1 of 5 | Anthony Michael Hall solved the first challenge on “Nation’s Dumbest,” Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EDT on Fox. Photo courtesy of Fox
The Fox competition show Nation’s Dumbest, airing Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EDT, pits celebrities against each other in trivia challenges. Contestant Anthony Michael Hall said presidential candidate Andrew Yang gravitated towards him on the set.
In a recent phone interview with UPI, Hall said Yang is the right age to be familiar with his ’80s movies.
“Andrew Yang, because he’s my age group, he was very complimentary,” Hall, 58, said.
Contestants include Ice-T, Carmen Electra and Hilaria Baldwin, but Jackass star Steve-O was Hall’s biggest draw.
“I was like, ‘Oh, Steve-O’s doing it. That’ll be fun,'” Hall said.
‘Nation’s Dumbest’ was surprisingly challenging
On Nation’s Dumbest, contestants hope to be eliminated so they do not end up the final contestant. Elle King went home first so Hall is still competing.
“There was trivia involved, word games, brain games, every other thing, science, math,” Hall said. “Some of the challenges were physical too.”
Filming took place over 12 days with each episode completed in a single day.
“I think we had four challenges each day,” Hall said. “You embrace it, you go for it and have some fun and not take yourself too seriously which is a very key reminder for all of us that work in show business.”
Hall said he was primarily exposed to reality TV shows through his wife, Lucia Oskerova, who enjoys dating shows. Nation’s Dumbest showed him it’s not so easy.
“I’ve talked a fair amount of smack about reality shows,” Hall said. “It was also a bit of karma when this offer came down.”
Fox must have been pleased with his performance on Nation’s Dumbest because they offered Hall two more opportunities since.
“I think they were asking me if I wanted to do Masked Singer but I also got an offer from Fox to do Name That Tune,” Hall said. “It’s just too quick a turnaround to do Name That Tune but listen, never say never.”
The John Hughes era
Forty years later, Hall is still known for the movies he made with John Hughes. Hall remembers their connection after his audition for Sixteen Candles.
“It was like we were both brothers,” Hall said. “Either we were both 15 or I was 35.”
In all three films, Hall played a nerd or geek who shows he’s more than his stereotype. Sixteen Candles even named him Geek.
“I think there’s a bit of a paradigm with his films,” Hall said. “Everyone winds up a little bit better off at the end than they started.”
The Breakfast Club explored stereotypes even further, with five teens spending Saturday in detention. The Criterion Collection edition of the film includes 50 minutes of deleted and extended scenes.
Hall does not remember specific scenes removed from the 97-minute film but recalls shooting extensively. He credits editor Dede Allen with crafting the final cut in collaboration with Hughes.
“I don’t know how many thousands of feet of footage, but John was known for letting the magazine run out,” Hall said. “Back then, that was I guess 10 minutes of film.”
While working on The Breakfast Club, Hughes imagined Weird Science, in which Gary (Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) use their computer to create Lisa (Kelly LeBrock). Hughes pitched Hall the first 30 pages.
“So after shooting a 12-hour day, he went home and that’s his output, his creativity as a writer,” Hall said. “He wrote 30 pages, a first act.”
Forty-two years later, Hall is struck that Weird Science is no longer science fiction. AI companies are selling virtual girlfriends.
“I found two young kids, literally teenagers that did their own version of it too, like a reboot using AI,” Hall said. “I was really impressed with that – from the ’80s to AI.”
In 2022, Hall told UPI that Hughes had written Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with Hall in mind. At the time, Hall wanted to graduate from teenage roles and regrets that he hurt Hughes’ feelings by turning down that and Prettty in Pink.
Still, late in the ’80s, they made up in a phone call with John Candy also on the line.
“During that call, he did mention this idea of a sequel to The Breakfast Club, like where would these kids be later in life,” Hall said. “If they were in the workforce, how would they reconnect if they all had jobs and lives?”
Growing up from teen movies
When Columbia Pictures offered Hall the action movie Out of Bounds, he leapt at the chance. At 18, Hall plays a young man on the run from New York drug dealers.
“That really marked the first kind of new chapter for me where I’d left the high school films,” Hall said. “It was very clear cut for me that I wanted to move forward from that. Obviously [I’m] grateful for all the experiences because those films changed my life.”
The college comedy Johnny Be Good, a villain role in Edward Scissorhands and drama Six Degrees of Separation were among subsequent roles. In 2002, he began The Dead Zone, a TV adaptation of the Stephen King novel that ran six seasons.
Hall played a TV reporter in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. He was impressed by Gary Oldman and Christian Bale as well as a co-star with whom he did not share scenes.
“I was getting messages from Eric Roberts, who wanted to rehearse,” Hall said. “So I wound up hanging out with Eric Roberts, running lines with Eric Roberts at his request.”
In a break between takes, Hall shared a brief moment with the Odyssey director.
“I said, ‘Who are your favorite directors?'” Hall said. “He goes, ‘Malick,’ pause, ‘Ridley,’ pause and then he goes ‘and Kubrick for his sense of control.’ And then the conversation was over. He shared that with me.”
Other directors brought back Hughes’ memories. In Halloween Kills, David Gordon Green encouraged improvisation, which led to Hall’s meme-ified line “Evil dies tonight.”
“He reminded me a lot of John Hughes to the extent that he’s very collaborative, very loose,” Hall said. “David was just telling all the background artists, ‘Hey, everybody start yelling this: Evil dies tonight.'”
Less often discussed is Tom Green’s vehicle Freddy Got Fingered. Hall played an animation executive whom Green’s character pitched, but the plot mattered little. Freddy was Green’s performance art, daring the audience to keep watching.
“With the dead animal carcasses, the swinging fetuses, it was out of control,” Hall said. “I think Andy Kaufman would’ve loved Tom Green.”
Hall will guest star on S.W.A.T.: Exiles on Starz as a businessman employing Hondo’s (Shemar Moore) new team. He filmed scenes on the Academy Museum/Los Angeles County Museum of Art roof in Los Angeles.
“I didn’t realize once you’re inside that property, it connects to the tar pits and the museum,” Hall said.
Hall also filmed Halloween Store, about a group of people hiding from a killer in a seasonal shop. Producer Steven Schneider reached out to Hall.
“There’s a lot of good humor in it too,” Hall said.
