Ferris Bueller is undoubtedlyMatthew Broderick's most iconic film role — but the character was almost played by another '80s teen cinema icon.
Author Jason Klamm is pulling back the curtain onFerris Bueller’s Day Offwith his upcoming bookFerris Bueller…You’re My Hero: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Day Off, which chronicles the development and production of the classic high school comedy in great detail.
In the third chapter of the book, Klamm explains how writer/directorJohn HughespitchedFerristo Paramount executives Ned Tanen and Lindsay Doran. In that preliminary meeting, theBreakfast Clubfilmmaker and the studio execs tossed around marketing ideas, as well as a surprising casting idea for the title role:Jon Cryer, who had previously popped up as Ducky in the Hughes-written comedyPretty in Pink.
In the excerpt below, Klimm shares details from his interview with Cryer, in which theTwo and a Half Menstar indicated that he had no idea that he was considered to play Ferris. The author also addresses the rumors that another frequent Hughes collaborator,Anthony Michael Hall, was considered for the part.
Excerpted from FERRIS BUELLER… YOU'RE MY HERO: THE STORY OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS DAY OFF by Jason Klamm. Copyright © 2026 by Jason Klamm. Reprinted with permission of 1984 Publishing. All rights reserved.
They already had some casting ideas, too. The most prominent among these was Jon Cryer, whose performance inPretty in Pinkwas fresh on their minds. I asked Cryer if his people had relayed the studio's interest to him.
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"Yes, for theAlan Ruckcharacter," he says, then explaining why he likely wasn't cast as Cameron. "I mean, I'm just too similar to Matthew." As for being under consideration to play Ferris: "I have not heard that, but I trust Lindsay Doran [former Vice President of Production at Paramount]...yeah, that's news to me." [John] Hughes came to thePretty in Pinkset enough while it andFerriscrossed over that Cryer (a fan of Hughes back to hisLampoondays) did feel like he was missing out. "Ferris Buellersounded a little more antically comedic thanPretty in Pinkwas," Cryer tells me. "It sounded like he was going to have a great time, and I was like, 'Oh, that would have been a fun project to do with him'...I recall being a little jealous at the time."
Famously, Hughes' three-time leading man, Anthony Michael Hall, has since said that the part could have been his. "John actually had written Ferris Bueller for me," Hall would later write. "We both determined that I should move on to other things. I needed a break. I wanted to try some new things." Instead ofFerris, it seems, he shot the filmOut of Boundsand became a part ofSaturday Night Live's strangest season.
"Trust me, I think he would have put Michael in anything," Jane Lay [Hughes' assistant] says. "I don't want to say 100 percent, but I would say that I'm sure he was thinking of Michael for Ferris at some point." Some of the dialogue in the film—especially some lines that were either never shot or used in the film—do have that young Anthony Michael Hall attitude in them, though Hughes himself never publicly confirmed this rumor. "How it ended up not being Jon Cryer and being Matthew Broderick, I don't really remember," Doran admits. "I do remember that at least Jon's representatives were disappointed about that."
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Ferris Bueller… You're My Hero: The Story of the World's Most Famous Day Offwill be released on June 16 by 1984 Publishing.
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