Now that "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is a wrap, John Hughes is taking a short break from teenage movies.
The writer-director of "Sixteen Candles", "The Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink" says he wants to diversify and do films about young adults, women, and the elderly.
"I want to make transition films," Hughes says. "How many films are there for 27 year old men? None. There's a big hole in show business now. There's a gap between Tom Cruise and Matthew Broderick and Warren Beatty and Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. The only people in the middle are comedians.
"Actors in their 30s? I'll take care of them too. I like to go into areas where people aren't making movies. That's how I got on teenage movies. There was a lot of garbage around and I said, 'You know, it's about time to do one.'"
But, first, Hughes has to settle some unfinished business. This summer, "Some Kind Of Wonderful" will be shot, probably in California. Then, in February, Hughes will be in Chicago to shoot another teen film about a kid who hangs out on commuter trains. He says only that both are broadly based comedies like "Ferris Bueller" and that after he
finishes them, he will be ready to try something new.
Hughes is already at work on a script that will feature five women nearing 40. And then he would like to do something on the elderly."I'm a bit alarmed at the way the elderly are portrayed," he says. "They're always doing something young, like 'Cocoon'. It's like, 'Why do you want to be young? Do you want to lose that wisdom?' I'll depict both groups with the same sense of respect and accuracy I give the kids."
This won't be the Hughes's first dip into post-adolescent filmmaking. In addition to his signature comedies, he wrote "Mr. Mom" and "National Lampoon's Vacation". The difference this time around would seem to be that the new adult films would be less slapstick and that he would direct them himself. But like all of his teen films, they will be shot in his hometown.
"Chicago is what I am," Hughes says. "A lot of 'Ferris' is sort of my love letter to the city. And the more people upset with the fact that I film there, the more I'll make sure that's exactly where I film."
"It's funny, nobody ever says anything to Woody Allen about always filming in New York. America has this great reverence for New York. I look at it as this decaying horror pit. So let the people in Chicago enjoy 'Ferris Bueller'."
How long Hughes will make transition films is anyone's guess. He just signed a $10 million contract with Paramount. Movie companies are crazy about teenagers right now, so his switch probably won't be permanent. When Hughes does go back to probing his mind for memories of his teenage years, the idea of creating his own repertory company, his own stable of young actors, will not be out of the question.
"When I get done with a film I know someone's style so well I can write for them. That's how they used to do it in the old days. I think there's a great benefit to working that way.
"Putting someone under contract doesn't work in the 80s. But I could see a company. It would have to be a relationship based on trust and mutual respect and the quality of material. I'd love to do that.
"If I did, I'd have Andrew McCarthy, Mary Stuart Masterson, James Spader. I think Alan Ruck and Mia Sara are great. And I love that kid in 'Growing Pains', Kirk Cameron. And Michael Keaton. Maybe Michael J. Fox. And there are a lot of European actors I love, but I can't pronounce their names. And Matthew Broderick. He'd have to be there. That's for sure."
As for doing a screenplay with someone else, Hughes says collaborating is like shaving someone else's face. Writing is something he does better alone. And he's unsure about directing someone else's script.
"I don't know if I could do justice to someone else's vision," he says. "Anyway, there are so many of my own things I want to do. I know I'm not going to have enough life to do them."
