Some of the '80s movies I did are sort of museum pieces. St. Elmo's Fire is great as a sort of kitschy, "Oh, my god, I can't believe we wore that" type of movie.

So I came to the realization: Nothing in life is unfair. It's just life.

I was sick of playing high-school kids. I liked being a teenager, but I would not go back for all the tea in China.

I go through phases where I'll overuse words. S.E. Hinton, who wrote The Outsiders - she and I have been in contact for the 50th anniversary of the book - and she said, "You still owe me the 10 dollars that we bet that you couldn't stop saying the word 'gnarly.'"

It was a little company that released [Bad Influence], it was really ahead of its time... I'm really proud of it. And it's Curtis Hanson. He'd directed a small movie before that, but it was his first directorial work that really worked.

To achieve longevity you will have cycles. No one gets there in one straight shot.

That chemistry that we had [with Fred Savage] is very, very hard to find. We were lucky to have those 22 episodes [of The Grinder]. I'm unendingly proud of it.