# In 1987, Paul Newman was asked for his thoughts on a filmmaker who defined the decade. He’d never heard of them

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/in-1987-paul-newman-was-asked-for-his-thoughts-on-a-filmmaker-who-defined-the-decade-hed-never-heard-of-them/
- Published: 2026-10-22T23:15:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:39:07+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/paul-newman-filmmaker-defined-decade-never-heard-of-them/
- Topics: Entertainment, Film

## Key points

- Newman said he had never heard of John Hughes.
- Hughes had already made several defining teen films.
- The exchange captured a generational gap in cinema.

## Summary

In 1987, actor Paul Newman was asked about filmmaker John Hughes, whose teen-focused films had become a defining force in popular cinema. Newman said he had never heard of Hughes or his film *Pretty in Pink*, then declined to continue the discussion, saying he had trouble with names.

By then, Hughes had written or directed several prominent youth-oriented films, including *Sixteen Candles*, *The Breakfast Club*, *Weird Science* and *Ferris Bueller’s Day Off*. He had also recently finished filming *Planes, Trains and Automobiles*. The article presents Newman’s unfamiliarity as a contrast between his long career and Hughes’s growing influence, while noting Newman was in his early sixties and uninterested in the teen-film trend.

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