4. The script
While the essential story of the sneaky slacker's Chicago adventure remained the same through shooting and release, the original script for Ferris Bueller has a few telling differences.
For one, Ferris' family is bigger, with younger Siblings Todd and Kimberly featured early on (and, according to differing reports, filmed, but cut from the final print).
And our hero was originally supposed to steal a bond from his father's closet , then take it and cash it alongside Sloane at the bank to fund his wild time - which ended up on the cutting room floor, since Hughes didn't want to make him seem like a thief.
A reference to Ferris telling a radio show that he wanted to ride on the space shuttle before he dies was later snipped following the Challenger accident
There's also no dialogue for the droning economics lecture ladled out by Ben Stein's soporific teacher (you can find more on that on page 6.)
Finally, while Edward McNally and Hughes both knew a Buehler in school, Ferris' surname is largely credited to the director's childhood pal Burt Bueller.
With a script written, Hughes needed a lead...
Next: The struggle to find a Ferris
Comments
Irishgirl
Aug 19th 2009, 14:46
Fact check....."He'd go into the editing room and play around with various sections - adding extra kicks during the scene where Sloane attacks Jeffrey Jones' exasperated Dean Roonie and extending the kiss between her and Ferris as Roonie watches outside the school." It was Ferris' sister Jeanie (Jennifer Grey) who kicked Principal Ed Rooney (he wasn't a college Dean or named Dean, and it wasn't spelled Roonie) Also, you made a typo on page 8....the number of cinemas it opened in. Otherwise, loved the article. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my favorite films of all time.
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Nealsreviews1
Aug 19th 2009, 15:10
A great film that is timeless you can watch this twenty years from now & it will still remain fresh. The only thing I didn't get was having Cameron wearing a Detroit Redwings jersey. They are from Chicago on would think Hughes would have him wearing a Blackhawks jersey. The best line is when Rooney says "So that's how it is in their family" when Sloane is kissing Ferris on the lips as he is pretending to be her father in front of the school classic good stuff. RIP John Hughes
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