ANDREW McCARTHY on WALKING W/SAM, the BRAT PACK and a Return to Acting

I recently had the chance to sit down with Iconic Brat Pack action Andrew McCarthy, to talk about his new book Walking With Sam, his return to acting and all things Brat Pack (including a new documentary he is working on).

Kat Jenus - First, I have to ask, what on earth made you decide to walk 500 miles across Spain on the Camino de Santiago?

ANDREW McCARTHY – Ha! I first did it 25 years ago and it was a life changing experience. It helped me to see things, especially myself, more clearly. To pinpoint just one thing, it made me less fearful. And that was a game changer. The walk changed my place in the world.

KJ – And you recently did it again, this time with your 19-year-old son, Sam. Was it difficult to convince him to join you?

AM - I’d talked about the Camino so much over the years that I think he just wanted to see what all the fuss was about. But seriously, Sam was at a cross-roads in his life - cusping adulthood, venturing out into the world on his own, and I suggested he might find it valuable. And selfishly, I also wanted to help transition our relationship to an adult one, and I suspected the Camino might aid in that. He surprised me and said yes.

KJ - And?

AM - Well, to sum it up, on day two Sam demanded, “What’s the point of this F*%^ing walk!?” and then 500 miles later, on the last day, he turned to me and said, “Dad, that’s the only 10 out of 10 thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

KJ- And your new book, WALKING WITH SAM, grew out of that trip.

AM - Yes. It chronicles our journey, both the physical one and the emotional one. Walking across a country gives you a lot of time, obviously, to talk, to think, to fight (laughs). We covered a lot of territory - manhood, school, divorce, love, sex, drugs, intimacy, fame, friendship, all the father son chestnuts. We also had a lot of laughs. It’s a very personal book, but hopefully universal.

KJ - Where can people pick it up?

AM- All the normal spots you get books. Online and in stores. I did autograph a few copies that are on the Barnes & Noble website.

KJ - You became famous at a young age as a member of the BRAT PACK - Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire, and all the rest. What was that like?

AM- It’s funny, when you’re in the middle of things, it’s just your life, it seems normal, even if its abnormal. And looking back, all that attention and stuff was definitely not normal. But it took me years to begin to understand it. Early success altered the trajectory of my life and who I would become. I ran from it for a long time until I finally realized that in a way, I and the other members of the Brat Pack have become avatars of youth for a certain generation. And what a beautiful thing that is.

KJ - Do you still see the old gang?

AM – That’s probably the one question I get the most over the years. And I can finally give the answer people always want to hear, YES! I hadn’t seen any of the guys in close to 30 years, but I just made a documentary about the Brat Pack. I went back and caught up with so many people, Rob, Demi, Emilio, Ally, and a bunch more, and we talked about those days. I have to tell you, no one was more surprised and delighted than me to realize how much affection we all had for each other after all this time. It's like we were all members of a secret club. It was a great reunion.

KJ - When can we see that?

AM- I’m just putting the finishing touches on it. Probably be out in the fall. I’ll keep you posted.

KJ - You’ve been directing a lot of television, but you recently went back to acting.

AM – I stumbled into TV directing and it kind of swallowed up the last decade of work, but I got a call from an old friend to come play a doctor on The Resident, for a season. Acting is something that is so familiar, on a bone deep level. It was a kind of coming home to myself. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed it.

KJ – So what’s next? Acting, directing, another book?

AM- Maybe I’ll just walk across Spain again.

Walking with Sam hits stores May 9th and will embarking on a 20 city book tour as well. You can pre-order copies on Amazon and even snag a signed copy from Barnes and Noble online.