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The New Zealand Herald
The New Zealand Herald
Entertainment

Molly Ringwald: Sixteen Candles' #MeToo moment

Molly Ringwald has become "bothered" by a particular scene in 'Sixteen Candles' in light of the #MeToo movement.

The 50-year-old actress starred as 16-year-old Sam Baker in the John Hughes-directed coming-of-age comedy, but Molly has admitted her attitude towards one of the scenes has changed over time.

Actress Molly Ringwald arriving to the screening of 'All These Small Moments' during the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Photo / Getty

In the 1984 movie, Molly's on-screen crush contemplates taking advantage of his passed-out girlfriend.

He says: "I've got Caroline in the bedroom right now passed out cold. I could violate her 10 different ways if I wanted to."

Molly admitted the scene wouldn't be acceptable to a modern-day audience.

She said: "I think, you know, as everyone says and I do believe is true, that times were different and what was acceptable then is definitely not acceptable now and nor should it have been then, but that's sort of the way that it was..."

"I feel very differently about the movies now and it's a difficult position for me to be in because there's a lot that I like about them. And of course I don't want to appear ungrateful to John Hughes, but I do oppose a lot of what is in those movies."

Molly admitted to feeling uneasy about 'Sixteen Candles' now that she has children of her own.

Molly Ringwald at the 58th Annual Academy Awards, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. Photo / Getty

But she even had concerns about certain scenes as she was making the movie.

The actress - who has kids Mathilda, 14, and nine-year-olds Roman and Adele - told NPR: "I do see it differently. I mean, there were parts of that film that bothered me then. Although everybody likes to say that I had, you know, John Hughes' ear and he did listen to me in a lot of ways, I wasn't the filmmaker.

"And, you know, sometimes I would tell him, 'Well, I think that this is kind of tacky' or 'I think that this is irrelevant' or 'this doesn't ring true,' and sometimes he would listen to me but in other cases he didn't. And, you know, you don't want to speak up too much.

"You don't want to cross the line. Or at least that's the way that I felt at the time."

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