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Actor Jon Cryer said he wished he was more like his character in Pretty in Pink.
In an interview with PEOPLE, he shared his admiration for Duckie, the part that he played in the iconic '80s movie.
Duckie's influence on Jon Cryer
“Duckie was very aspirational for me because he was the guy I wish I was,” the Two and a Half Men actor said.
One of the main reasons he wanted to be like the character came down to confidence.
“I was actually decently good at this being on stage thing,” he said. “But I never had the confidence I think Duckie had, and I wish I did because he really lived his life out loud in a way I could only aspire to.”
Regarding his own high school experience, he took inspiration from people he knew to perfect the role.
“I don't think most people go through high school thinking, ‘I was the shit. Everybody really dug me in high school.' But Duckie was…a bit of a conglomeration of several of my friends growing up,” he said. “I had a friend named Artie who had this ridiculous pompadour. I stole some of the sayings of my friend David, who would go, ‘Do I offend?' And so he was a great way to represent for my peer group.”
On top of personal connections to the character, Duckie was quite an influence on many.
“I've heard it from people [that it's] because there's this outsider thing,” he said. “I've found a lot of the gay community approached me saying, ‘That character meant a lot to me. I really felt like that was a relationship that was very similar to what I went through.' And that's amazing to feel like it resonated in that way for people because you try to make a story that is just honest, and when that honesty really touches people, you feel like you did your job.”
Jon Cryer currently stars in the NBC sitcom Extended Family.
