All of the directors I've worked with I have loved and would work with again. I have no favorites.

Though [John] Hughes did provide for us, if we wanted, to go to a local high school and try to blend in. Michael [Hall] and Molly [Ringwald ] already had school to go to with their tutors. Ally [Sheedy] wanted nothing to do with high school. She said, "I remember it fine. I don't want to go back." Which is great. So Emilio [Estevez] and I went. And Emilio lasted a couple hours because people recognized him from The Outsiders that had already been out, so his cover was blown.

Catcher in the Rye had a profound impact on me-the idea that we all have lots of dreams that are slowly being chipped away as we grow up.

You have to kind of roll with the punches. That's why I think work begets work to a certain degree. I just try and keep busy.

[John] Hughes was well aware that to ignore the seriousness of young people is to encourage things like Columbine, so you might want to listen. And we were all pretty serious, a little bit, in high school. Some a little more than others.

Paul Gleason played the teacher. I just tortured him as best I could. 'Cause he wasn't one of the kids, you know, so it was okay. He was great.

There was no one really like John Bender at my high school.