Kenny Ortega choreographed the parade scene in the 1986 comedy-drama Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and he says Matthew Broderick was a “nervous wreck” doing it.
Matthew Broderick was a “nervous wreck” when he filmed the parade scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Kenny Ortega says.
The 75-year-old director-and-film producer choreographed the segment in the hit 1986 comedy-drama movie, where Matthew’s titular character encourages a crowd in downtown Chicago, Illinois, to Twist and Shout, as he lip-synced to that song, as well as Danke Schoen.
But despite looking confident as Bueller danced his heart out on the parade float, Ortega said Broderick, 63, felt uncomfortable.
He told Entertainment Tonight: “Matthew, the first day I laid eyes on him was in a rehearsal.
“He was in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and he was a nervous wreck. He was like, ‘I’ve never danced before,’ and I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re gonna figure this out together.’
“And he was the most charming, wonderful, sweet man to work with.”
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – which was directed by the late-great John Hughes – marked Ortega’s first directing assignment for a motion picture, and he said it was a joy to work with Broderick and on the movie.
Ortega added: “That was my first directing assignment for a motion picture, and he gave me 12 cameras.
“We moved the float into a real parade. And then we got one take. It was such a magical day, and working with Matthew Broderick.”
The movie sees high school student Ferris fake being sick so he can stay at home and spend the day hanging out with his best friend and girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (Mia Sara).
However, the dean of the students, Edward ‘Ed’ R. Rooney (Jeffrey Jones), attempts to spy on Bueller.
Sara, 58, had “so much fun doing that parade scene”.
She recalled to People in June: “That was so crazy. Because we would do the dance and then we’d get in a van and they’d drive us blocks away, and the camera would go, and then we’d do the dance again and wait for Matthew to pass.
“And so it was just this crazy, let’s catch it as many times as we can. So that was a great moment.”
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was released on June 11, 1986, and it became the 10th-highest-grossing film of that year in North America – grossing $70 million with a $5 million budget.
In 2014, the movie – which received critical and audience acclaim – was preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, which deemed Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star Matthew Broderick was a ‘nervous wreck’ when shooting parade scene
