POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
What have you decided about going to college?

MOLLY RINGWALD:
I was thinking about it. I don't think I really want to take four years off right now and go through the whole college thing. I just don't think it would be right for me right now. My career is more important to me. But I would eventually like to go back to school, maybe for a month or two months at a time and sort of do it that way.

PCC:
What first attracted you to "For Keeps"?

RINGWALD:
It was the subject matter -- teen pregnancy, which is a large problem today. It's sort of gotten out of hand. The statistics are shocking, the percentage of woman 15 to 20 who get pregnant each year. And I haven't seen many movies that dealt with this subject matter very well.

Once in a while, you turn on the television and see some documentary talking a little bit about teenage pregnancy and the horrors of it, what can be done about it and all the kids that have no money and have to drop out of school and can't find a job or aren't qualified to work. And it's so depressing that you just don't want to hear about it. You just turn off the television and say, "I don't want to deal with it."

So I thought that this movie dealt with the subject in a different way. It sort of had a different approach to it. It had likable characters, a lot of humor, a lot of romance, but still managed to bring that topic up for discussion. So that was essentially why I decided to do the film.

Secondly, I though that the character was a good person, an intelligent girl who had everything going for her and was a good representation. Usually when you see these projects, they're usually about girls -- everybody wants to know why teenage girls are getting pregnant. And I think they sort of think, "Oh, well, they don't have anything else going for them and they feel like their boyfriend will love them more" and all these pat answers that people have. And this really shows everybody that no, it doesn't just happen to girls who don't have anything going for them, that it isn't just an escape. It's something that just happens. And it could happen to anybody.

PCC:
You were determined that the piece have a serious side, in addition to the comedy?

RINGWALD:
Well, it was definitely my intention to do this film to touch people in a positive way. Not that I want to do films just to give a message to somebody or to teach somebody a lesson, because I don't feel qualified to do that. I know what's right for me, but I can't tell every kid out there what's right for them. It's up to them to decide for themselves.

But while I was doing this film, it was very important to me that it didn't come off as some kind of film glorifying teenage pregnancy. And I don't think it does. I think it has a lot of humor, a lot of romance in it, but it still sufficiently shows the horrors of having a baby when you're that young.

I mean, yes, it also shows a lot of good points. Yes, they are in love. Yes, it is the cutest little baby you've ever seen [laughs]. But still that doesn't mean it's going to make your life everything you want it to be.

I didn't feel like the film should be a condom commercial or anything. But I also felt a certain responsibility, being a role model, in a sense, to kids out there. I felt that I couldn't just do a film that would glorify this very serious subject.

PCC:
It certainly has a different tone from "The Pick-Up Artist."

RINGWALD:
I consider that movie and this movie completely different, like night and day, just like the film I just completed in Cincinnati, "Fresh Horses" is completely different from this one. I think there's a time and a place for everything. This dealt specifically with teenage pregnancy. And it could have very easily turned into something that it shouldn't have been, that I don't think it should have been morally. I didn't want to do a film that tells every kid out there to get pregnant, because Molly Ringwald did and it's okay.

Whenever you do a controversial film or anything, screenplay or whatever, you have to take a stand, one way or another. My character cannot get pregnant, keep it and have an abortion at the same time. So you have to decide which you're going to do. So this script had her keep the baby and went from there. She could have just as easily had an abortion and that would have been another movie, another good movie, I don't know. Obviously there will be people who disagree and say, "Oh, it's terrible, telling everybody that abortions are bad," and I don't think it's doing that. It's just what one boy and girl decided to do and how it affected them and how it affected their lives and affects the family. We saw this more as a love story.

PCC:
Randall said his favorite scene was the shower scene.

RINGWALD:
[Laughs] That was okay. Contrary to popular belief, I'm sure, I was not actually nude. I was always wearing a leotard. Both of us had our clothes on. But it was fun. I thought it was a cute scene. It was one of my favorite scenes in the script, as far as it was written.

PCC:
How much consideration do you give to the fact that you do have millions of girls, watching your every step. Does that sway how you make your career choices?

RINGWALD:
Well, yes it does, to a certain extent. When I started in this business, I wanted to be an actress. I still want to be an actress. That's what I want to do. If I wanted to change people and tell people what to do, I would have become a politician. That's not what I want to do. I don't want to be President. I don't want to tell everybody what is right and what's wrong. I want to do what's right for me. And if I can affect people in a positive way, then I will. And I think that that's a gift. And yes, it is a responsibility. Sometimes it makes me a little uncomfortable.

PCC:
What's your preparation like in taking on a new role?

RINGWALD:
I observe a lot, wherever I go, not just for acting, but for writing. I talk to a lot of teenagers. After all, I'm a teenager. It's not so much about what they say to me. It's just characteristics and the way that they act. I don't go up to kids and interview them. I couldn't do it. It would be ridiculous.

But for instance, the last film that I did, in Kentucky and Cincinnati, I'd never been there before, hadn't spent any time there. And I was playing a girl from Kentucky, from the hills. I thought, "How can I play this girl? This isn't me." Obviously a lot of imagination goes into it. But then I also went to a department store. I went to the makeup counter, which is the best way to talk to girls, the best way to gossip.

And once they get over the initial shock that I'm actually there, after like about 10 minutes of, "Oh, my God, my God, my God," then they sort of calm down and become themselves and talk the way they naturally do. And that's what I did. And I try to do that wherever I go, not just for anything in particular, but for something I may want to recall later on.

PCC:
And you see a lot of teens when you attend Beastie Boys concerts.

RINGWALD:
Yeah, I've been to a few Beastie Boy concerts and look at the way people dress, the way they talk and scream and act, react. So that's another source.

PCC:
Having graduated from the John Hughes films, do you feel a lot of pressure to live up to other people's expectations for you to expand your career?

RINGWALD:
I don't really feel pressure too much in that regard. You know, whatever I do, some people are going to think it's the right choice and others will think it's the wrong choice. There's nothing I can do about that. It's just always going to be that way. I just try to do what I feel is best for me.

A lot of that's instinctual. A lot of it is consciously planned out. But it just usually depends on the project. I cannot worry about whether every move that I make is the right career choice. I can't. Plus I wouldn't want to. It isn't fun.

PCC:
Going back to that sense of responsibility, in terms of being a role model... Is that reinforced by your interactions with fans, with fan mail?

RINGWALD:
I don't necessarily get that feeling from fans, so much as I get it from the press. I never really saw myself as a role model until it started being written everywhere and I thought, "What is this?" And I wasn't really aware of it.

I still don't even know if I particularly believe all of it. But then I've met kids on the street or people that come up to me or write me letters or talk to my father, my mother. My parents come home and say, "Oh, I talked to the nicest person in the drug store today and they wanted to know if I was related to you and they told me that they really liked your movies and this movie really changed their life." So that's when I really started to get a clue as to the effect that I'm really having on people.

PCC:
Is it difficult to even walk down the streets?

RINGWALD:
Well, New York usually isn't bad, nor is L.A., because they see a lot more famous people there. It's more passé. Usually when I have trouble is in places where I'm filming, for instance in Cincinnati [laughs] or Kentucky or Winnipeg, where I filmed part of this movie. They're not particularly used to films there. And it's more interesting and exciting, not such an everyday occurrence.

PCC:
What was your reaction to being on the cover of Time magazine and Life magazine?

RINGWALD:
I thought it was really wonderful and flattering, of course. But I also thought it was weird. I thought it was a little bit over the top, all the stuff they said about me. Looking back, I was kind of in a state of shock. I didn't really realize what a big deal it was, because they pretty much came one after the other -- Life magazine, Time magazine, this magazine, that magazine. It was weird [laughs].

PCC:
Are you looking for a role that would give you an opportunity to sing?

RINGWALD:
No, I'm not looking for one specifically. If one came along that I liked... Singing is not particularly important for me, as a career. I love it, singing for fun, with my friends, with my father's band or whatever. But it's not something I'm really looking for right now.

PCC:
Which actresses have made the greatest impressions on you?

RINGWALD:
I love Myrna Loy, Natalie Wood, Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange, Holly Hunter. Those are the ones that come to mind, right off the top of my head. Carole Lombard, Judy Holliday.

PCC:
Have you ever tried to replicate Keaton's look or any of those actresses' fashion styles?

RINGWALD:
No, there's definitely no conscious effort to do that. I don't set out to look like somebody else. I usually just buy what's comfortable on me. No, I don't set out to make any kind of fashion statement.

PCC:
Being interviewed so often when you were so young, do you ever look back at the quotes and think, "Why did I say that?"

RINGWALD:
Well, when you're young, ages 12 to 21, I would say more so than when you're older, you're a different person every day, almost every minute. You're constantly changing, or at least I found it so with myself. I was constantly changing my ideas and my opinions. One day I would feel so strongly about something and announce it to everybody, the entire world, my family and my friends. And that was that. And the next day, I was like, "Maybe not" [laughs]. But I think that's just part of growing up -- changing your mind and finding what's right for you, what you feel strongly about.

I was also a lot more shy... Well, I'm still shy. But I was really painfully shy at that time and I didn't really always say what I thought. I would hold back.

PCC:
What kind of writing are you doing?

RINGWALD:
Well, it varies -- stories, parts of scripts, scenes, observations on people. I keep a journal, off and on.

PCC:
Are you hoping to get something published or produced?

RINGWALD:
One day, maybe. I don't find that anything I've written so far I'd like to turn into a studio and have it made into a film. I just don't think I'm ready. I'm still learning a great deal every day. I'd like to wait until I really think that I have something that's worthwhile, before I submit it to anybody.

PCC:
What can you tell us about "Fresh Horses"?

RINGWALD:
Andrew [McCarthy] is a guy who has everything going for him, in college, engaged to be married, from a middle-class family. His friend talks him into going to this house in the middle of nowhere, saying, "You may be getting married, but you're not dead yet. Just go out and have a good time. It's a great party, great people." And it's this house out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of Kentucky, so it's a real different element for him.

So he goes there and he meets me. And I'm sort of this girl from the hills, uneducated, practically illiterate, sexy. And I'm very complex. I'm a liar, for one thing. You never really know if what I'm saying is true. And neither does Andrew. So it's basically a very suspenseful, passionate love story. I don't think it's making a great statement on anything in particular. It's basically a romantic love story.

PCC:
Looking back on your career, what do you think are the elements of your performances that have made you so popular, particularly with young audiences? Why do they relate to you?

RINGWALD:
I don't think I can really tell you. It's very difficult for me to be objective about myself. I usually leave that up to other people. I know that I do good movies, I think. Every movie that I see is always not particularly what want it to be. Maybe that's because I'm a perfectionist. I always find things that I could have done differently. And I think I'll always be that way. So I always want to do different films, ones that will challenge me and my abilities and are just different from the last one.

Also, I don't work all the time, which I think could have something to do with it. I think when people work constantly and don't really put that much thought or commitment into what they do, it doesn't really help [laughs].

PCC:
But there's got to be something beyond that that would make all these girls want to dress like you, wear their hair like you, be like you.

RINGWALD:
Yeah, but, as I said, I can't really say what that is, because I don't know.

PCC:
Is it a bit scary, having people out there emulating you so closely?

RINGWALD:
It's a little funny, because of course, just about everybody, except somebody who's completely narcissistic [laughs], I suppose, isn't completely happy with the way that they look. I'm certainly not. I'm always thinking, "Gosh, I wish I looked like so and so. I wish my hair was longer. I wish I was thinner. I was I was whatever." So I think it's funny to see girls who all they want to do is look like me.

I can remember being 15, 16 years old and all I wanted to do was look like Diane Keaton or Natalie Wood or whoever. So it's not that abnormal. And I'm sure they probably thought the same thing, when they saw people dressing like them, they were like, "Aieee!, Why do you want to do that?"