Emilio Estevez turned down a movie with Andrew McCarthy over “Brat Pack” fallout, according to Hulu doc (2024)

BRATS, the new Brat Pack documentary that began streaming on Hulu today, is less a documentary about the once-young actors known for their popular teen ’80s movies, and more a documentary about Andrew McCarthy coming to terms with the unwanted label that has followed him for nearly 40 years. But it’s also a chance for McCarthy to reconnect with his former costars—and, in the case of Emilio Estevez, clear the air about some decades-long beef.

McCarthy—who directed the film as an extension of his 2021 memoir, Brat: An ’80s Story—is a card-carrying Brat Pack member, known for his starring roles in ’80s classics like St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, Less than Zero, and Weekend at Bernie’s. But, as he repeatedly emphasizes throughout the film, McCarthy never wanted to be in the Brat Pack. He resents the term. In some ways, he feels, the 1985 New York Magazine article that coined the phrase completely derailed his career.

He’s not the only one who feels this way. When McCarthy (now 61) pays a visit to his St. Elmo’s Fire co-star, Emilio Estevez (now 62)—the first time they’ve seen each other since the film’s 1985 premiere, says McCarthy—Estevez reveals that he, too, was distraught by the magazine story. In fact, he was so upset, that he pulled out of a movie that he’d been set to film with McCarthy—thus taking that opportunity away from McCarthy, too. It’s clear there’s still tension between the two men over Estevez’s decision, all these years later.

They talk it out in a tense, awkward scene in Estevez’s kitchen.

“You and I didn’t do a movie because of it. Young Men with Unlimited Capital, which was one of the best scripts I had read in a long time,” Estevez says, rushing to get his words out.

McCarthy responds that Estevez’s decision was hurtful, at the time—and adds that he heard Estevez told his team that he didn’t want McCarthy to do the movie, either. “You were going to do it, and they wanted me to do it too, and then they told me that you didn’t want me to do it. It hurt my feelings a lot, but I just assumed it was simply the Brat Pack fallout.”

“I didn’t want to have anything to do with any of us, do you know what I mean?” Estevez explains. “I didn’t want to any movies. If it were Judd [Nelson], I would have said the same thing. To be seen in another film could potentially have a negative impact. Working together almost felt like we were kryptonite to each other.”

Young Men with Unlimited Capital is a 1974 memoir by Joel Rosenman, John Roberts, and Robert Pilpel. It recounted the story of Rosenman and Roberts, the young men who are at least partially responsible for the famously muddy, overcrowded, chaotic 1969 Woodstock music festival. Presumably, Estevez and McCarthy would have played the parts of Rosenman and Roberts. Perhaps it could have been a big break for McCarthy, who never quite achieved the same level of success as his more famous Brat Pack colleagues.

But we’ll never know. After Estevez pulled the plug, the movie adaptation never saw the light of day. Though he doesn’t exactly apologize for the decision in the Brats documentary, he does cite it as one reason he agreed to speak to McCarthy—despite the fact that he routinely turns down other offers to look back on those Brat Pack days. And it’s clear that both men are now willing to leave the past in the past and move on.

When McCarthy asks Estevez why he said yes to him, Estevez responds, “Because you called me. Because you asked. You called me. Also, I thought it was time we clear the air on a couple things. That—Young Men with Unlimited Capital—was something that I’m glad we were able to talk through.”

“Oh, me too,” McCarthy replies. “I have chills right now, it’s nice. Wow, it’s very touching.”