Ferris Bueller’s Day Off actor Mia Sara has long held back her true feelings about the film due to concerns she’d disappoint people, but the actor has now revealed she didn’t enjoy making the teen classic.
Sara, 59, had appeared in US sitcom All in the Family and Ridley Scott’s fantasy film Legend when she scored her breakout role as Sloane Peterson, the female lead opposite Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck in John Hughes’s 1986 comedy. She was 17 when the film was released.
“I don’t really give interviews because making Ferris Bueller was not that good an experience for me,” the reclusive star told The Times, adding: “But I’m very aware of what a precious thing this movie is, and I don’t want to disappoint people.”
She attributed her reasoning to the film’s director, stating: “I didn’t get along well with John.”
“He wanted us all to hang out together and to introduce us to the French New Wave films,” she said of the Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles filmmaker.
“But the others were seasoned actors, and I was a snotty New York kid and had seen all those movies, so he was frustrated in that desire. I didn’t have the emotional maturity to deal with other people’s egos, or my own.”
She also said she “never really had the resilience to deal with the audition process”, reflecting: “There are some things in my career that I’m really proud of,” she said, “but overall it was not a happy career for me.”
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off charts a day in the life of a high school slacker who skips school with his girlfriend and best friend. The film also stars Jennifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones and Cindy Pickett.
The acclaimed film was a box office success, making $70.7m (£53.5m) from a budget of just $5m (£3.7m). Among its memorable scenes are Broderick’s titular lead character dancing to The Beatles song “Twist and Shout” at Chicago’s Von Steube Day parade and Ruck’s character Cameron destroying a Ferrari.
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Sara, who lives in a 17th-century farmhouse in England with her husband Brian Henson, son of Muppets creator Jim Henson, has also starred in 2011’s Dorothy and the Witches of Oz, 2013 short film titled Pretty Pretty and Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, which was released in 2025.
For the latter, an adaptation of a Stephen King novella, Sara made her red carpet return, where she addressed her absence from the spotlight.
She told People that Haunting of Hill House creator Flanagan asked her: “Don’t you ever really want to work again?”, to which she replied: “Oh, I don’t know.”
“He said, ‘Well, what if I offered you something?’ I said, ‘Well, OK, if you offer me something, I’ll do it,’” she continued.
Asked if she plans to continue acting, Sara said: “Honestly, it really was all about Mike. If Mike needs me, I’ll be there.”