A stellar example of the sci-fi comedy genre in the 80s, Weird Science has taken on a new set of fans four decades after its popular theatrical debut.
The movie sees two nerdy students create the girl of their dreams using a doll and some old-school computer programming.
It is regarded by many as a hidden classic, pushed to the back seat in the 1985 teen comedy stakes by The Breakfast Club – both films written and directed by the legendary John Hughes within months of one another.
Grossing $38.9million (£29m) against a $7.5m (£5.6m) budget, Weird Science was greeted with positive reviews and adored by school children and parents alike.
It also launched the careers of its fledgling lead actors – and even boasted some names among its support cast who went on to become major Hollywood A-listers.
But where is the cast of the bizarre but hilarious Weird Science now?
Of all the stars created by the side-splitting comedy movie, Kelly LeBrock was the name on most audience members’ lips as they left the cinema.
She played doll-turned-real life woman, Lisa, who achieved her goal of finding protagonists Gary and Wyatt girlfriends and reconciling the latter with his nasty brother, Chet.
Weird Science has taken on a new set of fans four decades after its popular theatrical debut (pictured L-R: Anthony Michael Hall, Kelly LeBrock and Ilan Mitchell Smith in the movie)
The movie sees two nerdy students create the girl of their dreams to cope with their high school dementors (pictured L-R: Robert Rusler, Robert Downey Jr and Hall)
The American actress, who grew up in Kensington, west London, was a Christian Dior model before gaining her first role as the ‘perfect’ woman – the first of many – in 1984’s The Woman In Red.
The rom-com was written and directed by Gene Wilder – aka the original Willy Wonka – and sees Kelly playing the comedy legend’s love interest.
After the success of this and Weird Science, Hollywood execs raced to land the actress for their latest blockbusters.
But Kelly made the shock decision to take a break from acting until 1990 when she returned to the big screen opposited her then-husband Steven Seagal in Hard To Kill.
She starred in a string of movies in the next two decades, including Wrongfully Accused, Zerophilia and British flick The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and even showed up in an episode of Hell’s Kitchen in 2007.
Having had two children with Steven, son Dominic and daughter Arissa, she filed for divorce before marrying retired investment banker Fred Steck in 2007 and splitting with him the following year.
This month, Kelly talked giving up ‘diamonds for dirt’ as she enjoyed a rare night out on the town at the Vanderpump Dog Gala.
Clad in a cowboy hat and boots customized with her initials, the star, now 65, spoke exclusively with The Daily Mail about her idyllic life caring for livestock in the countryside.
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Kelly played doll-turned-real life woman, Lisa, pictured left, but recently talked giving up ‘diamonds for dirt’ at an appearance in Los Angeles this month, right
‘Dinner, drinks. Just seeing everybody,’ she said when asked what she was looking forward to that evening. ‘I don’t really go out anymore. I’m sort of a bit of a recluse, but I like it like that.
‘I gave up diamonds for dirt, and I have a big ranch that I have horses and cattle and dogs and chickens, and I take care of it myself,’ she said. ‘I have one man, one day a week that comes and helps.’
The property is located behind a lake in the Santa Ynez Valley – a place Kelly described as ‘a little gem.’
‘It’s behind the lake. It’s a little gem of its own. I live in church. The countryside there is so incredible,’ she said.
Kelly also opened up about her past health challenges she has endured – in particular, a bout with skin cancer.
The star was on hand promoting a new skincare product for animals when she brought up her past health woes.
She added: ‘I had a big skin cancer here, big hole that they made in me, and it’s completely gone. You can’t even see it.’
Kelly said she had been afflicted by the illness ‘a couple of times’.
Anthony was just 17 when he played Gary, pictured left. The actor, pictured, right, in 2023, waxed poetic about his wife Lucia and welcoming his first child two years ago
Responsible for the creation of Kelly – Lisa – in Weird Science are downtrodden teens Gary and Wyatt.
Fed up with being humiliated by their high school’s alpha males, Ian and Max – and jealous of their cheerleader girlfriends – the pair get inspired by watching Frankenstein and decide to conjure their own being, just a bit less monstrous.
Throwing parties and taking them for spins in her Cadillac and Porsche, Lisa succeeds in bringing the boys out of their shells.
And her mission is well and truly accomplished when the pair end up winning the affections of their tormentors’ girlfriends, Deb and Hilly, thanks to Lisa’s crafty plan.
The computer-programmed woman drafts in some terrifying bikers who take Deb and Hilly hostage, but when Gary and Wyatt stand up to the villains, the girls fall in love with the protagonists.
Anthony Michael Hall was just 17 when he played Gary and was a key member of John Hughes’s ‘Brat Pack’, the troupe of teen actors who starred in the likes of The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles.
In a bid to shake off his geek typecast, Anthony starred as the school’s star quarterback in Johnny Be Good before acting opposite Johnny Depp in unsettling gothic fantasy Edward Scissorhands.
After a quiet decade in the 90s, the actor shot back into the public consciousness by playing the lead role in USA Network’s sci-fi series The Dead Zone between 2002 and 2007.
Ilan played Wyatt in Weird Science, pictured left, and was just 16 at the time but the star, pictured, right, in 2013, has since given up the screen for becoming an academic
Anthony also played a supporting character in highly rated Batman adaptation The Dark Knight in 2008 and enjoyed a string of roles in the 2010s.
He starred as the main character in the third season of hit Amazon series Reacher this year, leaving fans – many of whom had not seen him since the 80s – in awe.
Hall got engaged to Lucia Oskerova, a Slovak-Canadian actress, in 2019 and they had a son, named Michael, in 2023.
On fatherhood, he said: ‘Everything that everybody tells you is pretty true: you lose sleep and it’s the craziest time, but it’s the best time. So we’re really enjoying it.’
Anthony waxed poetic about Lucia, dishing that her ‘tiger mom instincts kicked in and she’s on top of everything’.
‘She does great research and we read tons of books and are also just learning on the job, getting thrown into it,’ he said. ‘We just love it, it’s been amazing to really fully be in parent mode.
‘I couldn’t be happier because I always knew, even when I was a young man, that I wanted to get started later. Here I am at 55, and I’m fully committed. I’m excited. My wife and I are really into parenting and diving in.’
Earlier this year, Anthony reminisced about his time working on 1983’s National Lampoon’s Vacation, starring opposite Saturday Night Live legend Chevy Chase.
Robert plays school jock Ian in the sci-fi hit, pictured left, and the star, pictured, right, in October, has gone on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest A-listers
Reflecting on Chevy’s on-set behaviour, he said: ‘Puberty kicked in for me. I was a foot taller and like a different kid.
‘Guess who pointed the s**t out right away and made me feel really good about it on set?’
Ilan Mitchell-Smith played Wyatt in Weird Science and was just 16 at the time.
But his film career was already well underway, having starred in Sidney Lumet’s Daniel in 1982 and playing a starring role in 1984’s The Wild Life.
None of his next movies were anywhere near as popular as Weird Science, causing Ilan to call it a day in 1991 with a cameo on Silk Stalkings.
Echoing his nerdy character in Weird Science, the New Yorker received a degree in Medieval Studies from University of California, Davis in 1991 before getting a Masters from Fordham University.
The former actor then received a doctoral degree from Texas A&M University in 2005.
He has been an associate professor in the English department at California State University, Long Beach since 2020 having also lectured at a Texas university.
Ilan has published papers on chivalry in the later Middle Ages, as well as work on cinematic, television, and video-game versions of medieval culture.
He took his interest in the time period to a different sphere by writing pieces on hit computer game Dungeons & Dragons and writing for gaming magazines.
The Weird Science alum married Susannah Demaree, who is a psychotherapist, in 1995 and the couple’s children were born in 1998 and 2000.
Ilan is legally blind after being diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa in 2014.
Slightly more successful after a star turn in Weird Science was Ilan’s fellow teen star, Oscar-winning Hollywood A-lister Robert Downey Jr.
The actor plays school jock Ian in the sci-fi hit and kicked on from his performance to commence a stellar career which continues to this day.
He also starred in Brat Pack film Less Than Zero in 1987 but moved on from the group to play Charlie Chaplin in 1992’s Chaplin, for which he won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Academy Award.
Robert’s thriving film career was put on hold after being sent to Corcoran Substance Abuse Treatmen on drug charges in 2000 and being kicked off TV series Ally McBeal following more drug arrests.
He won a Golden Globe for playing Sherlock Holmes in the eponymous 2009 film and became a Hollywood lead man starring as Iron Man in 10 films between 2008 and 2019.
The star became the highest-paid actor in the industry from 2013 to 2015 and gained critical acclaim playing Lewis Strauss in Oppenheimer in 2023, for which he won an Oscar.
Having divorced singer Deborah Falconer, he tied the knot with Susan Levin, a film producer, in 2005. They have two children, with Robert having another dating back to his first marriage.
In 2023, the star opened up about his prison stint saying that jail had ‘evil in the air’ and it was the ‘most dangerous place’ he’s ever been.
He described a facility in Delano, California, as being a receiving centre he was in as being ‘arguably the most dangerous place I’ve ever been in my life’.
The centre hosted all prisoners before they were assigned to specific lock-ups, and Downey said they were particularly dangerous because the most serious criminals were locked-up with people convicted of non-violent or minor offenses.
Robert has been sober since 2003.
