The death of John Hughes last week has breathed new life into a documentary on the legendary filmmaker who spent the final years of his life as a recluse from his old Hollywood life.
The documentary, aptly titled "Don't You Forget About Me," was the brainchild of a team of Toronto filmmakers who sat around one day marveling about the genius of Hughes' films.
Hughes, who is behind the wildly popular 80s films on teen angst including "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," "The Breakfast Club" and "Sixteen Candles," had been out of the Hollywood scene for some time at that point -- and so, the four filmmakers decided to look for him and document their search.
After four years of filming, they wrapped up the movie last year but they never imagined it would be Hughes' death that would catapult their movie into the hands of Hollywood.
Film producer Lenny Panzer was "really sad" when he heard about the director's passing, he told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday, because he was hoping Hughes would have a chance to watch the documentary which he described as a "love letter" to his work.
"We were excited for him to see how much he touched people's lives," he said.
Hughes passed away August 6 at age 59 from a sudden heart attack while out for a walk in Manhattan. In the last years of his life, Hughes shied away from all media attention, choosing to live the life of a farmer in his Illinois hometown.
"He didn't just lose contact with Hollywood, he lost contact with all the people he used to work with," said documentary director Matt Austin. "We have messages at the end of our film from people who were really, really close with him but who hadn't seen him in years.
"That was one of the most interesting things," he continued. "We went to those people for answers and they came asking us questions about him."
In their movie, Austin, Panzer and fellow producers Michael Facciolo and Kari Hollend-Wright, chase down the stars who made names for themselves through Hughes films, including Ally Sheedy, Justin Henry and Jason Reitman.
They also spoke to rock group Simple Minds who penned "Don't you forget about me," the song that was made popular in "The Breakfast Club" soundtrack.
Molly Ringwald, the actress who was often considered to be Hughes' muse, declined to be interviewed.
The filmmakers won't say if they end up talking to Hughes in the film, but Austin says the team realized just how big of an impact the director's movies still have on teens.
"We were on the road and spoke to teenagers across Canada and the U.S. who are in high school right now saying those films have a language that speak to them more than anything that has come out since those films," said Austin.
The Toronto team shopped their film around to different production companies but the recession didn't bring them much luck. However, in the days after Hughes' death, Alliance Films agreed to buy the documentary for an undisclosed sum.
A release date hasn't been set but the filmmakers say they're excited to see Hughes finally get the recognition he deserves.
"People know those movies but don't necessarily know his name," said Austin. "Now hopefully they'll know his name, but unfortunately it came through death."
