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18 things you didn't know about 'The Breakfast Club'.

How well do you remember this iconic movie?

Ready to feel old?

The Breakfast Club turns 30 today.

Yip, feeling old. Wasn’t yesterday when everyone was talking about the most amazing movie ever made in the history of life??

And if you’re sitting there thinking, it sounds familiar but I can’t remember that one, then shame on you. Okay, that’s a bit dramatic, but you should feel bad that you can’t remember such an iconic movie.

Here is the two-second description: five school kids (all ticking off the stereotypes), forced to come together because of detention, hating each other for their differences, and then finding out they have a lot more in common.

Are we all on the same page now? Good.

Because, in honour of it turning 30, we gathered the best of the best facts you didn’t know about The Breakfast Club thanks to IMDB.

1. The scene in which all characters sit in a circle on the floor in the library and tell stories about why they were in detention was not scripted. John Hughes told them all to ad-lib.

2. The ages of everyone in the principle cast at the time of filming are: Judd Nelson (26), Molly Ringwald (17), Emilio Estevez (23), Anthony Michael Hall (17) and Ally Sheedy (23). (Yes, only two were actually high school age.)

3. John Hughes wrote the screenplay to this movie in just two days (4 and 5 July 1982).

4. The coke cans that the teenagers drink from have the Olympic sign due to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

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5. Molly Ringwald was originally asked to play Allison but wanted to play Claire, she eventually convinced John Hughes and the studio and was given the part.

6. Alison does not speak until 33 minutes into the film.

7. During the discussion the Club has while sitting on the floor, Claire’s hairstyle changes back and forth from one shot to the next.

8. The theme song Don't You (Forget About Me) was written for the film by Keith Forsey. It was a number one hit for Simple Minds, and both Billy Idol and Bryan Ferry turned down offers to record it first (although in 2001, Billy Idol recorded Don't You (Forget About Me) as a bonus track for his Greatest Hits album). The song was also turned down by Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders who then suggested they offer it to the band fronted by her husband at the time, Simple Minds.

9. The marijuana the actors smoke in the film was actually oregano.

10. As an end-of-filming present, John Hughes gave each actor a piece of the "library's" banister.

11. Other proposed titles were "The Lunch Bunch" and "Library Revolution".

12. In early drafts of the script Claire was called Cathy.

13. Claire's hairstyle changes throughout the movie.

14. Emilio Estevez, Judd Nelson, and Ally Sheedy played high school students in this film, the same year that they would portray college graduates in St. Elmo's Fire (1985).

15. At the very closing part of the film where Judd Nelson raises his fist in defiance, that was actually ad libbed. He was supposed to just walk into the sunset, so to speak, and the director asked him to play around with a few actions. When he was done and they were finishing up, Judd Nelson threw his fist up without running it by anyone. Everyone loved it, and it has become an iconic symbol of the 1980's.

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16. Judd Nelson went undercover at a local high school outside Chicago near where the film was shooting and convinced the teenagers that he was a legitimate student. After buying beer for them with his "fake ID" (he was 24 at the time), Nelson told them to drop him off at the hotel where the actors were staying. Years later, reflecting on his antics, Nelson said, "They would ask me why I was staying there, and I told them my dad was in jail. I'm staying at the Westin O'Hare while my dad's incarcerated."

17. The switchblade used in the movie actually belonged to Judd Nelson. He explained that he had it for protection purposes.

18. John Hughes almost fired Judd Nelson because of his negative attitude towards Molly Ringwald off camera. Paul Gleason convinced Hughes that Nelson was a great actor and was merely trying to stay in character.

What was your favourite part of The Breakfast Club?

CLICK THROUGH the gallery to see your favourite scenes from the movie.

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