” features him traveling around the country to reunite with and interview fellow Brat Pack members, including Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy, Emilio Estevez, Lea Thompson, and Timothy Hutton. McCarthy also speaks with key production members and the New York Magazine writer who coined the Brat Pack term, David Blum.
In a statement about the documentary, McCarthy says, “The Brat Pack has cast a long shadow over my life and career. After all these years, I was curious to see how it had affected my fellow Brat Pack members. What I found was surprising — and liberating.”
The documentary premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Festival. McCarthy recently told PEOPLE that the Brat Pack label, initially resented, had personal ramifications. “Were we brats? We were certainly privileged. But there wasn’t anything great about us. We were just in the right place at the right time and represented that seismic change in pop culture. You’re easy prey when you’re exposed in that way.”
Despite the negative connotations, the Brat Pack label stuck. “It was one headline in one regional magazine that was on stands for a week,” McCarthy says. “Over 35 years later, we’re still talking about it.”
“Brats” is now available on Hulu, offering a deep dive into the lives of the actors who defined a generation and the label that both elevated and constrained them.
