According to Schumacher, "a lot of people turned down the script...the head of major studio called its seven-member cast "the most loathsome humans he had ever read on the page." The producers interviewed "hundreds of people" for the cast, including Anthony Edwards and Lea Thompson. According to Lauren Shuler Donner, she found Estevez, Nelson, and Sheedy through recommendations from John Hughes, who had cast them in "The Breakfast Club"; Schumacher said he had to "push hard" to get the studio to agree to cast the three. Demi Moore had to go to rehab before shooting.