When teen movies were funny, not just stupid

Author: gemtex from Texas
5 September 2003

I have an ongoing discussion with my friends and family about what movie defines your generation, and for me, this is it! Ferris' commentary throughout the movie is hilarious andirreverent, giving a voice to those on the borderline between Generations X and Y. It's Office Space, the teenage years! This movie is witty and fast-paced, not relying on the bathroom humor and physical comedy that most teenage and college comedies do these days.(style American pie,Sex Academy et toutes ces DAUBES!!!) Yes it is dated, but that's part of what makes it great. I love it!

Trivia
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-Cameron's father's Ferrari wasn't a real Ferrari. Because it was too expensive to rent one, they made three fake ones, each with a fiberglass body.
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-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.
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-Alan Ruck was 29 years-old when he played the role of Cameron.
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-The line Ferris says in the bathroom at the French restaurant about Cameron's house being very pretty and very cold was originally supposed to be said by Allison in Breakfast Club(1985) regarding her home life.
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-Deleted scenes: - Ferris asks his dad on the phone about bonds his father purchased when he was born, he then takes one of them from a shoebox in his father's closet, cashes it atthe bank with his girlfriend (telling the hard-of-hearing teller they are pregnant with a jeep), and uses the money to pay for his day off. It was removed because it made Ferris look like athief rather than a lovable rogue - Ferris orders something in French on the menu, and after everyone at the table tastes it, he is informed by the snooty waiter that he ordered "sweetbreads", which is a French dish made from the thymus gland. It was removed because it showed the waiter getting the better of Ferris, but later in the movie when Ferris isrecounting the day to Cameron, he remarks "we ate pancreas".
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-The final scene in the garage was shot in early Fall, so each of the leaves on all the trees outside had to be hand-painted green every morning before shooting. In the shot looking upfrom the wreck at the three friends, the yellow tree with most of its upper leaves gone can be seen reflected in the window.
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-The movie was named after John Hughes' life long friend Bert Bueller.
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-The scene in which Ferris is drawing the nude woman on his computer was going to be broadcast onto a jumbotron in Chicago but the scene was later cut.
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-Ferris wears a different outfit in each scene before he and Cameron go to pick up Sloane.
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When Ferris picks up Sloan from school, they are standing in front of the entrance to the theater of Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook IL, Hughes' Alma Matter. They then drive the car past the high school's soccer and baseball fields.
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-Mia Sara says that Matthew Broderick actually tickled her feet and knees to get her to laugh naturally in the taxicab scene.
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-Anthony Michael Hall turned down the role of Cameron to avoid being typecast.
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-Emilio Estevez turned down the role of Cameron.
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-The 1961 Ferrari GT250 was a modified MG sports car. The producers received several angry letters from car enthusiasts who believed the car shown was a *real* Ferrari and that it was actually wrecked in the film.
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-Whenever Mr. Rooney and Ferris have a conversation with each other, only one of them speaks throughout the entire conversation; the other is completely silent.
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-Eric Stoltz auditioned for the role of Ferris.
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-The French restaurant Bueller crashes is "Chez Quis" which is a pun, as said aloud it would be "Shakeys", the pizza chain. "Chez Qui" means 'the house of whom' in French.
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-Ferris laments not having his own car, but does at least own a synthesizer which cost $8,000 in 1984.
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-John Candy auditioned for the role of Cameron Frye, but producers turned him down fearing he was too old for the part.
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-In 2010, Edie McClurg told Vanity Fair magazine that her character's hairdo should be from the 1960s, "because Grace felt she looked best in the 60s and kept her look from that era."But the women's hairdresser on the set had mainly been hired to blow out Mia Sara's long, straight hair and didn't know how to set the big, dated '60s hairstyles - so McClurg teased, set, and styled her own character's hair. Once McClurg arrived on the set, John Hughes looked at her hairstyle, and the first thing he said was, "How many pencils do you think you can fit in that hair?" They tested it with one pencil, then two and three, but the fourth one fell out--so that was the origin of Grace's first scene in the movie, in which she pulls several lost pencils out of her hair.
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-Cameron was based on someone that John Hughes knew in high school.
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-Ferris uses the term 'finski' when referring to what he gave the parking lot attendant. Finski is regional dialect for a five dollar bill.
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-According to the Inside Story documentary, Charlie Sheen's character's name is actually Garth Volbeck. There was going to be a whole back story to his character and family. It was also revealed that the Volbeck's was the family that Ferris's mom was showing the house for sale as her job as a realtor. If you look closely, the tow truck that towed Rooney's car was from the Volbeck's Wrecking Service.
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-The first edit of the film had a running time of 2 hours and 45 minutes.
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-After the girl in the arcade spits her soda on Ed Rooney, a video game sound effect is heard in the background. Appropriately enough, it's the sound effect that denotes when a player has lost a life in the game Pac-Man.
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-The hall scenes in which you see Jeanie walking down the hall and kid collecting money to save Ferris are the halls from Breakfast Club (1985).
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-The house used as Cameron's home has 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and is 4,000 square feet. Designed in 1953 by A. James Speyer and David Haid.
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-In an early draft of the script Ferris had two additional younger siblings and Jeanne was to be the middle child.
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-Grace the Secretary pretending to be Ed Rooney during the phone call from Cameron was improvised.
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-When the Ferrari crashed, the fiberglass hood ripped, but branches were put over the rip to make sure the camera didn't record it.
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-A number of key moments in the movie were created in the editing room: Jeannie kicking Roonie three times in the face (when there was in fact only one kick filmed); Ferris and Sloane's kiss in front of Roonie was originally just a brief kiss, but was later edited into the long kiss seen on film.
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-The Parade sequence (Twist and Shout scene) was filmed during the Von Steuben Day Parade. An annual event in the Chicagoland area.
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-The car parked to the left of the Ferrari in the garage is also an MG, in this case an MG J2.
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-Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, who played Ferris's parents, married in real life after filming this movie.
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-Most of the license plates are all abbreviations for titles of films by John Hughes. Katie's = VCTN (National Lampoon's Bonjour les vacances (1983)); Jeannie's = TBC (Breakfast Club(1985); Tom's = MMOM (Mister Mom - Profession: père au foyer (1983)); Rooney's = 4FBDO (La folle journée de Ferris Bueller (1986)). The exception is Cameron's Ferrari (seen when Ferris first pulls out of the garage), the license plate of which reads NRVOUS.
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-Rob Lowe, John Cusack, Jim Carrey, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr. and Michael J. Fox were all considered for the role of Ferris Bueller.
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-Ben Stein, who plays the economics teacher in this movie, actually graduated from Columbia University in 1966 with honors in economics.
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-John Hughes told Ben Stein, who had a degree in Economics, to present an actual Economics lecture in his scenes. Hence nothing Ben Stein says (aside from the roll call) is scripted.
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-"The Car" in the movie was a Ferrari 250GT California Spyder, of which 104 were produced. This version of Ferrari's already famous 250 series was designed specifically for the American market, featuring only two seats, a convertible top, and more horsepower than in its standard European trim.
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-Ferris's sampler/synthesizer is an E-MU Emulator II.
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-The bus scene at the end of the movie where Dean Rooney is picked up was shot in Long Beach, California at Los Cerritos Park.
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-The yellow and red insignia on Ferris's beret is that of the 32nd armored regiment; the motto at the bottom [illegible in the film] reads "Victory or Death". This was Elvis Presley's regiment when he was in the army and in "G.I. Blues".
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-The hand that presses the speaker button on Cameron's phone belongs to John Hughes. When the crew left, Hughes took the camera and shot it himself since no one else was getting it right.
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-The bus scene that plays during the ending credits was a scene cut from the movie. It was meant to take place after Jeanie announced that she called the police, and Roonie had to find a place to hide. This explains why the sky isn't dark, and why a bus is taking students home at six o'clock in the evening.
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-During the parade several of the people seen dancing (including the construction worker and the window washer) originally had nothing to do with the film. They were simply dancing to the music being played and John Hughes found it so humorous that he told the camera operators to record it.
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The passage that Ed Rooney quotes when he is trying to console Sloane ("man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live...") is the "First Anthem" for the Burial of the Dead from the Book of Common Prayer produced by the Anglican church. The anthem is based on Job 14:1-2.
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-The poster behind Ferris Bueller's bed is of Bryan Ferry.
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-Sloane is named for Sloane Tanen, daughter of then-Paramount head Ned Tanen.
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-John Hughes wrote the script in six days.
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-Ranked at #10 on Entertainment Weekly's 50 Best High School Movies (2006)
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-Even though they played siblings, stars Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey would later become engaged after this movie.
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-The dance sequence by the group on the stairs during Ferris's lip-synch performance of Twist and Shout is taken directly out of Michael Jackson's Thriller video.
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-John Hughes refused to release a soundtrack album; he felt the mix of songs was too uneven and didn't flow together, and wouldn't work well as an album.
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-Sloane was originally named 'Tandy' in earlier drafts of the script.
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-There is a poster for Simple Minds song "Don't You Forget About Me" on Ferris' wall. This song was featured prominently in director John Hughes' earlier film Breakfast Club (1985).
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-The school nurse who informs Sloane that her grandmother died is named Florence Sparrow, an obvious play on the name of the famous nurse, Florence Nightingale.
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-The painting that Cameron admires is called "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", by Georges Seurat. It is still on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.
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-The short scene with the coughing keyboard was actually improvised by Matthew Broderick. This is explained in the commentary on the DVD.

-Matthew Broderick improvised the scene and the line with the clarinet: "Never had ONE lesson!"
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The scene in which Sloane and Ed Rooney are standing outside, waiting for Mr. Peterson, the school in the background was John Hughes's old high school.
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-When Grace says "He's a righteous dude", it was not in the original script. 'Edie McClurg (I)' ad-libbed it in her best Chicago accent.
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-Charlie Sheen was recommended by Jennifer Grey after they did L'aube rouge (1984) together.
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-Paul Gleason was considered for the role of Ed Rooney. Gleason had previously played the role of an assistant principal in Breakfast Club (1985).
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-When Ferris hacks into the school's computer to change the number of absences he had, it is a subtle reference to a scene in WarGames (1983) when 'Matthew Broderick' hacks intothe school's computer to change his grades.
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-Linda Blair, Goldie Hawn, Ellen Barkin, Kim Basinger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Geena Davis, Robin Duke, Carrie Fisher, Melanie Griffith, Mary Gross, Linda Hamilton, Daryl Hannah, Barbara Hershey, Holly Hunter, Anjelica Huston, Jessica Lange, Kelly LeBrock, Kay Lenz, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Catherine O'Hara, Madonna, Kelly McGillis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Cybill Shepherd, Meg Tilly, Sigourney Weaver, Jodie Foster, Sharon Stone and Debra Winger were all considered for the role of Jeanie Bueller.
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-Cameron Frye's birth-date is 1 July 1967. Alan Ruck's birth-date is 1 July 1956.
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-Louie Anderson had a small role as a flower deliveryman in this film. One of the episodes of his 1995 television show, Life with Louie (1995) was titled "Pains, Grains and Allergy Shots," a reference to the John Hughes film Un ticket pour deux (1987). Anderson's TV show also featured the voice talents of Edie McClurg, who is notable for appearing in many of Hughes' films, including La folle journée de Ferris Bueller (1986).
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-According to John Hughes in the DVD Commentary (original DVD release), the voice Cameron uses while talking to Rooney pretending to be Slone's father was modeled after a stage director both Alan Ruck and 'Matthew Broderick' had worked for.
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-The text that appears on the screen when Ferris is explaining how to fake being sick to his parents was added later because John Hughes thought the scene was too flat and not funny enough (according to him in the DVD Commentary).
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-The song "Danke Schoen" is heard four times in the movie; When Ferris sings it in the shower, when Ed Rooney sings it after ringing the Buellers' doorbell, when Ferris lip syncs the Wayne Newton version during the parade, and when Jeanie sings it while walking down the stairs at the police station.
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-Ferris has a Cabaret Voltaire "Micro-Phonies" poster to the left side of his door.
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-Early drafts had the Ferris family having younger siblings. When it came time to edit, the final draft actually has evidence that Ferris in fact does have younger siblings, such as drawings on the fridge and a family photo seen in his dad's office.
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-In the scene where Sloane is sitting in the taxi with Ferris and Cameron in the floor, Ferris' dad is in a taxi next to them reading the newspaper. As the scene ends you can see the headline 'Community rallies around sick youth,' however wording in the actual article indicate it is an article about a Chicago policeman killing himself.
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-Tom Skerritt was considered for the role of Ed Rooney.
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-Despite the movie being set during the spring, this movie was really shot during the fall of 1985. There are several scenes in the film where you can see the trees are changing colors.
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-The name of the Detective that Ferris' mother talks to when picking up Jeanie is Stephen Lim (the name can be seen on door when mother exits office.) This is also the name of the First Assistant Director.
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-Mia Sara beat Molly Ringwald to the role of Sloane Peterson, because according to Hughes she had elegance.
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-Mia Sara was a teenager during filming.(ah bon ?...on dirait une vioque)
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-The Cubs game depicted in the movie that Ferris and his friends attend was the actual game played versus the Braves on June 5, 1985, based on research by Larry Granillo published in his Wezen-ball column at baseballprospectus.com on February 6, 2011.
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Shooting for Ferris Bueller's Day Off began in Chicago just after the Labor Day weekend, on Monday, September 9, 1985. In late October of 1985, the production would move to Los Angeles.
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-The baseball game that was depicted in the film at Wrigley Field was filmed at an actual Cubs game and took place on June 5, 1985 between the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs ended up loosing the game 4-2 in 11 innings.
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-This entire movie takes place in one day with no flashbacks and most of the characters wear the same clothes throughout the whole movie.
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-Although one of the key scenes in the film has Ferris, Sloane and Cameron enjoying a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, John Hughes stated on the DVD commentary that he was not a Cubs fan. The scene was set there because of its iconic status and due to the Chicago White Sox rarely playing day games in 1985 during production.
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-During the downtown parade scene they pass a theater playing the movie "Godzilla 85". Matthew Broderick would go on to star in the movie Godzilla (1998) in 1998.
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-John Hughes personally designed Ferris's bedroom, mirrored mostly on his own bedroom when he was in high school. Hughes said that the room was a disorganized series of pop references and other things because it would represent Ferris's mind.
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-The number 9 was chosen for the number of Ferris' absences because it sounded harsh when spoken by Rooney.
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-The shot of Ferris playing the clarinet was done on the spot. Someone spotted the instrument as part of the set and Broderick said he could play it, which of course he couldn't.
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-The idea of a sequel had gone around for years with Ferris in college or on the job somewhere, but the idea was dropped. Matthew Broderick felt that the film didn't need a sequel, that this film was about a specific time and place that we'd all like to revisit and didn't need updating.
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-Originally, the Modigliani that Ferris is tinkering with on his computer was wired to a Jumbotron downtown.
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Director John Hughes didn't like Ferris' beret when he is driving the Ferrari, but he really liked Cameron's flat cap.

-John Hughes personally selected the songs for the film. He wanted them to be somewhat obscure to the typical movie going audience, feeling that he wanted everything about the filmto feel new.
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-A scene that was filmed but never used involved Ferris going on a radio talk show and talking about being the first teenager to go into space. Bits of the scene were in the movie's trailer.
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-The address of Ferris' house is the address that was on John Hughes' house when he was a kid.
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-During the scene where Rooney fights with the intercom at Ferris' house, there is a shot of the kitchen. On the refrigerator in that shot is a drawing of John Hughes, done by his son who was six at the time.
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-The brief scene of the valets driving the car to the Star Wars theme was done in post-production.
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-The Ferrari was originally supposed to smash through the window of the garage and land in the backyard. It over-shot its mark though and hit a fence that was dividing the house from the yard next door.
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-Polly Noonan who plays the girl that Rooney sits next to on the bus wore glasses that were specially made by the prop department. The lenses distorted her vision so much that they made her nauseous. Also, the glasses were so heavy that she had to hold her head in a certain position to keep them from falling down.
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-The voice that Alan Ruck uses to imitate Sloan's father on the phone is an impression of a director that he had worked with on the stage.
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-Cameron is wearing a Gordie Howe Detroit Red Wings jersey. Howe was famous for playing professionally until he was in his early 50s, from 1946 until his retirement in 1980.
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-Rooney's line about leaving 'my cheese in the wind' was ad-libbed. John Hughes wanted a comment that was complete nonsense.
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-The two men in the funny hats that can be seen when Ferris and his friends are at The Sears Tower were in town on the day of shooting to watch the German Day parade that Ferris goes to later in the film.
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-The shot of the street looking down from The Sears Tower was done by the 2nd unit crew. The camera person who operated the camera got sick because he had to be held over the side to get the shot.
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-After working together on Une créature de rêve (1985), John Hughes offered Bill Paxton the role of the garage attendant. But Paxton turned it down because he felt the role was too small. He admits that he regrets turning it down because Hughes never offered him a role again.
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-The woman playing the accordion on the parade float was a local woman named Vlasta Krsek. She gained a degree of notoriety from the film even appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962). On the show she played and sang the song Twist and Shout which was one of the songs from that famous scene.
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-The outfit Ferris is wearing (hat, sunglasses and trench-coat) when he picks up Sloane from school can be seen on a mannequin in his room behind his door as his parents leave his room at the beginning of the movie to go to work.
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-The detective's name is Steven Lim. The film's first assistant director is also named Stephen Lim.

Matthew Broderick est un acteur et producteur américain né le 21 mars 1962 à New York.Il est connu entre autres pour ses rôles de David Lightman dans Wargames, Ferris Bueller dans La Folle Journée de Ferris Bueller et Nick dans Godzilla.Il est marié depuis 1997 à l'actrice Sarah Jessica Parker.

Biographie
Fils de Patricia Biow, écrivain de théâtre, actrice et peintre et de l'acteur James Broderick, Mathew Broderick naît à New York en 1962 Après des études à la City and Country Schoolet au lycée d'art dramatique Walden de Manhattan (aujourd'hui disparu), il obtient son premier grand rôle dans On Valentine's Day, pièce du dramaturge Horton Foote produite par HB Studio.Il joue ensuite un des rôles principaux dans Torch Song Trilogy, pièce semi-autobiographique de Harvey Fierstein. Ce rôle lui permet d'attirer l'attention du critique de théâtre Mel Gussow du New York Times.

Il interprète ensuite le rôle d'Eugene Morris Jerome dans les deux premiers opus de la Eugene Trilogy, trilogie de Neil Simon composée de Brighton Beach Memoirs, pour laquelle il reçoit son premier Tony Award devenant le plus jeune lauréat d'un Tony Award du meilleur acteur, Biloxi Blues et Broadway Bound. C'est Neil Simon qui lui offre également son premier rôle au cinéma dans Max Dugan revient en 1983. La même année, il connaît son premier grand succès au cinéma avec Wargames. Il joue ensuite le rôle de Philippe Gaston dans Ladyhawke, la femme de la nuit en 1985 aux côtés de Michelle Pfeiffer.

Après avoir refusé le rôle d'Alex P. Keaton dans la sitcom Family Ties à cause d'un emploi du temps trop chargé, il obtient le rôle d'un charmeur dilettante dans La Folle Journée de Ferris Bueller. Broderick, qui a en réalité 23 ans au moment du tournage, y joue le rôle d'un lycéen qui fait l'école buissonnière avec sa petite amie (Mia Sara) et son meilleur ami (Alan Ruck) dans les rues de Chicago,en cherchant à échapper au directeur du lycée qui veut absolument les confondre. Le film est aujourd'hui culte et reste un rôle marquant de Matthew Broderick En 1989, il attire également l'attention des critiques pour son rôle de héros de la guerre de Sécession Robert Gould Shaw dans le film Glory.

Dans les années 90, il prête sa voix à Simba adulte dans le film d'animation Le Roi lion. Il se distingue par ailleurs pour ses rôles dans deux comédies : dans Disjoncté, il interprète unjeune homme avec lequel Jim Carrey, réparateur de câble déjanté, se lie d'amitié ; dans L'Arriviste, il joue un professeur de lycée déterminé à empêcher l'actrice Reese Witherspoon d'être élue présidente du conseil des élèves.

Broderick revient à Broadway au milieu des années 90 dans la comédie musicale How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying pour laquelle il est récompensé d'un Tony Award.En 2001, il crée l'adaptation musicale du film de Mel Brooks Les Producteurs aux côtés de son partenaire du Roi lion, Nathan Lane.Après une reprise de Drôle de couple (The Odd Couple) à Broadway en octobre 2005 (toujours avec Nathan Lane), Broderick interprète un professeur de lycée dans The Philanthropist du 10 avril au 28 juin 2009.

Vie privée
Matthew Broderick a été fiancé brièvement à l'actrice Jennifer Grey, rencontrée sur le tournage de La Folle Journée de Ferris Bueller en 1986. Il fait la connaissance de l'actrice Sarah Jessica Parker, par l'intermédiaire du frère de celle-ci. Le couple se marie le 19 mai 1997 et a trois enfants : un garçon, James Wilke né le 28 octobre 2002, et des jumelles, Marion et Tabitha, nées le 23 juin 2009 d'une mère porteuse. Fan de baseball, il assiste régulièrement aux matchs de son équipe favorite, les Mets de New York.

Le 5 août 1987, Matthew Broderick et Jennifer Grey, en vacances en Irlande du Nord, roulent sur une route de campagne près de Enniskillen, dans le comté de Fermanagh dans unevoiture de location lorsqu'ils percutent une voiture arrivant en sens inverse. La conductrice, Anna Gallagher, 30 ans, et sa mère, Margaret Doherty, 63 ans, meurent sur le coup.

Matthew Broderick, qui n'avait pas bu, reste quatre semaines à l'hôpital de Belfast. Il a les deux jambes et des côtes fracturées, le poumon perforé et souffre de commotion cérébrale Jennifer Grey n'a été que légèrement touchée. À son réveil, Broderick dit n'avoir aucun souvenir de l'accident et est incapable d'expliquer pourquoi il roulait sur la mauvaise file Lacharge retenue contre Broderick est"homicide involontaire avec conduite dangereuse"  (type d'infraction spécifique au Royaume-Uni), qui peut être sanctionné de cinq ans de prison.

Par la suite, les charges sont réduites en conduite avec défaut d'attention et une amende de 175 £. Selon les familles des victimes, le procès aurait été une « caricature de justice ».Au printemps 2003, Broderick accepte de rencontrer la famille des victimes.

Filmographie
1983 : Le Retour de Max Dugan
1983 : WarGames
1984 : Ladyhawke, la femme de la nuit(le film ok...mais la "musique":é-pou-van-ta-ble!!)
1986 : La Folle Journée de Ferris Bueller
1986 : On Valentine's Day
1987 : Project X
1988 : Torch Song Trilogy
1988 : Biloxi Blues
1989 : Glory
1989 : La Vie en plus
1989 : Family Business
1990 : Premiers pas dans la mafia
1992 : Out on a Limb
1994 : Chassé-croisé
1994 : Mrs Parker et le Cercle vicieux
1994 : Aux bons soins du Dr Kellogg
1995 : Arabian Knight
1996 : Disjoncté
1996 : Infinity
1997 : Addicted to Love
1998 : Godzilla
1999 : Inspecteur Gadget (film)
2000 : L'Arriviste
2001 : Tu peux compter sur moi
2003 : Marie and Bruce
2003 : The Last shot
2004 : Et l'homme créa la femme
2004 : Mon chien, ce héros !
2005 : Les Producteurs
2007 : Voisin contre voisin
2008 : Wonderful World
2008 : Une histoire de famille
2008 : Diminished Capacity
2008 : Finding Amanda
2011 : Le Casse de Central Park
2011 : Happy New Year
2011 : Cheval de guerre
2012 : Margaret

Télévision
1985 : Master Harold and the Boys
2003 : The Music Man
2008 : 30 Rock
2010 : Louie (saison 1, épisode 6)
2012 : Modern Family (saison 4, épisode 8)

Voxographie
1994 : Le Roi lion : Simba adulte
1998 : Le Roi lion 2 : L'Honneur de la tribu : Simba adulte
2004 : Le Roi lion 3 : Hakuna Matata : Simba adulte
2007 : Bee Movie : Drôle d'abeille(Très bien! ce film)
2008 : La Légende de Despereaux

Le Dernier des Mohicans (The Last of the Mohicans) est un film américain réalisé par Michael Mann, sorti en 1992, d'après le roman du même nom de James Fenimore Cooper.

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Résumé
En 1757, Anglais et Français se disputent la possession des terres indiennes de l'Etat de New York. Le marquis de Montcalm et ses alliés, les Indiens Hurons, font le siège des forces britanniques stationnées au Fort William Henry que commande le colonel Munro. Ce dernier attend ses filles, Cora et Alice, que le major Duncan Heyward est chargé d'escorter jusqu'à lui. Mais le convoi tombe dans une embuscade où les a entraînés leur éclaireur Huron:Magua Ils sont sauvés par Hawkeye, un frontalier d'origine européenne qui a été élevé par le Mohican Chingachgook et son fils Uncas. Le jeune homme tombe amoureux de Cora et devient ainsi le rival de Heyward