Edits Saved Ferris

My favorite movie growing up was, by far, Ferris Bueller's Day Off. (If you're not familiar, check it out!) I must have watched the teen comedy a hundred times. At one point, I had most lines memorized. I haven't watched Ferris in years, but I recently watched an A&E documentary on the making of the film, and many great memories came rushing back.

From a writer's standpoint I was blown away by all the edits that were made. Edits improved Ferris's character, and the overall feel of the movie. To think that Ferris originally smoked and drank. That they took Cameron to a strip club, and Ferris came out on stage to do an Elvis impression. There was a fake radio interview Ferris did about traveling to space, which was cut due to the Challenger tragedy. They originally went to a science museum, instead of art. The trio took a river cruise, which was also cut, and several more of Ferris's philosophical monologues had to go. One of Sloane's lines about the female option to just "be a wife and have kids" was also thankfully cut. Ferris even had a much younger brother and sister who were not needed, and never made it to theaters. Charlie Sheen's character was much more significant, but that was all trimmed down too.

What a difference, right? That's a long list of changes. Even still, the first cut of the film was 2 hours and 45 minutes long! There were so many moments that really had to go. So many. But the edits created a much better film.

It's difficult to edit, I know. After working so hard and agonizing over every choice, it's tough watching it disappear. But these omissions must be made! Have faith in the process. Trust the edits and make more. It really does help the narrative, you just have to believe that.

Like Ferris said, "The question isn't --what are we going to do? The question is --what aren't we going to do?"

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And one last comment... How great is the concept of this film, with all action taking place in one day? That's like Die Hard or Magnolia, or Do The Right Thing. When a story takes place in 24-hours it is sometimes called circadian. There are also circadian books like James Joyce's Ulysses, or Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. Maybe I'll try writing a circadian novel next...