Molly Ringwald is an actor, singer and author whose film credits include Paul Mazursky’s Tempest, Jean-Luc Godard’s King Lear, the iconic John Hughes movies Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink and, most recently, Netflix’s The Kissing Booth. She was Sally Bowles in Cabaret on Broadway and in the London staging of When Harry Met Sally.
A lifelong Francophile, in 1992 Ringwald moved to Paris and acted in Jean-Charles Tacchella’s Tous Les Jours Dimanche and Tonie Marshall’s Enfants de Salaud. She wrote Getting the Pretty Back and When It Happens to You and translated Philippe Besson’s bestselling novel, Lie With Me from French. Her essay for The New Yorker, ‘What About The Breakfast Club?’ revisited the movies of her youth in the age of #MeToo. Now she is on TV in Feud: Capote Vs The Swans (Disney Plus).
The very first record I ever bought was probably Split Enz on vinyl. I had records my parents had bought me, but I think it was the first I bought myself.
A book that had a huge impact on me, as a writer and in terms of where I wanted to live, is F Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night. I think my moving to Paris had a lot to do with my love of Fitzgerald.
I read a lot of things at once. I’m working on a memoir so I’ve got into memoirs or people writing about memoir writing. A writer who has been around for a while, whose voice astounds me, is Vivian Gornick. Her Fierce Attachments is amazing.
My favourite film depends on the mood I’m in. I love to rewatch Nights of Cabiria, but I also love Funny Face for a total pick me up. Withnail and I is also one I love to go back to, it’s so funny and brilliant.
I’m watching an animated series, Blue Eye Samurai. It is very unlike me! My husband thought he’d entered an upside-down world – usually he’s all about the samurai.
I spend way too much time scrolling the vintage stores online. It’s bad! I always say, ‘Oh, I’m just going to look...’
One of my favourite restaurants is Café de Flore. I know it’s touristy, but I always have a good time there!
A place I love to stay is Hôtel Nord-Pinus in Arles, where Charlotte Rampling was photographed by Helmut Newton. The café in front is, if I’m not mistaken, where Van Gogh painted Café Terrace at Night. It was surreal because I was sitting there thinking, ‘wow, this feels very familiar’.
I enjoy collecting books, which I definitely inherited from my mother. I also collect perfume bottles. There’s a scent I used to wear called ‘Je Reviens’ by Worth.
I love the New York City skyline and the Chrysler building. When I see Manhattan from a plane my heart always soars.
The greatest meal I ever had was a lunch at Joël Robuchon’s Saint- Germain restaurant with my mom. It felt like food that would be served on Mount Olympus.
