25 Things You Don't Know About ‘Ferris Bueller's Day Off' 40 Years Later

Life moves pretty fast - and somehow, it's already been 40 years since Ferris Bueller's Day Off hit theaters.

The John Hughes-helmed teen comedy follows high school senior Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) in one of the most epic fake sick days in history, as he and his best friend Cameron (Alan Ruck) and girlfriend Sloane (Mia Sara) skip school to galavant around the city of Chicago.

Hughes famously wrote the script in less than a week, coming off the success of films like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club.

Keep scrolling for 25 Things You Don't Know About Ferris Bueller's Day Off, as seen in the latest issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now:

10. Choreographer Kenny Ortega - years before Dirty Dancing and High School Musical - staged Ferris' famous parade dance moves.

11. Ortega said Broderick was a "nervous wreck" ahead of filming the "Twist and Shout" dance number in downtown Chicago, though he added, "he was the most charming, wonderful, sweet man to work with."

12. Ferris' beloved red Ferrari wasn't actually a Ferrari. Production used several replica cars because the real thing was far too expensive.

13. One of the replica cars used in the movie later sold at auction for over $300k.

14. The "Bueller? Bueller?" classroom scene became one of the most quoted moments in movie history - and launched economist Ben Stein's acting career.

20. Another deleted subplot reportedly would have sent Ferris, Cameron and Sloane to a strip club, but the scene was scrapped due to time constraints.

21. The movie's soundtrack helped make Yello's "Oh Yeah" a pop culture staple.

22. Hughes hated "Danke Schoen" growing up, once calling it "the most awful song of my youth" - which is exactly why he used it throughout the movie.

23. Broderick admitted the role followed him everywhere. "For the past 25 years, nearly every day someone comes up to me … and says, ‘Hey, Ferris, is this your day off?'"

24. In 2014, the Library of Congress selected Ferris Bueller's Day Off for preservation in the National Film Registry.

25. Hughes and Broderick never made a sequel. "The movie is about a singular time in your life," Hughes once explained, while Broderick added, "It's a lightning flash in your life."

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 9:00 AM.