Andrew McCarthy reunites with the Brat Pack in new ‘Brats’ trailer

Andrew McCarthy is digging up “ancient history” with a little help from his friends.

More than 40 years after a group of young actors took over Hollywood and earned the nickname the Brat Pack,” the grown-up ‘80s icons are ready to reflect on their very memorable rise to fame. St. Elmo’s Fire star McCarthy has finally reunited with other members of the famous crew to look back at that moniker and the impact it had on their careers.

In Brats, a new documentary written, produced, and directed by McCarthy, the actor joins Brat Pack royalty, including Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, Jon Cryer, Lea Thompson, and Timothy Hutton.

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As McCarthy explains, it all began with the 1985 New York magazine cover that gave the budding stars the enduring label. “I just remember seeing that cover and thinking, ‘Oh, f—,'” he recalls in the trailer. “From then on, my career and the career of everyone who was involved was branded to the Brat Pack.”

The trailer then shows McCarthy reaching out to his fellow Brats to get their take on the experience. When he connects with Estevez, he notes that the actor has spent years avoiding the topic.

“I turned everything down,” Estevez says. So why did he agree to speak with McCarthy on camera? “Because you called me,” he says. “It was time that we clear the air on a couple things.” 

Says Lowe of the group’s influence, “Being in the Brat Pack not only changed all of our lives, it changed… what entertainment is.”

McCarthy previously revealed that speaking with some of the stars for the documentary meant reconnecting with them for the first time in decades. 

“I hadn’t seen Rob Lowe in 30 years, Emilio Estevez in 35 years,” he told Salon. “Demi Moore and Ally Sheedy, I hadn’t seen them in so long. I went to each of them and said, ‘Hey, will you talk to me about this? Because we were members of a club that we didn’t ask to join that no one else was. We’re the only ones that know what it was like.'”

Before filming the doc, McCarthy explored the cultural significance of the Brat Pack  — along with his own coming-of-age tales — in his 2021 memoir, Brat: An ’80s Story. In it, he retraced the cultural phenomenon that erupted after the release of teen flicks like St. Elmo’s Fire, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink.

Following its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, Brats is slated to hit Hulu on June 13. Watch McCarthy unpack the Brat Pack in the trailer above.