Ally Sheedy admits her ‘Breakfast Club’ character makeover made her “uncomfortable”.
The 59-year-old actress memorably portrayed Allison Reynolds, a charming misfit nicknamed the “Basket Case” who undergoes a hair bow-filled preppy transformation in the 1985 teen classic.
“It was uncomfortable even when we were filming it,” Sheedy confessed to Page Six in a recent interview. “It was one of those things, though. It was in the 80s, and we had to take this young woman who seemed to be crazy and make her, you know, someone pretty or whatever.
She added, “But I agree that Allison is much more delicious before the arc continues.”
Despite her doubts about Allison’s refresh, Sheedy calls the John Hughes-directed film “nothing but a gift.”
“I had no idea the movie was going to be such a hit,” she said. “I didn’t really understand how much [of a] it was the success at the time. I had no idea it would continue and have this extended lifespan.
The New York native – who has been acting for over 40 years and made her big-screen debut in 1983’s ‘Bad Boys’ opposite Sean Penn – can currently be seen on the Freeform show ‘Single Drunk Female’ as Carol, the mother of 28-year-old alcoholic Samantha Fink (Sofia Black-D’Elia), is forced to return home after hitting rock bottom.
Sheedy is delighted with her role as a controlling mother.
“I had so much fun playing this character,” she enthused. “I like the messiness of this one.”
In real life, the “St. Elmo’s Fire” star is mom to son Beckett Lansbury with ex-husband David Lansbury. She admits she has to remember not to be like Carol.
“I have to remember that my child is 27,” she laughed. “He has a life, you know. Don’t sit here thinking, “Okay, he didn’t call me, text me.”
“It’s so hard,” she continued. “I have notes that I write for myself. Route orientation rules. You know what I mean? You don’t have to, you know, don’t overdo it. … I just try to have his life in his space. But I think it bothers me that I think of him way more than he thinks of me.
Sheedy also keeps herself busy by teaching an on-camera acting class at the City College of New York, which she has been doing for four years.
“I love it,” she said before acknowledging that some students enroll because “they know what I did” while others google her after enrolling.
“Single Drunk Female” is streaming now on Hulu.
