By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
Don't You Forget About Me: burning 16 candles for John Hughes
Macleans’ Shanda Deziel reports on a doc stalking reluctant subject John Hughes and trying to divine why the 56-year-old King of Teen hasn’t shot a pic since 1991’s Curly Sue. “According to a new documentary, Don’t You Forget About Me—which examines the lasting impact of Hughes’s movies—today’s teens also cite those films as the ones that best represent the way they look, feel and act. According to the filmmaker, [28-year-old] Matt Austin, “All the teens we interviewed said that they can’t relate to any of the movies that have come out for them in the last decade.” So Austin had the teens send a message to Hollywood and to Hughes. “To Hollywood…. they gave the finger and to Hughes they said, ‘Come back.’ ” Hughes “hasn’t given an interview since the ’80s (even then, they were few and far between)and is thought to be living in Chicago or maybe Wisconsin. He’s the J.D. Salinger of [movies]. But it’s become Austin’s mission to get the recluse on camera… After many dead ends, the filmmakers finally made a connection with Hughes’s lawyer. “He’s on our side…. but even he says, ‘Good luck, John Hughes just doesn’t do interviews.’ ” So Austin is putting together a… reel of people he’s talked to— teens, actors, filmmakers inspired by him—all saying, “Thank you” or “Come back.” Austin plans on giving that video to every single person who might be able to get it to Hughes. “Right now, I’m very hopeful that we’re going to get him. My genuine feeling is we’ll get a call.”