50 Fun Facts About Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Which actor plays Ferris Bueller?

Hughes said he had Broderick in mind while writing and that Jimmy Stewart could have played Ferris at 15; Broderick was 23 when he took the part.

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

Hughes based him on a high-school friend who felt relaxed only when genuinely ill, because inventing diseases was tiring.

Ferris's girlfriend Sloane is played by which actress?

Sara was 18; Hughes had wanted an older actress to give the 17-year-old character dignity and nearly fell out of his chair when she told him her age.

Who plays Ferris's resentful sister Jeanie?

Grey and Broderick quietly became a couple during filming, and she went on to Dirty Dancing the following year.

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

Stein said Nixon introduced him to Bill Safire, who led through two more people to Hughes, who liked that he had a flat voice and looked like a teacher.

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

Ferris also sings the Wayne Newton number in the shower, an idea Broderick came up with while rehearsing for the parade.

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

It opened at number two and went on to become the tenth-highest-grossing film of 1986 in the United States.

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?

He pitched the storyline to Paramount chief Ned Tanen the day after developing it, with a Writers Guild strike hours away.

Which actor, a Hughes regular from three earlier films, turned down the role of Ferris?

Others considered included Jim Carrey, John Cusack, Johnny Depp, George Clooney and Tom Cruise.

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

He was only six years younger than Hughes himself, and 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?

Cameron's gruff 'Mr. Peterson' phone voice was an in-joke imitation of their director on that show, Gene Saks.

Ben Stein's Smoot-Hawley Tariff lecture was improvised. What did Stein think the crew's applause meant?

They were actually applauding because they found him so boring; Stein still called it the best day of his life.

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

Known as the Ben Rose House, it was designed by A. James Speyer, a student of Mies van der Rohe, with a car pavilion added in 1974.

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

Many of the school scenes were shot in Northbrook; the AFI catalog notes Hughes had attended the school himself.

The exterior of Ferris's own house is not in Illinois at all. In which state was it filmed?

It stands at 4160 Country Club Drive in Long Beach and was the childhood home of a future Oklahoma judge.

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

One example sold in 2015 for over 14 million euros, making it one of the most expensive cars ever auctioned.

What does the vanity plate on the Ferrari spell?

The other plates in the film are homages to Hughes's earlier work: VCTN, TBC and MMOM for Vacation, The Breakfast Club and Mr. Mom.

Which painting does Cameron stare into at the Art Institute?

The museum had never allowed a film shoot before; Hughes called it his place of refuge as a teenager.

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

The Dream Academy's version of 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want' replaced music that had tested poorly.

Who choreographed Broderick's parade dance moves?

Most of the choreography was scrapped after Broderick hurt his knee running through backyards, so Hughes told him to make it a mess.

Cameron's jersey honours Hughes's childhood hero. Which team is it?

Gordie Howe sent the number 9 jersey himself; Ruck said Cameron's grandfather in Detroit had taken him to games, a backstory never explained on screen.

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

The televised game is the Braves at Wrigley on June 5, 1985, while the stadium scenes were shot at an Expos game that September.

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

He said if it had needed brass they would have put it on themselves; Hughes felt bad about offending a Beatle.

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

Yello were unknown in the US at the time; Dieter Meier used the licensing fees to start an investment fortune.

Charlie Sheen's unnamed delinquent in the police station had a name in the script. What was it?

Cut scenes explained he was an old middle-school friend of Ferris whose life had gone wrong, a warning of what Cameron might become.

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

Barbara Bush later quoted Ferris in her 1990 Wellesley commencement speech and joked the crowd clapped more for him than for George.

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

It was deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant, alongside the usual company of Oscar winners.

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

Essayist Steve Almond argued that Ruck, not Broderick, deserved an Oscar for the film.

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

The show moved the family to Santa Monica and had Ferris chainsaw a cardboard cutout of Matthew Broderick in its first episode.

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

NBC cancelled it within its first season after 13 episodes, and Hughes had nothing to do with it.

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

A teaser released two weeks earlier set off rumours of a sequel; the spot was directed by Todd Phillips.

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?

Ferris hacks the school computer to cut the count to two while Rooney is on the phone with his mother.

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

Jeanie deliberately slams the back door to wake the dog when Rooney corners Ferris outside.

How does Jeanie knock Rooney unconscious in the Bueller kitchen?

She mistakes him for a burglar, calls the police, and is then arrested herself for making what they assume is a prank call.

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

It fails, Cameron kicks the car in a rage, and it crashes backwards through the glass wall of the pavilion.

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

By the time Ferris checks the dashboard on the way home it reads 301.7, and Cameron goes berserk.

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'?

He warns that a fake fever risks a nervous mother taking you to the doctor, which is worse than school.

What was the film's poster tagline?

'One Man's Struggle to Take It Easy' was a secondary tagline; 'Save Ferris' later became a band name and a Wrigley Field marquee.

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

Hirsch said the shortening had to happen in the cutting room because Hughes shot his first draft more or less as written.

In the deleted scene 'The Isles of Langerhans', what shocks the trio on the French restaurant's menu?

Ferris still says 'We ate pancreas' while recapping the day in the finished film.

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?

Richard Roeper carries the reference too, on a licence plate reading SVFRRIS.

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

He also spent six seasons on Spin City, and once mentioned still paying off an old Ferrari in a 2007 comedy cameo as 'Dr. Frye'.

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?

Sleuths matched the play-by-play, uniforms and player numbers to the June 5, 1985 game at Wrigley Field.