This year marks the 30th anniversary of the John Hughes classic The Breakfast Club, but it also marks a new beginning for the school where the movie was filmed. Maine Township High School District 207 in Park Ridge, Illinois recently acquired a new building, so they’re moving out of the building that served as Shermer High School for the duration of the shoot. But during the move, some interesting discoveries were made, including an early draft of the screen play for The Breakfast Club, complete with pizza grease and dated September 21, 1983.
So, what was different? For one thing, it was originally called Saturday Breakfast Club. Other than that, not much is different unless you’re a real nitpicker about the movie. Claire Standish was originally called Cathy Douglas. But it sounds like this early draft wasn’t too different from the final shooting draft.
The script was found in a file drawer with a cover page marked up with an approval by the school’s superintendent at the time, Dr. John Murphy. Along with the script were several documents related to the production, such as the rental fees agreed upon by the school and Universal Studios (it cost $48,000 to shoot at the school, which was then known as Maine North High School) and a poignant — and prophetic — final correspondence from the school’s coordinator of purchasing and facilities to the Universal unit production manager:
“We close with nothing but the fondest thoughts and memories of Universal Studios and ‘The Breakfast Club,'” [Donald] Stillwaugh wrote. “We trust the film will be a huge success.”
These school authority figures are way nicer than the ones from The Breakfast Club, I tell ya.
Source: The Chicago Tribune
