50 Fun Facts About Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Which actor plays Ferris Bueller?

Matthew Broderick plays Ferris; Hughes wrote the part with him in mind, and Broderick was 23 when filming began in September 1985.

What is the name of Ferris's hypochondriac best friend?

Cameron Frye is the hypochondriac best friend; Hughes based him on a high-school friend who felt relaxed only when genuinely ill, since inventing diseases was tiring.

Ferris's girlfriend Sloane is played by which actress?

Mia Sara plays Sloane Peterson; she was 18 during filming, and Hughes, who had wanted an older actress for the part, was startled when she told him her age.

Who plays Ferris's resentful sister Jeanie?

Jennifer Grey plays Jeanie Bueller; she went on to star opposite Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing the following year, 1987.

Which real-life economist and speechwriter plays the droning economics teacher?

Ben Stein, a former Nixon speechwriter with an economics background, improvised his monotone lecture on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act; Hughes liked his flat voice and teacherly look.

Which songs does Ferris lip-sync from a parade float?

Ferris mimes 'Danke Schoen' and 'Twist and Shout' on the float; he also sings the Wayne Newton number in the shower, an idea that came up during parade rehearsals.

Which studio released the film, on June 11, 1986?

Paramount Pictures released it on June 11, 1986; it opened at number two and finished as the tenth-highest-grossing US film of 1986.

Roughly how much did the film gross in the US on its $5M budget?

On opening day it took about $1.2 million on 1,296 screens, out-earning Top Gun per screen that day.

How long did John Hughes take to write the screenplay?

Less than a week was all Hughes needed: he wrote the screenplay in February 1985, finishing ahead of the Writers Guild strike that began that March.

Which Hughes regular turned down the role of Ferris Bueller?

Anthony Michael Hall, star of Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, declined the part to avoid typecasting; Jim Carrey, Johnny Depp and Tom Cruise were also considered.

How old was Alan Ruck when he played 17-year-old Cameron?

Alan Ruck was 29 during the 1985 shoot, only six years younger than Hughes himself; he said that at 18 he had looked about 12.

Ruck and Broderick had already acted together in the Broadway production of which Neil Simon play?

Biloxi Blues ran on Broadway in 1985 with both actors; Cameron's gruff 'Mr. Peterson' phone voice is Ruck's impression of that show's director, Gene Saks.

What did the economics teacher's actor think the crew's applause for his improvised lecture meant?

His first guess was 'That they had learned some economics'; the crew was really applauding because he was so boring, and he later called the shoot the best day of his life.

Cameron's modernist glass house, where the Ferrari meets its end, is in which Illinois suburb?

The Ben Rose House in Highland Park was designed by A. James Speyer, a student of Mies van der Rohe; its glass car pavilion, by David Haid, was added in 1974.

Which high school, Hughes's own alma mater, doubled as the fictional Shermer High?

Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook stood in for Shermer High; Hughes graduated from the school in 1968.

In which state was the exterior of Ferris's own house filmed?

California: the Bueller family house exterior stands at 4160 Country Club Drive in Long Beach, far from the film's Chicago-area setting.

What was the real 1961 250 GT Spyder worth at the time of filming?

A genuine 1961 250 GT Spyder was worth about $350,000 in 1985, so the film used fiberglass replicas; one real example sold at auction in 2015 for over 14 million euros.

What does the vanity plate on the Ferrari spell?

The Ferrari's plate reads NRVOUS; the other plates are homages to Hughes's earlier films, with VCTN, TBC and MMOM for Vacation, The Breakfast Club and Mr. Mom.

Which painting does Cameron stare into at the Art Institute?

Cameron fixates on Georges Seurat's pointillist A Sunday on La Grande Jatte; Hughes said the Art Institute had been his refuge as a teenager.

The museum sequence is scored with an instrumental cover of a song by which band?

The Smiths wrote 'Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want'; the Dream Academy's instrumental cover of it plays over the Art Institute sequence.

Who choreographed Broderick's parade dance moves?

Kenny Ortega, later the choreographer of Dirty Dancing and director of High School Musical, staged the parade dance; a knee injury from the backyard chase limited what the star could do.

Which team's jersey, honouring Hughes's childhood hero, does Cameron wear?

The Detroit Red Wings sweater is Gordie Howe's number 9; Hughes, who spent his early childhood in Michigan, idolised Howe.

Which real broadcaster's voice calls the Cubs game on the pizzeria TV while Rooney searches for Ferris?

Harry Caray, the Cubs' longtime WGN announcer, calls the game on the pizzeria TV; the broadcast footage is from a June 5, 1985 game, while the stadium scenes were shot that September.

Which Beatle complained about the brass added to 'Twist and Shout' for the film?

Paul McCartney objected, saying that if the track had needed brass the Beatles would have added it themselves; Hughes admitted feeling bad about offending him.

Which band's 'Oh Yeah' became known as 'the Ferris Bueller song'?

Yello, the Swiss duo of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank, released 'Oh Yeah' on their 1985 album Stella; the film turned it into a soundtrack staple.

What was the script's name for Charlie Sheen's delinquent in the police station?

Garth Volbeck is the script's name for Sheen's character, credited on screen only as 'Boy in Police Station'; Sheen said he stayed awake for two days to look the part.

Which US president watched the film at Camp David ten days after its release?

Ronald Reagan watched the film at Camp David in June 1986; Barbara Bush later quoted Ferris's 'life moves pretty fast' line in her 1990 Wellesley commencement speech.

What honor did the Library of Congress bestow on the picture in 2014?

Selection for the National Film Registry came in December 2014, when the Library of Congress deemed the film culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

Broderick's only major award nomination for the role was a 1987 Golden Globe in which category?

Best Actor – Musical or Comedy was the category at the January 1987 Golden Globes; the award went to Paul Hogan for Crocodile Dundee.

The 1990 NBC television series Ferris Bueller cast which future Friends star as Jeannie?

Jennifer Aniston played Jeannie in the short-lived NBC sitcom, which relocated the Buellers to Santa Monica and was cancelled after 13 episodes.

Which actor played Ferris in the short-lived 1990 TV series?

Charlie Schlatter played Ferris in the NBC sitcom, which ran from August to December 1990; Hughes had no involvement in the series.

For which car brand did Broderick reprise a Ferris-style day off in a 2012 Super Bowl ad?

Honda's 'Matthew's Day Off' spot for the CR-V, directed by Todd Phillips, ran during Super Bowl XLVI in February 2012; a teaser had sparked rumours of a sequel.

Which 2016 Marvel film parodies Ferris's post-credits 'You're still here? It's over. Go home.' scene?

Wade Wilson uses the scene to announce Cable for the sequel and to pitch casting ideas.

How many sick days has Ferris taken that semester before this one, according to Rooney?

Nine is the count Rooney quotes to Mrs. Bueller over the phone; as they talk, Ferris hacks the school computer and cuts it to two.

What breed is the Bueller family dog that chases Rooney around the house?

A Rottweiler is the Bueller family dog; it corners Rooney when he sneaks into the house and chases him off again after Jeanie lets Ferris in at the end.

How does Jeanie knock Rooney unconscious in the Bueller kitchen?

By kicking him in the face after mistaking him for a burglar; she then calls the police, who find no intruder and take her in for a supposedly phony call.

What is Ferris's method for trying to remove the extra miles from the Ferrari's odometer?

Running it in reverse on a jack is the plan; it fails, and after Cameron kicks the car in a rage it slips off the jack and crashes backwards through the pavilion's glass wall.

According to Cameron, how many miles were on the Ferrari when they left the garage?

The answer is 126, plus 'halfway between three and four tenths'; when Ferris reads 301.7 on the odometer at the parking garage, Cameron goes catatonic.

How does Ferris finish 'Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while...'?

He says it twice, once at the start and again after diving back into bed at the end.

Ferris says the key to faking out parents is what 'good non-specific symptom'?

Clammy hands, he says, are a good non-specific symptom; a phony fever risks a nervous mother taking you to the doctor, which is worse than school.

Which slogan ran across the top of the film's original poster?

'Leisure Rules' sits across the top of the original one-sheet, with 'One man's struggle to take it easy' as the smaller line beneath it.

How long was the first cut of the film, according to editor Paul Hirsch?

2 hours 45 minutes was the first assembly, Hirsch said, because Hughes had shot his first-draft script more or less as written; the release runs about 103 minutes.

In a deleted scene, which menu item shocks the trio at the French restaurant?

Pancreas is the dish on the menu in the cut scene; the finished film keeps the payoff, with Ferris recapping 'We ate pancreas.'

How many people showed up when Chicago radio stations invited the public to be in the parade scene?

Broderick said he turned around for the final shot and saw a river of people, and understood how rock stars feel.

Which two rock bands took their names from the film?

Save Ferris and Rooney are the bands: the Orange County ska group took its name from the film's slogan, and Rooney from Principal Ed Rooney.

Alan Ruck later earned Emmy and Golden Globe nominations as Connor Roy on which HBO series?

Succession cast him as Connor Roy, the eldest Roy sibling, for all four seasons from 2018 to 2023; he also spent six seasons on Spin City.

Ben Stein reprised his 'Bueller? Bueller?' roll call in a 2016 campaign ad for which US senator?

Stein intones the opponent's name to silence, then calls 'Grassley', gets an answer, and mutters 'He's always here.'

What was the fate of the Sam & Victor's Day Off valet spin-off announced for a streaming service in 2022?

The valets were originally played by Richard Edson and Larry 'Flash' Jenkins; the project died after the Skydance-Paramount merger.

Which F1 champion put himself and Edward Norton into the film's garage scene in a 2025 short?

He made it to mark his first season driving for Ferrari and to salute his favourite childhood film.

The Cubs game heard on the pizzeria TV has been identified as a June 1985 game against which team?

The Atlanta Braves were the visitors on June 5, 1985; fans matched the play-by-play, uniforms and player numbers on the pizzeria TV to that game.