Molly Ringwald Says Duckie From ‘Pretty in Pink’ Is Gay, and Should’ve Ended up With a ‘Cute Guy’
Most die-hard fans of Pretty In Pink are either Team Duckie or Team Blane. Before Edward vs. Jacob, ‘80s fans wondered whether Molly Ringwald’s character should have ended up with her eccentric best friend or her heartthrob crush. But according to Ringwald, the film made the right choice by having her character end up with Blane. Why? Because from Ringwald’s perspective, she believes that Duckie is gay.
Jon Cryer, on the other hand, respectfully disagrees with Ringwald’s theory. Keep reading to find out why.
Duckie and Andie were supposed to end up together at the end of ‘Pretty In Pink’
Initially, John Hughes wrote the script so that Duckie and Andie would end up together in the end. Ringwald believes this is because it reflected the director’s own experience in high school. Back in his schooling days, Hughes was the eccentric dorky guy who was pining after the pretty girl in school. He ended up with her, and the two got married, so Hughes wanted to write a story that mirrored his own experience. Unfortunately, test audiences did not like this ending and wanted Andie to end up with Blane instead.
“When Andie and Duckie’s dance flickered on-screen, the kids in the audience reacted quite passionately: They started loudly booing,” the book on John Hughes’ movies, You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried reveals. “The filmmakers sat there, stunned and saddened, as the truth sank in. ‘It was clear,’ says Howard Deutch, ‘That they didn’t want her to be with that guy.”
And the test audience members weren’t the only ones booing the Duckie and Andie pairing. According to Ringwald herself, she hated the idea of the two ending up together. From her perspective, she believed that Duckie wasn’t even attracted to girls.
Molly Ringwald thinks that Duckie from ‘Pretty In Pink’ is gay and should have ended up with a guy
In the ‘80s classic, Duckie spends the entire movie pining after his best friend, played by Ringwald. Yet sadly, he doesn’t end up with her because their romantic feelings aren’t mutual. But according to Ringwald, she thinks that Duckie should have scored a cute guy at the end of the movie instead of the blonde girl from the prom that he ultimately ends up with.
“Duckie doesn’t know he’s gay,” Ringwald tells Out Magazine (via The Huffington Post.) “I think he loves Andie in the way that [my gay best friend] always loved me. That ending fell so flat — it bombed at all the screenings. I didn’t realize it then — I just knew that my character shouldn’t end up with him because we didn’t have that sort of chemistry. If John was here now, and I could talk to him, I think that he would completely acknowledge that.”
Separately, she says that if the movie were to be remade now, Cryer’s character would definitely have a male love interest by the end of the film.
Jon Cryer doesn’t think his character Duckie is gay but instead effeminate
According to Cryer, he respectfully disagrees with Ringwald’s theory.
“Yes, she said that the guy whom Duckie was based on was gay. It’s a different thing. Let’s be clear here,” says the actor. “No, she actually said that if one projected beyond the movie, that Duckie would be out by now. And I respectfully disagree.”
He continued, saying, “I want to stand up for all the slightly effeminate dorks that are actually heterosexual. Just cause the gaydar is going off doesn’t mean your instruments aren’t faulty. I’ve had to live with that, and that’s OK.”
