For moviegoers who see Molly Ringwald's new indie film All These Small Moments, they may be surprised to see the red-haired actress in an all new light.
Written and directed by Melissa B. Miller, All These Small Moments follows 16-year-old Howie Sheffield (Brendan Meyer). He begins to develop an attraction for an older divorcee (Jemima Kirke) as his parents, played by Ringwald and Brian d'Arcy James, hit a rough patch in their marriage. Unlike most films centered around teens, the parents in All These Small Moments aren't two-dimensional side characters. They have their own stories and depth as they help to drive the film's often relatable plot.
Ringwald, 50, has had a long and consistent acting career. Her body of work includes credits from iconic '80s flicks like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club to projects in her later years such as The Secret Life of the American Teenager and 2015's Jem and the Holograms movie. Despite her success, she's constantly looking for parts that she can relate to on some level. All These Small Moments was just that.
"What I find really interesting about it is the fact that even though it's from this boy's point-of-view, I feel like the movie is really almost about these women at three different times in their life," Ringwald told Newsweek. "There's the teenage girl at school, then there's the Jemima Kirke character who's getting divorced, and then there's my character. I really felt like it was really relatable because I've been through all those moments in life."
"Right now, I really relate to the character that I played, but I also felt like I've been through those moments in these other women's lives. I think that there's just a lot there for a lot of people to relate to," she added.
Ringwald recognized her character Carla is "very flawed." However, she reiterated that "she's not a bad person, she's just a real person."
While Ringwald prefers to select parts she finds to be "real and relatable" like she did with All These Small Moments, this has proven to be challenging at points for the actress. Despite gaining success early in her career, she's learned along the way the challenges of finding roles as she grew older. "I feel like for a long time I was typecast for the teen movies way longer because it was sort of that double-edged thing where the movies did so well and when a movie does that well, it's really hard for people to see you in any other way," she said.
"I feel like there are very few parts and women have almost historically been given way less chances to explore," she added. "A male star will be given many, many songs and still be able to get a movie financed….I feel like that's always something women have had to grapple with."
One of Ringwald's recurring parts is her role as Mary Andrews, mother to Archie Andrews, on The CW's popular series Riverdale. She's the perfect actress to play the protagonist's mother due to her previous reign as an '80s teen movie queen, but fans are likely wondering why her character has only appeared in the Season 3's premiere episode.
"I definitely hope to be back and I expect to be back. It's such an enormous cast. They have so many different storylines and I feel like they really haven't totally utilized Mary yet," she explained. "She doesn't live in Riverdale...Hopefully, that'll happen, but I've also been really busy too. Usually, they kind of call at the last minute. If I'm available, I'm like 'Great.' If not, then I can't."
All These Small Moments is in theaters on Thursday and hits VOD on Friday.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Dory Jackson is a New York-based entertainment journalist from Maryland. She graduated from Randolph-Macon College—in May 2016—with a focus in Communication ... Read more
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