Nearly 40 years after the original, Rob Lowe says that a follow-up to the Brat Pack classic St. Elmo’s Fire is almost a reality.
In conversation with Kelly Ripa’s Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast, Lowe, 60, says that he is in touch with his fellow co-stars, including Demi Moore.
“We’re very much in contact now because we are actively trying to do (the) St. Elmo’s Fire sequel,” he said this week.
Lowe said that development on the a new instalment has been slow, but added that he and the rest of the cast, which included Moore, Andie MacDowell, Andrew McCarthy, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, Judd Nelson and Emilio Estevez, are all eager to return.
“We’re trying to find the right writer and the right story. But all of the actors, everybody is on board. Everybody is excited,” he said.
Released in the summer of 1985, the original film was directed by Joel Schumacher and followed a group of college graduates entering embarking on adulthood as they embarked on their post-school life.
Lowe said the storyline of new film would highlight “that it’s never too late for happiness.”
“Our kids are out of school and maybe some of us have been divorced and maybe somebody has been falling ill — all the things that you deal with as you get to our ages, this is an opportunity to explore those themes with characters that people know and love,” Lowe explained.
“And I think as opposed to just a money run, let’s just reboot it because people know the title of it. I actually think there’s a lot to be said about why we’re doing it. And I’m super excited about it. Hopefully we can pull it off.”
Lowe first revealed plans that the Brat Pack might be getting back together earlier this summer when he told Entertainment Tonight that conversations about continuing story had begun.
“We’ve met with the studio and I have been talking about doing it for about four months,” Lowe said. “But it’s very, very, very, very, very early stages. So we will see.”
Meanwhile, last month, during an interview with Variety at the Toronto International Film Festival, Moore said that discussions were underway with Sony, the studio behind St. Elmo’s Fire, to make a follow-up.
“The update is definitely, conversations are happening,” Moore told the outlet. “(The) studio has been really behind (and) driving this. As far as I know, everyone seems to be up for it, which I think would be amazing.”
Moore said the studio was “looking for the right partner” to pen the movie.
“Then I think we would all probably start to jump in and figure out who are these people this many years later,” she said.
In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly at TIFF, Moore said she has had “a couple of sit-down meetings” about potentially reprising her role as Jules.
“I think it would be great if we can come up with a story that I think holds up,” Moore explains when asked if she’d reprise her role as Jules. “Because you never want to diminish. I think, yes. For the most part, my understanding is that so far everyone is pretty much open and on board. We’ll see, but, yes!”