THUNDER BAY -- It was in a suburban Chicago movie theatre in 1985 that John Kapelos realized The Breakfast Club would be a hit.
“It was an audience of a huge theatre filled with teenagers and the reaction was unmistakably positive,” said Kapelos, the Canadian character actor who played the role of Carl the janitor in the John Hughes classic about five teenagers serving a day of detention.
The film celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and Cineplex is bringing The Breakfast Club to movie screens across the country, including SilverCity in Thunder Bay, on March 21 and 25.
Kapelos told tbnewswatch.com in a recent interview that he knew The Breakfast Club would be a hit during that first screening he attended, but it wasn’t until 10 years ago when the film was honoured at the MTV Movie Awards, he realized just how much staying power it had.
At the time Hughes and actor Paul Gleason, who played Principal Vernon, were both alive and Gleason and the Brat Pack cast of Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy were all on stage. Kapelos was in the audience waving, a camera in his face, and it was at that moment the popularity of the movie hit him.
“I’m happy the film is doing well in perpetuity. It hits a place of important emotional truth. As long as there are teenagers, I think this film will have some sort of life. I don’t think it’s going to go away.”
Kapelos is a veteran character actor from London, Ont. with an endless list of credits to his name spanning the last three decades. He’s appeared on TV shows like Seinfeld, Castle, Modern Family, Justified and Miami Vice and was a series regular on the ’90s Canadian vampire-police drama Forever Knight.
His early film credits include other Hughes flicks Sixteen Candles and Weird Science.
“John was intense. He was demanding,” said Kapelos of the late film director.
“He would sometimes be very quiet, somewhat passive aggressive and look at you and not necessarily let you into his sphinxlike mind, but every now and then if he smiled and gave you a nod, you knew you were giving him what he wanted. We had a pretty good relationship that way.”
After doing about seven or eight takes of a scene as written, Hughes would then do extra takes and with Kapelos’ Second City improv comedy background, they would try different ideas and that’s how Kapelos’ line about wanting to be John Lennon when he grew up during a conversation with Gleason’s character was created.
“There is a whole sequence where I told everyone where they would be 30 years from today,” said Kapelos, noting the scene was cut out of the film, but it was still a satisfying process.
Carl might be Kapelos’ most recognizable role and while many people may only know him as ‘that guy from that show or movie,’ he knows that is the fate of the character actor.
“The goal of the working actor is to work so if you’re living and working in Hollywood and if TV shows come up, like I’ve been doing this for a while, then yeah, that was my goal – not to get on every TV show ever, but as many as I could,” he said.
“I’m in it for the long haul.”
The 30th anniversary release includes the remastered feature never seen on the silver screen as well as The Breakfast Club – A Retrospective, a bonus content featurette.
