Cummings chose the '80s classic starring Molly Ringwald as relatable teen Sam for its nostalgia factor. "There's so much that's trying to get people's attention these days with media. You've got movies, and Netflix, and YouTube stars, and Tinder, and Snapchat, and Periscope, and Vine. There are so many options, and it's so overwhelming that I felt like [picking] something really classic and that's sort of in our long-term memory that we all can associate with. I feel like there's this longing for classic things . . . At the time, it felt very complicated. In Sixteen Candles, you think the biggest problem in the world you have is the guy won't talk to you, and then you get into the real world and you're like, 'Oh, that's the least of my problems. I've got 99 problems, and a guy ain't one.' But yes, I think we want to go with something nostalgic. There's something oddly fresh about an old movie. There are no monsters or aliens or special effects — and it holds up. Still these days, when you're 16, you still just want a guy to talk to you, even though you have Snapchat and a cell phone. It's still the same problems; they just look different."
On her favorite line of the quotable movie, Cummings says it's Sam's line "I can't get happy." "I just love that, because when you're 16, everyone's like, 'just smile' and 'play sports!' 'Smile for the camera!' You just don't know who you are, and you don't know what happiness means, and you don't know how to satisfy yourself. Everything's so frustrating because your parents want you to be one thing, your friends want you to be one thing, you just want to fit in, and I find that that actually resonates with me now. I know that every morning when I wake up, it's a choice to be happy or not, and I can't be entitled to that. It's not just, 'Everybody figure out a way to make me happy!' I'm like, 'Oh, I have to make myself happy.' I guess I just remember that because as a teenager, I was so uncomfortable and pretending to be something I wasn't, and I remember hearing her say that, and I was like, 'Oh my god! This pretty girl and she's a movie star and she can have anything she wants.' At that time, I didn't understand movies or actresses, and I was like, 'Oh my god, someone else feels this feeling.' That's so comforting."
