Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: 17 Cool Facts You Did Not Know

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of my favorite comedy films of all time. There are so many memorable lines in this film and even though this film was released in the 1980’s, it still remains funny, insightful and relevant. If you are millennial and you haven’t seen this film, you have a gap in your education.

Here are 17 facts about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off you may or may not know have known:

1. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was released in cinemas in the USA on the 11th of June 1986.

2. The film was written and directed by the late great John Hughes. He wrote the script for the film in only 6 days.

3. John Hughes told Ben Stein, who had a degree in Economics, to present an actual Economics lecture in his scenes. Hence nothing Stein says (aside from the roll call) is scripted.

4. To produce the desired drugged-out effect for his role as the drug addict in the police station, Charlie Sheen stayed awake for more than 48 hours before the scene was shot.

5. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off takes place in the same high school, the fictional “Shermer High.” Exterior shots from The Breakfast Club show the school’s name, a poster in the Ferris school reads “Go Shermer” and the same high school, Maine North High School in Des Plaines, Illinois, was used for shooting both films.

6. Though the film’s choreographer, Kenny Ortega, didn’t choreograph Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” had a long professional relationship with the pop star which included the singer’s film This Is It (And he also choreographed Dirty Dancing).

7. There were three fake Ferraris used in the film. A real Ferrari California Spyder would have cost $300,000. Hughes had three replicas designed for $25,000 each.

8. Richard Edson, legendary grunge indie/grunge band Sonic Youth’s original drummer (from 1981-1982) made an appearance as one of the guys at the garage. He went on become a character actor in his own right, notching about 85 film and television appearances, including a role in Do the Right Thing.

9. The parade sequence was filmed with 10,000 extras, all Chicago residents. Hughes was able to wrangle them because he was filming around the time of Chicago’s annual General Von Steuben German-American Appreciation Day Parade.

10. When the Ferrari crashed, the fibreglass hood ripped, but branches were put over the rip to make sure the camera didn’t record it.

11. The most interesting fact about Ferris Bueller’s day off is that it took place on June 5, 1985, according to some research. Although the movie’s production occurred during the fall, the game they filmed was in September, not June, when the Cubs played the Expos.

12. The fictional Shermer High School plays a significant role in movies like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and Sixteen Candles. However, in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, an exterior shot of John Hughes’s own high school, Glenbrook North High School, is used.

13. Molly Ringwald expressed interest in portraying Sloane in the film. Allegedly, John Hughes informed her that the role wasn’t sufficiently substantial for her. Hughes had initially intended for an older actress to play Ferris’s girlfriend and was surprised to learn that Mia Sara was just 18 years old.

14. John Hughes’ Pretty In Pink also came out in 1986. Together, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off grossed more than $110 million that year.

15. The film received a nomination for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 1987 Golden Globe Awards.

16. The legendary “Bueller… Bueller…” scene was originally meant to be off-camera. Ben Stein was hired only to read the roll call to give the actors something to react to. However, the student actors found his natural monotone so hilarious that John Hughes told Stein to get in front of the camera and improvise a lecture on economics.

17. The montage at the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the film’s most tender moments. It was filmed without a script; Hughes simply took the crew to his favorite museum. The painting Cameron stares at is A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. 

Hughes later explained that he included the close-ups of the little girl in the painting because he felt that Cameron, like the dot-rendered girl, felt like he “didn’t exist” the closer someone got to him.

Well, there you have it, 17 facts about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I hope that you found this info useful.

Before I get out of your hair, I’ll allow Ferris to have the last legendary words in this post:

Watch this space for regular updates in the Movies category on Running Wolf’s Rant.