'Those movies are really, very white': Actress Molly Ringwald says '80s movies remakes would need to be 'much more diverse'

Actress Molly Ringwald, known for classic 1980s movies such as "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles," said if those movies were to be remade in a modern era they would need to be done with a more diverse cast.

Ringwald received Variety's Creative Vanguard Award during the Miami Film Festival, and the award presentation was followed by a Q&A period about her career.

Ringwald was just a teenager when her '80s cult classics were released, which also included "Pretty in Pink," released when she was about 18 years old.

The teen heart throb said if the movies were to be remade, however, studios couldn't make movies that were "that white."

"Those movies, the movies that I'm so well-known for, they were very much of the time. If you were to remake that now I think it would have to be much more diverse, you couldn't make a movie that white," she said while laughing.

"Those movies are really, very white," she continued. "They don't really represent what it is to be a teenager in a school in America today, I don't think. But I think that they were really great and they were of that time, and they really represented John Hughes' experience."

The writer in question, John Hughes, wrote a plethora of '80s and '90s classics that Ringwald and other actors of the time benefited from. "Vacation," "Weird Science," "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," and "Home Alone" were all written by Hughes, as were Ringwald's biggest hits.

In 2023, Ringwald publicly stated that she was mistreated and perhaps assaulted when she filmed her iconic '80s movies. She claimed that "a married film director" shoved his tongue down her throat when she was 14 years old, and a crew member pressed up against her with an erection showing through his clothes in another instance.

During the same interview, she said the mid-'80s were a "different time" in terms of sexually predatory behavior.

Ringwald also spoke ill of cancel culture and claimed that it had grown too big following Harvey Weinstein's downfall, and the #MeToo movement appeared to be on the way out. "[A] lot of people have gotten swept up in 'cancelation,'" Ringwald said, "and I worry about that."

After receiving her award, the actress told Variety that her best advice was to not stop and reflected on guidance she had received.

"'The only thing that will stop you is you. So all you have to do is keep doing what you are doing.’ That has always come back to me because it’s a really hard business. There are ups and downs, there’s a lot of competition, and everyone is replaceable."

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