MOVIES : On the Rebound With Anthony Michael Hall

When Anthony Michael Hall bopped across the gymnasium floor in “Sixteen Candles” in 1984, his star quality was immediately apparent. A bug-eyed clown with braces on his teeth and the physical grace of a dancer, Hall was only 15 at the time, but his portrayal of the quintessential geek was so fresh and original that he walked away with the picture.

“When we were on location, all the local girls were totally enamored with Michael,” recalled Adam Fields, one of the film’s co-producers. “They literally followed him around; not because he was a famous movie star--he wasn’t famous at that point--but because he was just so funny and charming.”

Thus was Hall launched on the roller coaster of stardom. For all its obvious benefits, fame comes with some nasty strings attached. Stars are simultaneously given more of everything (more money, more attention, more praise), and less of everything--less privacy, less margin for error, less time for the stabilizing consistency of simple daily routine. Problems that aren’t particularly unusual are enlarged to grotesque proportion under the microscope of mass media, and the public that applauds your victories is just as eager to laugh should you slip on a banana peel.

Hitting Hall when he was barely beyond childhood, sudden stardom nearly proved his undoing. Catapulted into the public eye at a point when he was going through his obligatory stint of teen-age rebellion, Hall was indulged in ways that weren’t particularly good for him, and he did some serious damage to his career with his fifth film, the 1986 romantic thriller “Out of Bounds.” His new film, “Johnny Be Good,” the first work he’s done in two years, just opened. Though the film was trashed by the critics, it took in $5.2 million in its opening weekend. It marks something of a comeback for him at the ripe old age of 19.

For a spell, his career did go along swimmingly. Hall made three movies that made a lot of money, and he was one of Hollywood’s fair-haired boys. “When we shot ‘Sixteen Candles,’ John Hughes encouraged me to develop what was unique in me, and he gave me all the freedom I wanted,” Hall recalled during a recent interview in a Hollywood hotel. “I was just 15 then and it was like magic.” The magic continued through two more films with Hughes, “The Breakfast Club,” and “Weird Science,” both of which garnered good reviews and plenty of cash.

Interviewed in 1985 on the eve of the opening of “Weird Science,” Hall came across as a bright, upbeat kid in the process of awakening to the power of his position. At 17, he had his own suite at the Chateau Marmont, outside of which loomed a massive billboard plastered with his 20-foot image. It must’ve been a strange sight for him to see first thing every morning, but he seemed to be handling things reasonably well. “My life is moving pretty fast,” he said at the time, “but I don’t think it’s out of control.”

A year later, Hall was back in Los Angeles from his home in New York City to shoot “Out of Bounds,” and things were beginning to veer off track. The second film for director Richard Tuggle, who wrote and directed Clint Eastwood’s “Tightrope,” “Out of Bounds” was Hall’s first attempt at a dramatic role. With shooting about to begin, he was contracted to be a regular on “Saturday Night Live”--making him the youngest Not Ready for Prime Time Player in the show’s history.

With this hefty chunk of work before him, the excesses of the preceding three years began to take their toll. Excessive partying, more power than he could handle, more new friends than he could possibly know, more money than he could spend and more praise than any 17-year-old could earn or understand combined to form a psychological undertow that began sucking him out to sea.

“It’s easy to get arrogant when you think you can do things,” says Hall, reflecting on his state of mind at that time. “A lot of performers get messed up because they think they don’t deserve their success, but I was the opposite. I thought I was so talented that I could blow people off and the offers would keep coming.”

Hall’s first major blunder came when he crossed swords with Stanley Kubrick. Slated for the lead role in Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” Hall pulled a star turn that cost him the part.

“As I understand it, Michael left the picture rather than get fired,” says Tuggle, choosing his words with great care. “Kubrick kept changing the starting date, and Michael wasn’t about to make allowances for anybody.” (Kubrick and Hall were not able to be contacted for comment on this.)

The loss of the role was a considerable blow to Hall, who is still eager to work with Kubrick. Shortly thereafter, Hall’s relationship with his family began to deteriorate. The turnover of friends accelerated and he became petulant and abrasive with the press. Horror stories from the set of “Out of Bounds” made the rounds, most of them centering on the fact that Hall and Tuggle had drastically different conceptions of the character Hall was to play.

“ ‘Out of Bounds ‘ was the story of an innocent farm boy who unknowingly stumbles into a drug deal,” says Tuggle. “When Michael took the part, I thought he understood the sort of character he was meant to play because the script made it clear. When we started shooting, I was stunned to discover he intended to play it like a Clint Eastwood tough guy.

“There’s something about Michael that makes you like him and want to hug him,” Tuggle continues, “but for some reason he seems bent on destroying that part of himself. People respond to his innocence, but he wants to be a cool leading man.”

Hall’s problems on “Out of Bounds” weren’t limited to his differences with Tuggle. In a Calendar article written from the set of the film, Patrick Goldstein described Hall “treating visitors as if they were carrying the plague . . . shouting obscenities . . . and demanding that the crew keep their distance.” The crew on the film referred to Hall as “the brat,” or “Anthony Michael Moron.”

“It was hard to discuss things rationally with him,” recalls Tuggle. “For instance, there was a scene where he was acting in a cocky manner and I told him, ‘Look, you’re supposedly alone in this town and you’re scared--I need to see some of those emotions.’ He replied, ‘I don’t think in terms of emotions, I think in terms of colors.’ At that point I realized I was in big trouble. I considered advising him to play it ‘tangerine,’ but at 3 in the morning with a crew waiting to go home I figured to hell with it, just start shooting film.”

To the surprise of nearly no one, the film sank like a stone upon release, nor was Hall particularly well received in his appearances on “Saturday Night Live.” Hall talks about that period of his life with considerable regret.

“I was rude to a lot of people,” he confesses, “I was drinking on the set . . . and had a problem with alcohol that I’ve taken care of and will continue to take steps to take care of. But look, I was 17, and there I was, the youngest cast member ever on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ I was flying back and forth, doing the show in New York and shooting a $16-million movie in L.A. I’m not gonna bring my age into this, except in ways I’m proud of it, and I was proud to be the youngest SNL cast member, but the whole thing was overwhelming sometimes.

“I was living by myself at the Chateau, and though the scene around me wasn’t like an Elvis trip, there was a fair share of that,” he continues. “All of a sudden you’ve got girls whenever you want ‘em, and the place was always full of people I hardly knew. I’m certainly not blaming anyone who was involved in that period of my life, because I’m the one who created that scene around myself. It was part of the lesson I had to learn.”

“Because these young actors make so much money, people tend to forget that they’re just kids,” noted Adam Fields, who produced “Johnny Be Good” and has worked with Hall on and off for five years. “It’s tough enough to be a teen-ager and be leading what’s considered a normal life. Most successful young actors don’t attend school, so they don’t have the stabilizing structure of school in their lives. They’re showered with money and attention, and people cater to them and hang around just for the party. They sit around for months in between pictures with nothing to do, and that’s enough to make anybody nuts, much less a hyperactive teen-ager. They live in this bizarre, isolated environment and are probably less mature than most kids their age, then suddenly they’re expected to have answers to questions no teen-ager could answer.”

Hall was badly in need of a few answers by the time “Out of Bounds” was released in the summer of 1986, and decided to lay low for a spell.

“For various reasons, I felt nervous about things and turned down the equivalent of about $200 million in domestic box office over the past two years,” says Hall. “No kidding, I’ve given a lot of people jobs.”

Hall’s problems didn’t end when he gave himself a vacation, and weird stories about him turned up in the press with alarming regularity for the next two years: Hall creating disturbances in nightclubs, Hall with a serious chemical problem, Hall becomes Jesus freak. He denies none of it.

“Hey, I slugged a guy in a club a few months ago,” he says, explaining one of a handful of incidents. “My mother (Mercedes Hall) was singing there and some guy made a comment, so I hit him. Of course, the press reported it, but I don’t regret doing it.

“As for the Jesus freak thing, I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan records during the last two years. Dylan’s a ‘born-again’ Christian and I became a ‘born-again’ Christian for a few months, but I learned that scene is total bull. Things got scary, so I turned to my faith. I was seeking some knowledge and wanted to purify myself, and that’s when people thought I was really sick. So what’s the point?”

Another thing Hall was doing during his hiatus was hanging out with heavyweight champ Mike Tyson, who seems to be something of a mentor for Hall. “I’ve learned a lot from Mike,” says Hall, his voice shining with admiration for Tyson. “He told me something very simple. He said, ‘Hey, millions of people have talent--you gotta have talent and character.’ ”

The question arises: Where was Hall’s family during all this? In fact, Hall comes from what appears to be an unusually close-knit family. Born in Boston and reared in Manhattan, Hall was raised a Catholic, is managed by his stepfather, Tommy Chestaro, and admits to having “an Elvis trip on my mom.” He and his mother are devoted to one another.

“My family was there for me all along, waiting for me to wise up,” says Hall. “Sometimes it’s hard to see who’s trying to help you because sometimes you don’t want to be helped.”

Hall’s experiences with his family and his career are echoed in “Johnny Be Good,” which can be read as a metaphor for the past five years of his life.

“Michael is usually playing himself as much as he’s playing a role,” says producer Fields, “and I’ve seen strong parallels between his character and what was going on in his life in all four pictures I’ve done with him.”

The story of a small-town high school football star whose head gets turned by the various big-city teams out to recruit him, “Johnny Be Good” chronicles the identity crisis of a confused young man who hurts those closest to him as he struggles to sort out a code of ethics to live by.

Like his character in the film, Hall appears to have learned that free lunches are rare in life and absolutely never occur in Hollywood. Whereas he previously did press reluctantly, if at all, he’s now in the midst of a 20-city promotional tour for “Johnny Be Good.”

“I want the industry to know that I now understand and accept the responsibilities that go with being an actor,” says Hall. “Everywhere I go, people know who I am and that’s a privilege, but when I was 15 and people first started staring at me, I had a hard time dealing with it. Now I understand. If you wanna be the mayor, then be the mayor. I once went to a baseball game with Lorne Michaels and Jack Nicholson and Jack was like the mayor. You know, just so cool, never breaks stride--he just rides it. He got what he wanted and he knows how to enjoy it because he knows who he is.”