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Almost 40 years after starring in John Hughes’ iconic 1986 film\u00a0<\/span>Pretty in Pink,\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Andrew McCarthy<\/a>\u00a0says his “miscasting” was all thanks to co-star\u00a0<\/span>Molly Ringwald<\/a>. Sitting down for an ET rETrospective, the 61-year-old actor recalled how the\u00a0<\/span>The Breakfast Club<\/span><\/em>\u00a0star, 56, helped him get the role of dreamboat\u00a0Blane McDonnagh.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In <\/span>Pretty in Pink<\/em><\/a>, Andie (Molly Ringwald) is an outcast at her Chicago high school who only has two friends: her older boss (Annie Potts), who owns the record store where she works, and her quirky classmate Duckie (Jon Cryer), who has a crush on her. When one of the rich and popular kids at school, Blane (McCarthy), asks Andie out, it seems too good to be true.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “That part was written for a square-jawed, big, hunky, you know, quarterback and Molly got me that part,” McCarthy recalls. “I auditioned and Molly said, ‘Oh, that’s who I would fall for. He’s dreamy. He’s poetic.’ And so John Hughes went, ‘Really? That wimp?'”<\/span><\/p>\n McCarthy says that despite the legendary writer’s misgivings, he “listened to Molly” and granted him the role.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “He listened to Molly, which is what John did. John honored, not just on screen but in real life, John listened and respected young people,” the\u00a0<\/span>St. Elmo’s Fire\u00a0<\/span><\/em>star shares. “So, I was miscast in a way. I made what could [have] been a jerk have some sensitivity, so there was some empathy towards him.”<\/span><\/p>\n “Which is why at the end we had to reshoot the whole ending because, you know, the movie’s a fairytale so you have to give the girl what she wants,” McCarthy adds, referencing how <\/span>Hughes changed the film’s original ending<\/a> — which had\u00a0Andie and Duckie ending up together — after test audiences reacted poorly.<\/span><\/p>\n Hughes wrote a new five-page ending where Andie and Blane get together instead, which was shot several months after the film initially wrapped production.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n “John took young people and their emotional life seriously,”\u00a0McCarthy says of the late\u00a0director, producer and screenwriter. ”\u00a0And that’s why people [are] still watching those movies.”<\/span><\/p>\n McCarthy himself\u00a0has picked up more jobs behind the camera in recent years on shows like\u00a0<\/span>Orange Is the New Black\u00a0<\/span><\/em>and\u00a0<\/span>The Sinner\u00a0<\/span><\/em>as well as his new Hulu documentary feature,\u00a0<\/span>Brats<\/em><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The doc, directed and produced by McCarthy, examines the 1980s stars branded the “Brat Pack.” The term applies to the teen actors from the ’80s who seemingly ran Hollywood thanks to their slate of massive films like<\/span>\u00a0The Breakfast Club, St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Brats<\/span><\/em>\u00a0includes plenty of footage from behind the scenes and interviews during the promotion of the iconic films of the 1980s that shaped a generation.<\/span><\/p>\n McCarthy also sits down for a first-time conversation with writer David Blum, who fatefully coined the term Brat Pack in a 1985\u00a0<\/span>New York Magazine<\/span><\/em>\u00a0cover story.<\/span><\/p>\n McCarthy jokes with ET that while he was excited to begin the filmmaking process on\u00a0<\/span>Brats<\/span><\/em>, he feared being spurned by all those he reached out to.<\/span><\/p>\n “I was surprised as many people would want to speak to me [that] did, you know, because I thought the biggest challenge would be to get people to participate,” he quips. “I knew it was still so sort of dodgy in some people’s lives.”<\/span><\/p>\n