“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” celebrated its 40th anniversary this month, but not everyone is looking back fondly.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 02: Mia Sara seen at “The Life Of Chuck” Special Screening at Hollywood Legion Theater on June 02, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Charbonneau/Neon via Getty Images)
Mia Sara, who played Ferris’ girlfriend Sloane, told The Sunday Times, “I don’t really give interviews because making ‘Ferris Bueller’ was not that good an experience for me. But I’m very aware of what a precious thing this movie is, and I don’t want to disappoint people.”
The now 59-year-old Sara was also the youngest on the set, only 17 years old, and she struggled to connect.
She also “didn’t get along well with John [Hughes].”
John Hughes wrote, produced, and directed “Ferris Bueller,” among many other 80s classics, and according to Sara, was a “strange guy.”
Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck publicity portrait for the film ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’, 1986. (Photo by Paramount/Getty Images)
“He wanted us all to hang out together and to introduce us to the French New Wave films. 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 told the outlet.
Jennifer Grey, who played Ferris’ sister Jeanie, explained, “John was not like a normal grown-up. Think about how fast he wrote the script — that’s not normal, that’s a genius — and with genius there is a lot of asymmetrical development. So he was very playful and I just really connected with him.”
LOS ANGELES – JUNE 11: The movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, written and directed by John Hughes. Seen here from left, Alan Ruck as Cameron Frye, Mia Sara as Sloane Peterson and Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller in the Art Institute of Chicago. Initial theatrical release June 11, 1986. Screen capture. Paramount Pictures. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
Sara quit acting almost entirely, choosing instead to focus on writing poetry.
“I never really had the resilience to deal with the audition process. There are some things in my career that I’m really proud of, but overall it was not a happy career for me,” she said.
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