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- Actor Allusion: Ferris hacks into his school's computer to improve his record... just as David Lightman did in War Games.
- All There in the Script: Charlie Sheen's stoner character is named Garth Volbeck, though the film doesn't mention this.
- Cast Incest: On-screen siblings Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey dated and were even engaged for a while after appearing in this film together.
- Dawson Casting: Averted with Mia Sara, (Sloane) who was 18 (playing a high school junior). Played straight with Matthew Broderick (Ferris) who was 23, Jennifer Grey (Jeannie) who was 25, and Alan Ruck (Cameron) who was 29 when the film was shot during the fall of 1985.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Ben Stein plays the dull, drab teacher whose class Ferris escapes from at the beginning of the film. He would later rehash this role on The Wonder Years, among many other places.
- Also Actor Allusion for Ben Stein, as he was a political commentator and speech writer, who wrote and spoke at length about economics, just as he taught in this film. In fact, he wasn't even given lines for his lecture scenes; he was just told to deliver a lecture on something "economics-related and really boring-sounding".
- Aside from his work in Broadway theater (for example, his award-winning performance in the revival of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and the musical adaptation of The Producers) this is pretty much the movie that everyone will associate Matthew Broderick with.
- And don't forget Alan Ruck. (Spin City fans, take note.)
- The flower delivery guy was played by Louie Anderson.
- Jennifer Aniston played Ferris' sister in the short-lived TV show. Charlie Schlatter was Ferris.
- Simone Adamley was played by a young Kristy Swanson.
- Grace the secretary was played by Edie McClurg.
- And, last but not least, Charlie Sheen as the drugged out kid in the police station.
- Hey, It's That Voice!: Ferris is adult Simba in The Lion King.
- I Am Not Spock: For a long time, Matthew Broderick never liked talking about this movie, though it seems he's eased up about it, since he appeared in a 2012 Super Bowl commercial that parodied the film.
- Real Life Relative: The actors who played Ferris's parents (Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward) later got married in real life. Unfortunately, however, they divorced in 1992.
- Throw It In: "They think he's a righteous dude" was improvised by Edie McClurg, the actress who played Grace.
- Ben Stein improvised the entire lecture about the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
- What Could Have Been: John Hughes' first choice to play Ferris was Michael J. Fox, which is ironic because Broderick was Gary David Goldberg's first choice to play Fox's role of Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties. However, Broderick declined, partially because his father, James Broderick, had become terminally ill, and partially because he did not actually want to commit to a weekly TV series. Even more ironically, James Broderick had co-starred with Fox's Family Ties co-star, Meredith Baxter-Birney, on the ABC drama, Family.
- Word of Dante: A researcher discovered the titular day off was June 5, 1985, based on the Cubs game that Ferris goes to in the movie.
- The Cubs game was actually played on Sept. 24, 1985.