John Hughes Sixteen Candles Almost Had a Very Different Jake Ryan

Publish date: 2024-08-03

The Big Picture

The '80s birthed many classic films, specifically formative teen comedies that we still love to this day. Come to think of it, we really have John Hughes to thank for all those teen shenanigans. Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink are just some of the classics the writer-director is responsible for in that decade. John Hughes movies changed how we talk about teens on-screen, as he just seemed to have a knack for writing teenage characters with finesse and a talent for crafting the worlds in which they exist. Another staple of 1980s Hollywood was teen screen queen Molly Ringwald, who starred in multiple Hughes productions. She was the "it" girl of the '80s, leading countless films with endearing charm.

One of her best roles was in Sixteen Candles, which was also John Hughes' directorial debut. The film follows Ringwald's Sam Baker who endures the cringiest and most stressful 16th birthday thanks to her family's forgetfulness and her classmates behavior. The film also stars Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Schoeffling, the latter of whom is the love interest, Jake Ryan. We can’t imagine anyone else playing Jake Ryan, as he was the perfect heartthrob while still having a good heart and genuine care (and chemistry) with Ringwald’s Samantha. But as it turns out, the character could have been vastly different, as another (now well-known and beloved) actor almost scored the role: Viggo Mortensen.

Molly Ringwald Wanted Viggo Mortensen for 'Sixteen Candles'

When casting for the film began, Molly Ringwald was brought in to play the main character of Samantha, as John Hughes had written the character based on her. So she was really a no-brainer, and while watching the film, it’s clear to see why. It may be impossible for another actress to portray a teenage girl of the same caliber that Molly Ringwald did. She captured the confusion, heartache, frustration, and awkwardness of being a teenager with ease. Alongside Ringwald was Anthony Michael Hall, another John Hughes vet, who played Ted — a nerdy character with a huge crush on Sam. Hall earned his role after John Hughes saw his performance in National Lampoon’s Vacation, of which Hughes wrote the screenplay, and was so impressed that he knew he had to have him in Sixteen Candles. But when it came to casting the film's love interest there were two actors in the running, Michael Schoeffling and Viggo Mortensen.

Yes, before he was Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, Viggo Mortensen auditioned for the role of Jake Ryan in Sixteen Candles. But his audition didn’t go quite as smoothly as one may have hoped. Casting director Jackie Burch recalled Mortensen’s audition in an interview featured on the Blu-ray edition of the film. “I did meet Viggo Mortensen,” Burch recalled. “He came in and read for Jake and I remember saying to him, ‘I hear an accent.’ He was so quiet. He didn’t want me to hear his accent. I just didn’t think he was right. I thought he was really interesting but I didn’t think right.” In the same interview Burch spoke of Michael Schoeffling’s audition and why she ultimately felt he deserved the role over Mortensen: “Schoeffling had such a sweetness about him. Even though he was very shy, even when he came in for the producers, he was very low key, very sad. He just had dental work and that’s why he was low key. I just knew he could do it. There was something about him, he was a real person.”

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Molly Ringwald, however, revealed in an interview with Access Hollywood that she had hoped Viggo would get the role. "I really wanted [Viggo Mortensen]. He made me weak in the knees. He really did." She also revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that she actually auditioned with both Mortensen and Schoeffling. "It was between two men... It was Michael Schoeffling, who ended up being cast, and Viggo Mortensen,” She recalled. “I was 15 years old, and I flew to New York to read with everyone. It got to the (final) Jake Ryan shot, and we had the kissing scene. And Michael Schoeffling did not kiss me during the audition -- Viggo Mortensen did.” However, this may have been due in part to the fact that Schoeffling was 23 to Ringwald’s 15 at the time of filming, an example of something from a 1980s movie that hasn't aged well.

The Lord of the Rings Franchise Boosted Mortensen's Career

As interesting as it is to imagine Viggo Mortensen in the role of Jake Ryan it’s also clear that Michael Schoeffling really was the perfect choice. As the casting director said, Viggo was quiet and shy in his audition and that just wouldn’t translate well to the popular jock character of Jake Ryan. Sure, he had the heartthrob thing down but we’ll happily take him as Aragorn instead. He went on to have a great career of course, but still, we can’t help but imagine how the film would’ve looked had Mortensen been cast — the character of Jake Ryan would likely have been wholly different, maybe not in a bad way, but nothing like the character we know and love.

Mortensen’s film debut came in 1985, a year after Sixteen Candles, when he starred in Peter Weir’s thriller film Witness. After that, he went on to star in a number of films such as Portrait of a Lady, G.I Jane, Green Book, and Eastern Promises. But his career really got a jump start in 2001 when Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released. Mortensen portrayed the character of Aragorn in each film of the trilogy and garnered international praise for his performance. And outside of acting, Mortensen has a distinct love for fine arts such as photography and poetry, and even opened a publishing house called Perceval Press, which seeks to help publish works that may not find a home among traditional publishing houses. He’s also released plenty of books of poetry, photography, and paintings.

All in all, everything seemed to work out for everyone involved, we couldn’t imagine a more perfect Jake Ryan than Michael Schoeffling, just like we couldn’t imagine a more perfect Aragorn than Viggo Mortensen. Still, it’s fun to dream about and imagine what it could have looked like. And for Molly Ringwald’s sake, or rather, the dream of her teenage self, maybe she and Mortensen will get their chance to work together in the future.

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