So the other night, my daughter made me join her in her bedroom to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off for my first time. She had recorded it to her DVR back during a DirecTV HBO Free Sample weekend. Or something.
Anyway, during the scene in the art museum, she asked me why Cameron was so transfixed by the Seurat painting (the one they based that Sondheim musical on). I was really impressed by that facet of the actor’s performance myself, so I decided to go on Wikipedia after the movie was over, and see if an answer could be found.
I found the answer, btw, but more to the point, I learned that the actor who had played the role of Cameron FRY had also auditioned to be in The Breakfast Club to play the role of BENDER.
Is this just a coincidence, or am I going to re-watch Pretty in Pink one afternoon and notice that one of Molly Ringwald’s parents is named CALCULON?
I would love to see a Calculon / Ringwald connection, but the answer to this particular question, IIRC, came straight from the director’s mouth in an interview once:
That fits in perfectly with the character of Cameron in the movie, which is why that scene works so well. Even if you don’t fully “get” why he’s so engrossed with staring at that paitning, you know somehow that it’s right that he does so.
The Hughes/Futurama connection doesn’t seem to go beyond the Fry/Bender coincidence, so I think that a coincidence is what it is (and, Cameron spells Frye with an “e”).
However . . .
I was amazed looking at imdb to see the difference in John Hughes writing credits vs. his directing credits. I was aware that he did some work as writer on films he didn’t direct, but I had primarily thought of him as a writer-director combo kind of a guy.
I only went through his director credits looking for Futurama connections. If anyone wants to dig through the 44 writer credits, have at it (well, 36, I checked the ones he directed).