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Chicago Tribune
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Revisiting ‘Ferris Bueller's Day Off' filming locations 40 years later
Life was moving fast for 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' writer/director/producer John Hughes when he wrote the film's script. It took him just four days to complete it. 'How did I come to write 'Ferris?' Well, let's see,' Hughes said. 'There was a writer's strike coming up in a week and my agent called and warned me, so I thought, 'Geez, John, you better write something,' and so I got this sentence … out of the ozone. 'I am 17 years old and I have no idea where my life is going,' and I thought, 'That's it!' I called Ned Tanen (head of Paramount films) and said, 'I want to do this movie about a kid who takes a day off from school and … that's all I know so far.'' Hughes was fresh off 'The Breakfast Club' release in February 1985, 'Weird Science' in August 1985 and filming for 'Pretty in Pink' in Los Angeles. He had just signed a five-movie deal with Paramount Pictures. Ferris Bueller, Hughes told the Tribune, would be 'the most popular guy in school, a guy with everything going for him, who could be really obnoxious except for the fact that he polices himself.' The character on the precipice of graduating high school but also about to miss his ninth day of school during the spring semester. Hughes choose the then-23-year-old actor to portray the teen, who was on the precipice of graduating high school but also about to miss his ninth day of school during the spring semester. Broderick accepted a Tony Award for Neil Simon's 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' and starred with 'The Breakfast Club's' Ally Sheedy in 'WarGames.' Three years before he became Ferris Bueller, Broderick told Gene Siskel that he didn't regret skipping college. 'It wouldn't have worked for me,' I would have ended up doing the minimum amount of studying to just pass, and I would have resented even giving up that much time. I love acting.' Ferris Bueller's iconic vest goes up for auction 40 years after famously skipping schoolBroderick was announced in June 1985 as the lead in 'Ferris.' He initially had doubts about the role, which breaks the fourth wall. 'I was just starting out. I had done two Neil Simon plays where I spoke to the audience and Ferris spoke to the camera, and I had done (the 1985 movie) 'Ladyhawke,' where the character sort of talks to the camera,' Broderick said in 2016 interview. 'And I thought, 'I'm always going to be like this comedian who talks to the camera. I have to get a real part,' or some stupid like that.' Cleveland native Ruck graduated from the University of Illinois, then headed to Chicago to pursue theater. He starred as a 'mischievous manservant' in Halcyon Repertory Co.'s September 1979 production of 'Mandragola.' He then starred opposite Jennifer Grey and Megan Mullally in David Rimmer's 'Album' at Apollo Theater Chicago followed by 'a marvelous cameo' in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' at Wisdom Bridge Theater in March 1982. Ruck had a role in June 1983's, 'One Shining Moment,' which was a musical about a group of students recreating the Kennedy years that debuted in Chicago at Drury Lane Theater in Water Tower Place. Before he became Cameron, Ruck struck a nerve with military-themed scripts. He was a weird military academy student in the 1984 NBC made-for-TV movie 'Hard Knox.' Ruck portrayed Canadian World War I pilot Billy Bishop in a one-man show at Wisdom Bridge Theater in March 1984, a soldier injured during the Korean War who comes home to sell body parts in 'Life and Limb,' and finally opposite Broderick on Broadway for Neil Simon's 'Biloxi Blues.' Broderick and Ruck — then 29 years old — left the Broadway production to film 'Bueller' in Chicago. They could reunite soon to star in another film together. Sara, who was 18 years old during filming of 'Ferris,' starred on 'All My Children' and as princess Lili with Tom Cruise as Jack in 1985's 'Legend,' which Tribune critic Gene Siskel gave 1½ stars and called a 'truly awful film.' Married to Jim Henson's son Brian, Sara returned to the red carpet this week for the premiere of 'The Life of Chuck.' Gene Siskel gave 'Ferris Bueller' just two stars, describing it as 'a film that doesn't seem to know what it's about until the end.' Still, the movie was a commercial success. As of February 1987, when his next film 'Some Kind of Wonderful' was released, 'Ferris' had earned a $70 million domestic gross. Hughes died of a heart attack on Aug. 6, 2009, at age 59 while he was visiting family in New York. Here's a guide to the Chicago-area locations as they appeared in the film. Unfortunately, the Bueller house is not in Chicagoland — it's in Long Beach, California. Many of the interior scenes were also shot in Los Frye tells his best friend Ferris Bueller that his father, Morris Frye, loves his 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder — with Illinois license plate 'NRVOUS' — and it 'is his passion.' The song that plays when the car was revealed in the movie? That's 'Oh Yeah' by Yello. But you can't buy a soundtrack for the film — it was never released per Hughes' order. The home was built in 1953, for textile artist Ben Rose. The steel-and-glass house was designed by A. James Speyer, a disciple of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The pavilion (where the Ferrari was housed) was built 20 years later. Rose died in 2004, and his wife, Frances, followed in 2009. That's when the 5,300-square-foot estate was listed for sale for $2.3 million. It was on the market again in 2013, for $1.5 million. How did Ruck get chosen for the role of Cameron Frye? He showed up to an open-casting call for 'The Breakfast Club.' 'I love them because they give young actors a chance to go in front of real casting directors for real parts,' Hughes told the Tribune in 1986. 'They get their feet wet. And while the casting directors may not use them for that particular part, they may pull them out for something else.'No longer home to the Koenig & Strey real estate office, but the building in downtown Winnetka looks almost the same as it appeared in the and his wife, Nancy, who like Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson, were high school sweethearts when they both attended Glenbrook North. In 'Ferris,' it became Shermer High School, the same fictional high school where 'The Breakfast Club' took place (but that was filmed at the former Maine North High School in Des Plaines). went down a rabbit hole that concludes the characters from both films probably knew each other. The boring teachers were portrayed by Ben Stein and Del Close. Stein described the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act before a classroom of bored students. Hughes told Close he could write anything he wanted on the blackboard in the classroom his scene was set. Close wrote 'The Harold,' which was the name of the improvisational game he invented. Hughes held a private screening of 'Ferris' at the high school since many of its students were extras in the Tom Bueller looked out his office window upon hearing The Beatles' 'Twist and Shout,' he would have observed the Chicago River — not Dearborn Street. The curvy, green glass-walled structure was designed by New York-based architecture film Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, which also designed 300 W. Monroe St. Completed in 1983, the building has 36 stories and more than 6 acres of glass that create a reflective facade that seems to bend along with the river just opposite the Merchandise Ferrari was entrusted to an attendant at a parking garage, which was owned by the Chicago Board of Education in the 1970s. Locals might have one bone to pick with the setup of one shot. The parking garage attendant, who takes the Ferrari out for a spin, clearly turns off Wells Street when he leaves the garage, but then unbelievably ends up underneath the 'L' tracks on Wells again. The West Loop garage still has 12 levels of parking — but now it's all self the movie was filmed, the Sears Tower was the world's tallest building — it had been since iron workers bolted the last girder into place in 1973. The Skydeck observation area opened in 1974, on the building's 103rd floor, which is 1,353 feet up in the air. Though Cameron Frye probably couldn't see his dad from up there, visitors can see up to four states and 50 miles out on a clear day. The 1,451-foot structure lost its crown as the world's tallest when it was surpassed in 1996 by Malaysia's Petronas Towers, and the American title in 2013 when New York City's One World Trade Center was completed. After decades of construction in Asian countries, it's now the 25th tallest in the Chicago Board of Trade opened on March 13, 1848, making it the world's oldest and largest commodities futures trading center. In 1930, it moved into its 45-story art deco skyscraper by Holabird & Root. Its first tenant: Quaker Oats Co. The statue of Ceres that tops the structure has no face, reportedly because it was thought no other building would ever be as tall as the Board of Trade, therefore no one would realize that statue's head was featureless. At the time the film was shot, visitors could take free tours of the CBOT building on weekdays and observe the trading floor from galleries. True to the movie, the floor jumped to life at 9:30 a.m. when trading opened as brokers negotiated transactions face to face in the pits using hand signals and shouted commands, known as open outcry. Transactions were then recorded via computer and relayed to the big board and communications networks around the world. The process was an ironic combination of Stone Age communications and 20th century technology. The trading pit is no longer open to the public. In 2007, the Chicago Board of Trade merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The merger created what was, at the time, the world's largest derivatives French name, which roughly translates to 'the house of who,' was not found in any Tribune restaurant reviews. With good reason — it was never a restaurant. The private residence was used for a brief exterior shot only in the movie. Abe Froman, 'Sausage King of Chicago,' had a reservation at a Los Angeles restaurant instead. Siskel called it, 'a weak ripoff of a similar scene in 'Beverly Hills Cop.''If the buildings in the background look familiar, then it's because the same area was used in 'Home Alone' for Santa Claus' shack. The pizza parlor Rooney wandered into? Though it looks similar to a Barnaby's, it was really in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood.A producer inspected Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park as possible locations for the movie, but Wrigley won when the White Sox (Hughes was a fan) schedule put the team on the road. Broderick had received batting lessons from White Sox coach Charley Lau in the 1983 film 'Max Dugan Returns.' Ferris and friends were sitting in the 100-level near the left-foul pole. The Cubs game on TV at the pizza place took place June 5, 1985, against the Atlanta Braves. But when Ferris Bueller caught the foul ball? That was shot during a Sept. 24, 1985, game at Wrigley Field. Ruck recalled, according to he took inspiration from a catcher at his high school for his, 'Hey batter, batter, batter, sa-wing batter!' chant. Hughes' own father-in-law was an extra seated behind Broderick, according to the death notice for Henry 'Hank' Ludwig published in the June 2, 2013, edition of the Tribune. Ludwig suffered a major heart attack the day after filming and drove himself 20 miles to the hospital. Doctors gave him 7-12 years to live — he made it trio joined a line of schoolchildren in front of 'Paris Street; Rainy Day' by Gustave Caillebotte. Cameron Frye contemplated Georges Seurat's 'A Sunday on La Grande Latte – 1884.' The second is a prime example of pointillism — the closer one stands to the painting, the more noticeable the tiny dots of color become. Siskel's critique: 'The paintings are delightful, but Chicago purists will wonder why Ferris doesn't spend more time with the Impressionists or, earlier, why he didn't try to sit in the bleachers at Wrigley Field along with the other kids ditching school.'Ferris Bueller lip-synced to 'Danke Schoen' by Wayne Newton and 'Twist and Shout' by The Beatles near the intersection of Dearborn and Adams streets. Unlike 'The Fugitive,' where filming took place during an actual St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Chicago, the Steuben Parade was staged on Sept. 28, 1985. Though snippets from the real German American Parade on Sept. 21, 1985, were peppered into 'Ferris.' Hughes put out a call for 5,000 extras dressed in mid-spring attire to recreate the German American Parade (which actually took place the week before). The names of people who showed up had their names put into a raffle. Prizes included 'a trip to Mexico, a motor scooter, several weekend hotel packages, gift certificates, movie passes and record albums,' the Tribune reported. The woman on accordion? That was 'International Queen of Polka' Vlasta Krsek. 'Those were real faces, real people,' Hughes told the Tribune in June 1986. 'That guy twisting up on that scaffolding was no actor. He was a real guy. That was spontaneous, and we were lucky enough to catch it.'For months during filming, Northbrook residents wondered why 'Save Ferris' was written on their village's water tower. Now, they embrace their connection to the film. Northbrook held 'Ferris Fest' in 2016, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the movie. Cast members Edie McClurg (Grace), Cindy Pickett (Katie Bueller), Lyman Ward (Tom Bueller), Jonathan Schmook (maitre d' at Chez Quis) and Larry 'Flash' Jenkins (garage attendant) mingled with Frye's breakdown was captured overlooking the serenity of Glencoe Beach on Lake Michigan. The area is named in honor of longtime Glencoe resident, former president of the park district, lawyer and scoutmaster, Stanton Schuman. Glencoe fixture also well-known in deathThanks for reading!
Daily Mirror
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Sign up to our newsletter The Weird Science Drop
Introducing our free Weird Science Drop newsletter, and why you need to subscribe. A brand new newsletter is bringing back crazy chemistry, bonkers biology and foolish physics in the shape of The Weird Science Drop. The newsletter goes where other, more-sensible publications fear to tread. Every week, it brings the overlooked, under-the-radar and, above all else, most madcap science news, views and research straight to your email. From the keyboard of Daniel Smith, The Weird Science Drop keeps a close eye on the latest scientific discoveries and research while also unearthing the little-heard strange stories from the past. Daniel is an experienced journalist who has worked for news websites on both sides of the Atlantic. Back in the furthest reaches of time somewhere near Watford he fancied himself as an astrophysicist but proved to be hopeless. So he put down the telescope and picked up a pen instead. Daniel was once the author of the Weird Science Blog - one of the top blogs in this media group - and is delighted to get back in the saddle. He said: 'It's been great to dust off the old white lab coat and bring Weird Science back but this time in a far better, more dynamic fashion with The Weird Science Drop. 'The newsletter will hunt out the choicest morsels of science goodness, where everything from the world 's unluckiest scientist who inadvertently tried to end the planet twice to research showing monkeys are the world's best yodellers is put under the microscope. 'I'll try to keep people informed, amazed and astounded, while hopefully provoking the old smile along the way. 'So why not subscribe?' So what's in The Weird Science Drop? Each newsletter will feature regular sections such as Weird Science News, Photo of the Week, Infographic Magic, plus a rotating platter of goodness including… Weird Scientist - a look back at some of the oddest characters who ever picked up a test tube Weird Science Hero - amazing people who have done amazing things Weird Science in Films - sometimes they get it right, sometimes they throw the laws of reality out of the window We're Alone / Not Alone - weighing up the odds of alien life out there in the cosmos Weird Animals - there are some very strange creatures out there How do I sign up for The Weird Science Drop? The Weird Science Drop will be published on Substack, an independent platform with no ads, making for a cleaner reading experience than on many other websites. You can read there on desktop or the app, or simply from your email inbox. So not only do you not have to go searching for the news itself – or wait for the algorithm to decide this is what you might like to see – you don't even have to search for the newsletter. Once it's live it's sent directly to you to read at your leisure. Sign up for The Weird Science Drop here
Daily Mail
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
New nepo baby alert! Danny Dyer's youngest daughter Sunnie launches herself on the showbiz scene with a lavish 18th birthday party as she eyes up brand deals
Danny Dyer 's youngest daughter Sunnie celebrated her 18th birthday with a boozy 80s themed party at Mooros Chigwell over the weekend alongside her famous family. The nepo baby looked the spitting image of her older sister Dani, 28, who slipped into a retro-inspired eighties look. Her A-list father, 47, renowned for his roles in EastEnders, The Business and most recently Marching Powder, looked the part with his moustache and oversized suit. The 18-year-old, who was born in 2007, channeled Kelly LeBrock's character Lisa in Weird Science, sporting her iconic pink and black eighties ensemble. She captioned her post: '80s Partayyy Thank you everyone who camelove you all smm ur the best' The rising star, who boasts 104,000 followers on Instagram and is under Grail Talent management, has been attending high-profile events in recent months as she looks set to follow her famous sibling's footsteps. Danny threw his youngest a huge 80s-themed bash, featuring a three-tier ruffled pink cake with makeup and a vape decorated on top. The former soap star shares three children with his wife Joanne Mas, Love Island winner Dani, Sunnie and Arty, 11. In a bit to kickstart her career in the world of showbiz alongside her A-list father and reality star sister, Sunnie has been attending many red carpets in recent months. To celebrate the release of Marching Powder, Sunnie joined Dani and her footballer fiancé Jarrod Bowen at the film premiere in March. That same month, Sunnie slipped into a gorgeous strapless black gown as she posed arm in arm with her father and sister at The 2025 BRIT Awards. She also appeared at the special gala screening party for Danny's Rivals. As well as her many red carpet appearances recently, Sunnie has dipped her toes into the world of influencing. The rising star often shares videos trying on Dress2Party's prom dresses on her Instagram. Danny threw his youngest a huge 80s-themed bash, featuring a three-tier ruffled pink cake with makeup and a vape decorated on top Last year, Sunnie was being eyed up by PrettyLittleThing as she hopes to utilise her social media following and pursue partnership deals. A source told MailOnline: 'Sunnie is currently considering her options but she's definitely keen to work with PrettyLittleThing. 'She loves their clothes and it seems like a perfect fit, especially following the success of Princess Andre's collaborative work with the brand, and they're the same age. 'PLT are hoping to close a deal very soon and hope Sunnie can become one of their regular contributors. 'Obviously, her famous links, and sister Dani's fanbase, means she falls precisely within their target market.' Danny's eldest child Dani won Love Island in 2018 with ex-boyfriend, Jack Fincham but their pair's romance was short-lived. After starring on the ITV2 series, Dani secured lucrative deals with the likes of In The Style, which helped her to monetise on her new fanbase. She has been dating footballer Jarrod since 2021, to the delight of her father Danny, who's a diehard West Ham fan. The rising star often shares videos trying on Dress2Party's prom dresses on her Instagram Danny has teamed up with his daughter on multiple projects including podcast Sorted with the Dyers and Channel 4 show Absolutely Dyer: Danny and Dani Do Italy. Danny recently admitted his kids have never been on a bus and instead get driven 'door to door in a Bentley'. The actor, 47, gets a grilling about claims he sent his son to private school in ITV's new show The Assembly, ahead of him making more money for the family in a new foul-mouthed ad. In the episode being released this Saturday, Dyer is asked by one of the interviewers: 'How working class are you to send your son to a private school?'. Dyer responds: 'I am a working-class kid and I am very proud of my roots. We moved to a better place where we could bring the children up. 'I have put my children in a private school, but now they're not street wise. I don't regret it but there's a part of me that I wish I could instil a little bit of knowing what it's like to struggle into them. 'But like anyone, if you have kids you want to give them everything you can and it can backfire on you slightly, because now, they get driven around in a Bentley. I've got a Bentley. I walked everywhere as a kid or got a bus. 'My kids have never been on a bus, they don't have to. Because they get driven door to door in a Bentley.'
Chicago Tribune
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
David Petitti: Once nirvana for mall shoppers, Northbrook Court's time has passed
If the afterlife imitates art, when I die in my bed like the old lady in 'Titanic,' I will be ushered into a sweet hereafter centered on the most glorious, glamorous place I knew in the physical realm. For Rose, that was being back aboard the Titanic, welcomed by Jack with an outstretched hand, the stairways and balcony lined with the passengers of that fateful voyage looking on with love, smiles and a hearty round of applause. For me, the apotheosis of grandeur and scintillation was Northbrook Court in the 1980s. Like a temple for the North Shore, the shofar of Northbrook Court called out to its faithful — just about everyone from ages 12 to 20 — to come together as a community in a vast enclosed space as moving as a medieval cathedral and just as sacred. To live in close proximity (walking distance for me) to Northbrook Court — once one of the largest indoor malls in America — was akin to being born with a silver spoon in your mouth. At your literal doorstep was a veritable world capital of social connection, retail nirvana and eclectic dining opportunities. As I strode over those shiny teak floors like a boy king, tracing a finger along the tinted glass railings of the second floor, I felt a part of something big. A kid only had to get to the mall to get plugged into the greatest social scene in the '312' (or '708' after 1989). You may not have been part of a clique there, but proximity lent relevance. You were there. You were part of the scene, like Tony Manero at 2001 Odyssey in 'Saturday Night Fever.' The irresistible frisson of Northbrook Court was kicked up a notch by who you might see there. Anybody who was anyone in the Chicago metropolitan area could possibly be lurking. Mike Ditka, Michael Jordan, certainly a pre-famous Vince Vaughn, the Murray brothers, even Mary Tyler Moore! The possibilities of running into the famous were omnipresent at Northbrook Court. And sometimes, you negotiated the inconveniences of a movie or television production. The films 'Weird Science' and 'Ordinary People' found their stories elevated by the magic of this mall. The retail offerings of Northbrook Court provide a snapshot of long-gone merchants that etched their place in the mercantile history of America: Sears, Sharper Image, Arcadia and KB Toys. For sustenance, there was One Potato Two, The Great Fry Company, Egg Roll and Etc. — and then, a McDonald's followed closely by a Taco Bell. For a 12-year-old, this food court was like 15 Michelin-starred restaurants in one giant culinary clump — a Voltron in eatery format. What choices! McNuggets? A Royal Potato? A cookie, perhaps? What is that pungent smell? Ah, Gloria Jean's Coffees must be grinding some java for an adventurous soul looking to try something different than a cup of Brim or Sanka. But time and progress march on. With the pandemic and the rise of e-commerce, Northbrook Court now bears more resemblance to Cairo, Illinois, than to the Fifth Avenue — or even Michigan Avenue — of the northern suburbs. With the departure of Apple this month, the mall is now in its final days. A vast surface lot that once was filled nearly to capacity in November and December of any given year now has space enough for drivers to do doughnuts on a snowy Black Friday. Like the ghostly hulk of the Titanic below the surface of the sea, Northbrook Court is a quiet and cavernous relic — at the bottom of the retail food chain. There is no second act. It will be redeveloped, probably to accommodate people who can hit a bucket of balls and have an appletini and some calamari before retiring to their new townhome. Maybe some will know the hallowed ground on which they trod — how it was, at one time, the nexus of culture, local society and fine (albeit, perhaps greasy) dining as a paragon of the suburban mall. Things change because they must. Creative destruction is healthy. Time has passed for this American classic.
