NEED TO KNOW
Todd Bridges was on a panel at Fanboy Expo Knoxville with Christopher Atkins on Sunday, July 12
The actors each talked about the roles that they missed out on, with the Diff’rent Strokes star recalling his opportunity to be in The Breakfast Club
The 61-year-old explained why a comment from an executive changed his mind about the film
Todd Bridges stands by his decision to walk away from one of the biggest teen films of all time.
During his appearance at Fanboy Expo Knoxville, the actor, 61, revealed he had the chance to audition for The Breakfast Club after running into John Hughes on a plane.
“I was on a plane, on my way to New York, and John Hughes was sitting next to me. And he goes, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re… I like you. Your spirit, you’re funny,’ ” Bridges told fans during his panel with Christopher Atkins, moderated by John Kotrides.
Bridges continued, “He goes, ‘You know, I’m doing a movie.’ ” Hughes then offered to introduce Bridges to a business associate.
“The movie was actually The Breakfast Club.”
“The Breakfast Club” cast: Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy
Credit: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock
The young actor agreed to meet with Hughes’ associate, but was disenchanted with the situation after he did.
“So, I meet with the guy, and he looks at me. And he walks around me [judgmentally]. I’m like, ‘What the heck is he doing, man?’ And you know what he said to me? ‘We don’t know how to write for Blacks,’ ” Bridges said.
In the moment, he responded, “The same way you write for white people.”
“And I walked out. Maybe I should have been a little more tactical, you know what I mean? But I just couldn’t,” he admitted. “I was like, ‘I don’t want to work with this guy.’ “
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Todd Bridges
Credit: Erika Goldring/Getty
Atkins shared his own story of the role that got away, revealing he auditioned for Footloose but wasn’t ready for the moment.
“Mine was pretty sad. So I had the movie Footloose. They wanted me to do Footloose. And I was, I was a mess back then. I was partying it up way too much, and they called me in. They said, ‘Oh, they wanted to see you.’ I said, ‘Man, I can’t go in right now.’ I’ve been drinking and carrying on.’ And they said, ‘No, they need to see you.’ And I went in and I just blew that audition,” he admitted.
“Because—I mean, it wasn’t even an audition, I had the part. But I was so messed up that they said, ‘Yeah, we’re going to have to pass on this guy.’ And I’m almost 40 years sober, so there you go.”
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