If you grew up in the ’80s, watching Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, chances are you developed a crush on Mia Sara, the charismatic actress who played Sloane Peterson in John Hughes‘s classic coming-of-age comedy. In my estimation, Sloane comes off as a girl-next-door type, but with an added bit of spice that makes her a target for good trouble. Mia Sara doesn’t act as much as she used to, but she’s one of the most memorable faces of the ’80s, and she feels familiar and warm. Recently, Sara joined Pete Ferriero for his The Slice of Life Show podcast, and the pair discussed many things, including Sara’s time working on Ferris Bueller and the film Legend, which almost had a completely different tone and delivery.
While discussing Ferris Bueller, Sara commented on how young and inexperienced she was at 17 while working on the project. Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck had already worked together. Although her co-stars tried to make her feel comfortable, Sara says she felt “very out of her element,” and “very adolescent.”
“If you take your most miserable, horrible year of high school, when you’re the most socially awkward, and you feel the most out of it, and it’s forever immortalized in this movie where you come off in this movie as cool or something, I was not cool,” Sara recalls about her Ferris Bueller days. “I’ve barely watched it. I’ve not watched it in 20 years. It’s not a comfortable thing for me. It wasn’t fun, and I didn’t have the maturity to handle the conflict I was having with John Hughes.”
Naturally, Ferriero seized on the opportunity to find out what that conflict was. Sara replies by saying Hughes had a particular way of getting along with his cast, and as a New Yorker, she wasn’t exactly into the vibe of “hanging out.” Sara suspects that making Ferris Bueller wasn’t “super fun” for Hughes, as he’d sometimes “get dark,” meaning he would be introspective and moody while working on the film.
Later in the interview, Sara talks about her first big role for Ridley Scott’s fantasy masterpiece Legend. Sara was 15 when she joined the cast, and the experience was overwhelming. While lamenting the film’s poor reception, Sara says the reactions to the movie were “heartbreaking.” In a Siskel and Ebert review, Ebert said Legend was “one more high tech, prehistoric, teenage special effects movie.” To which Siskel replied, “The girl, they’re using her for a music video, I suppose,” which, when you think about it, isn’t saying much at all. I’ve never understood the appeal of these two. Where’s your sense of whimsy? It’s the ’80s for heaven’s sake.
As the interview continues, Sara discusses fame, riding horses, Timecop, walking away from Hollywood, working with Mike Flanagan, and more. Ferriero’s interview is an insightful and informative look into Mia Sara and her complicated relationship with Hollywood. I suggest making time for the whole presentation.