‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’: 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Iconic Teen Film
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off celebrated its 30th birthday last year, but the John Hughes‘ teen-comedy classic is forever a fan favorite. Enough so that Stranger Things star Joe Keery re-enacted iconic scenes from the film for a recent Domino’s Pizza ad campaign.
To capitalize even more on that eternally cool teen mojo, the pizza chain has teamed up with Epix, the premium cable network owned by MGM, to offer up a free live stream of Ferris, Cameron and Sloane having the best day ever playing hooky from school and avoiding the bumbling Edward R. Rooney, Dean of Students. The stream begins Sunday, June 11, at 7 p.m. ET on Domino’s Facebook page.
Since Ferris will never go out of style as long as teens are figuring out ways to ditch class, here are five facts from the 1986 classic you didn’t know.
The film has a very strong Sonic Youth connection
One of the unsung heroes of the film, the parking garage attendant who goes for a joyride in the car that Ferris and his pals stole out of Cameron’s father’s garage, might be a recognizable face. Richard Edson started his acting career in Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise, and had roles in films like Platoon and Do the Right Thing. What was he doing before that? He was Sonic Youth’s original drummer.
Cameron’s house is an actual midcentury architectural masterpiece
Built in 1953 by Mies van der Rohe disciple James Speyer, the house is a beauty, all that glass surrounded by nature in the Chicago suburbs. When the home’s owner died in 2009, the fate of the house was uncertain, with fears that it could face the wrecking ball. Thankfully, the property got landmark status, new owners were found, and the work of architectural art is getting a makeover.
The god of sketch comedy has a small part
It’s impossible to forget Ben Stein’s droning voice calling attendance and talking about “Voodoo economics,” but pay attention to the part where you get the English teacher boring students into submission, and you’ll see the man who taught everybody from Bill Murray to Tina Fey, Del Close.
The whole cast could have looked more like, well, a John Hughes movie
Emilio Estevez, who had a starring role in The Breakfast Club a few years earlier, turned down a chance to play Cameron. His brother, Charlie Sheen, was interested enough in the film to play a small part, but other Hughes alumni, including Molly Ringwald and Michael Anthony Hall, thought they could be in the Buellerverse in some way. Ringwald asked the director for a chance to play Sloane, but Hughes believed the role was just too big for the biggest teen star in America at the time. While Hall believes Hughes wrote the lead role for him as well as the role of Duckie in Pretty in Pink, but after Hall took roles with other directors, Hughes cast other actors to play those parts. Hughes maintained Matthew Broderick was always supposed to be Ferris.
The Ferris Bueller Fight Club theory
Ah, the Internet with its infinite crackpot ideas about what it all means, man. Anyone who has fallen into these holes about pop culture death hoaxes and other fun stuff can relate, but this one is actually pretty interesting: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is all in Cameron’s head. That, like Tyler Durden in Fight Club, Ferris is just a figment of his imagination. It’s why he stole the Ferrari, why he pulled off the whole Abe Froman stunt and why he’s also making out with the beautiful Sloane Peterson. Sure, it doesn’t seem initially plausible, but when you really sit down and think about it, you begin to question everything in this world.