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It’s hard to picture anyone but Matthew Broderick playing Ferris Bueller, but it turns out that the role was originally written for someone else.

When director John Hughes wrote the screenplay for the 1986 teen comedy Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, he envisioned Anthony Michael Hall as the title character. Hall had previously worked with Hughes on The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science, so he and Hughes had a great working relationship.

However, Hall passed on the project, which fractured his friendship with Hughes.  

“I was offered Ferris Bueller, which was written for me, and Pretty in Pink, which I just felt was the same movie as Sixteen Candles to be very honest,” Hall says during a panel at Florida Supercon.  “It led to kind of a rupture of our friendship because I turned those movies down, and that was sad. But I’ve learned over the years that you’ve got to wish everyone success. I thought Matthew [Broderick] was the perfect guy for the role.”

Broderick certainly brought a unique energy to the role. With Hall as Bueller, it would’ve felt like an entirely different movie. Even Hall admits that Broderick was the perfect person for the role. Sometimes things just work out for the best, which is more or less Bueller’s mantra.

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