Matthew Broderick recalls John Hughes calling his performance in ‘Ferris Bueller’ ‘boring’

Matthew Broderick is reflecting on having more than a few days off on the set of ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.’

Broderick detailed collaborating with director John Hughes on the 1986 teen comedy, which also starred Alan Ruck, Jennifer Grey, Mia Sara and Charlie Sheen.

“He wasn’t accommodating in some ways,” Broderick said of Hughes during The Hollywood Reporter’s “It Happened in Hollywood” podcast. “He was nervous that he wasn’t going to come out right.”

Broderick continued: “I remember we had a costume fitting at the beginning. We walked the streets of Chicago in our costumes and they filmed us: me, Alan, Jennifer Gray and Mia. That was a big drama. When the footage came back, she said none of us were “fun to watch.” We were “boring” in our tests. Actually, some of us liked it, but some didn’t, and I was a dislike.

Broderick noted that he “wasn’t a total newcomer” prior to his breakout role in ‘Ferris Bueller’, citing his part in ‘War Games’. However, Broderick hadn’t butted heads with a director like Hughes at the time.

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“To make him say, ‘I’m not used to seeing someone this dead,’ or whatever he told me. I wasn’t really ‘into it’ or anything like that,” Broderick recalled. ‘It happened and I said, ‘So get someone you like.’”

Broderick shared another memory of working with Hughes on set, saying, “He said, ‘I love it when your eyes go wide, and then narrow, and then wide again.’ I said, “If you tell me exactly what my face is doing, I get a little uncomfortable.” Now I’m thinking about my face.’ And he said to me, ‘Well, then I’m not going to direct you at all.’ And for a few days he gave me nothing. Until finally I had to say, “John, you have to direct me, come on.” This was our worst.

The “No Hard Feelings” actor added, “He was someone who could get mad at you, not outwardly angry, but you could tell. He would be dead. Without a face, I’d say, ‘What do you think?’ And he was like, “I don’t know.” Just nothing. ‘OK. John doesn’t like it.’”

Broderick summed up: “He took the job very seriously, that’s what I mean. (John) was not a loose person. But he didn’t hold a grudge and knew how to get out of it ”.