Life goes by so fast – and somehow, it’s been 40 years since then Ferris Bueller Day they beat themselves.
I John Hughes-helmed teen comedy follows Ferris Bueller in high school (Matthew Broderick) on one of the most fake sick days in history, as he and his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and girlfriend Sloane (I’m Sarah) skip school and galavant around the city of Chicago.
Hughes famously wrote the script in less than a week, riding off the success of films like this one Sixteen candles again The Breakfast Club.
Keep scrolling for 25 Things You Didn’t Know About Ferris Bueller Dayas seen in the latest issue of Us Weeklyon newsstands now:
Mia Sara, Alan Ruck and Matthew Broderick in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’
Paramount Distribution / Courtesy Everett Collection1. Coming off the success of youth movies like The Breakfast Club again She’s pretty in PinkHughes’ Ferris Bueller Day premiered on June 11, 1986.
2. Hughes reportedly wrote the screenplay in less than a week.
3. Hughes called the film his “love letter” to Chicago and insisted on filming in real city locations including Wrigley Field and the former Sears Tower.
4. Broderick was only 23 when he played teenage slacker Ferris Bueller.
Life goes fast! Matthew Broderick shot to stardom after playing high school principal Ferris Bueller in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In the film, Ferris decides to play hooky and convinces his best friend, the shy and nervous Cameron Frye (Alan Ruck), to break up with him. After calling the school and pretending […]
5. Ruck — who played Ferris’ best friend Cameron — and Broderick were already friends after starring together in the Broadway production The Biloxi Blues.
6. Hughes had an original idea Anthony Michael Hall to Ferris, but Hall passed due to scheduling conflicts.
7. Hughes famously broke the fourth wall throughout the film, allowing Ferris to speak directly to the audience.
8. Charlie Sheenwho made a cameo as a drug-addled criminal, reportedly stayed awake for 48 hours straight to prepare for the role.
9. The iconic parade sequence was filmed during the actual Von Steuben Day Parade in Chicago.
Matthew Broderick in ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection10. Music producer Kenny Ortega – years before Dirty Dancing again High School Musical – staged Ferris’s famous dance.
11. Ortega said Broderick was “disturbed” before taping the “Twist and Shout” dance number in downtown Chicago, though she added, “He was a charming, wonderful man, so much fun to work with.”
12. The red Ferrari that Ferris loved wasn’t actually a Ferrari. Production used many replica cars because the real thing was too expensive.
13. One of the replica cars used in the movie was later sold at auction for over $300k.
14. “Bueller? Bueller?” classroom scene became one of the most quotable moments in movie history – and introduced an economist Ben SteinRole playing.
Ben Stein on ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’
Paramount Distribution / Courtesy Everett Collection15. “He wasn’t a professional actor. He had a flat voice, he looked like a teacher,” Hughes once said of playing Stein.
16. Edie McClurg developed many of Secretary Grace’s funny lines, including her immortal description of Ferris as a “good guy.”
17. Hughes had originally planned additional scenes involving Ferris’ siblings, but they were cut before release.
18. Actors portraying Ferris’ parents, Cindy Pickett again Lyman Wardmarried—and divorced—in real life.
19. They weren’t the only couple to form since the cast: Broderick would later become engaged to his on-screen sister. Jennifer Gray.
John Hughes on the set of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ with Mia Sara, Alan Ruck and Matthew Broderick
Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection20. Another deleted subplot was reportedly going to send Ferris, Cameron and Sloane to a strip club, but the scene was canceled due to time constraints.
21. The movie soundtrack helped make Yello’s “Oh Yeah” a pop culture staple.
22. Hughes hated “Danke Schoen” growing up, once calling it “the worst song of my youth” – which is why he used it throughout the film.
Alan Ruck looks back on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Ruck, 69, told Us Weekly exclusively that playing high school student Cameron Frye in the teen comedy, which turns 40 in June, sparked a decades-long friendship with Matthew Broderick. “Matthew and I just did a movie together [The Best Is Yet to […]
23. Broderick admitted that the role followed him everywhere. “For the past 25 years, almost every day someone has come up to me … and said, ‘Hey, Ferris, is this your day off?’
24. In 2014, the Library of Congress was selected Ferris Bueller Day to be preserved in the National Film Registry.
25. Hughes and Broderick never made a sequel. “The movie is about a moment in your life,” Hughes once explained, while Broderick added, “It’s a flash of lightning in your life.”
