Oh yeah, Matthew Broderick nailed that dance number.
But Kenny Ortega, who choreographed the iconic parade scene of the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, in which star Broderick’s Bueller encourages the crowd in downtown Chicago to “Twist and Shout,” as he lip-synced to that song as well as “Danke Schoen,” says the actor was not nearly as confident as he looked on screen. Dramatically dropping to his knees, shaking his head, and moving his hips, like a rock star would do was uncomfortable for the young actor.
“Matthew, the first day I laid eyes on him was in a rehearsal,” Ortega said in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight. “He was in a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and he was a nervous wreck. He was like, ‘I’ve never danced before,’ and I was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’re gonna figure this out together.’ And he was the most charming, wonderful, sweet man to work with.”
And Ortega, who was also working as a second unit director, truly meant that.
“That was my first directing assignment for a motion picture,” Ortega said of the John Hughes film that continues to be an audience favorite. “And he gave me 12 cameras. We moved the float into a real parade. And then we got one take. It was such a magical day, and working with Matthew Broderick.”
Ferris, which costarred Mia Sara and Alan Ruck as the main character’s girlfriend, Sloane, and best friend, Cameron, followed the three teens on an epic day after he faked being sick to skip school. Apparently Bueller wasn’t too worried about being recognized when he hopped onto a float. (Like the rest of the movie, parts of the parade scene didn’t make sense, but the point was that it was definitely a fun watch.)
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Sara has said that the filming of the parade scene is her favorite memory from the set, because she “had so much fun,” she told PEOPLE in June.
Ortega also told PEOPLE that Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is where he met the actress who played Ferris’ sister, Jeanie: Jennifer Grey, who would soon work with him on another movie, 1987’s Dirty Dancing.
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