Hughes and Broderick seemingly continued to butt heads, with the scorching filmmaker telling his lead actor that he didn’t act like he was really in the moment on set. Broderick’s cool exterior had also been hinted at by other directors, so maybe Hughes was right at the time. Broderick admitted to THR:
“I’ve heard that from other directors too. Sometimes I drive people crazy because I don’t seem to be doing something sometimes it seems. But hopefully eventually I will. He’s not the first director to grab me at some point and say, ‘What’s wrong with you?'”
This initial argument led to a few more minor quibbles on set and let Broderick know that Hughes wasn’t always a pleasure to be around during production. “He was someone who could get mad at you,” he said. “Not outwardly angry, but you could tell. He would be dead.” When Hughes didn’t like something, he wasn’t someone to sugarcoat things, which caused Broderick to start feeling self-conscious about playing a role that calls for an extreme extrovert. The worst came when Hughes refused to give Broderick any direction for several days in a row.
They eventually reached an agreement, though the two never ended up working together on another project again. Even though it was a teen comedy at the end of the day, Broderick learned that Hughes always wanted a certain level of perfection. “He took the job very seriously, that’s what I mean,” he said. “[John] was not a coward. But he also didn’t hold a grudge and knew how to get out of it.” As the author of teenage angst, it’s nice to know that Hughes can still be a grown-up at times.