Filming – Hughes stated in 1999 that his request to direct the film was met with resistance and skepticism due to his lack of experience in filmmaking. Hughes ultimately persuaded the film’s investors that he could significantly reduce their risk due to the film’s modest $1 million budget and single-location shoot.
- Hughes initially envisioned The Breakfast Club as his directorial debut.
- Hughes chose an enclosed, predominantly one-room set and wrote about high school students, who would be portrayed by younger actors.
- Production began on March 28, 1984, and concluded in May.
- Maine North High School in Des Plaines, Illinois, which had been closed since May 1981, was used for filming.
The interior scenes of the 1986 film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off were filmed in the same location as exterior shots from nearby Glenbrook North High School. The library at Maine North High School was deemed too small for the film, so the crew constructed a nearly identical but larger set in the gym.
After three weeks of rehearsal, the actors shot the film in sequence. Hughes revealed on the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off DVD commentary (featured on the 2004 DVD version) that he shot the two films simultaneously to save time and money, and some outtakes from both films feature members of the crews working on the other film.
The length of the first print was 150 minutes. During a cast reunion to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary, Ally Sheedy revealed the existence of a Director’s Cut, but Hughes’s widow did not disclose its location. The first draft of the film’s script was discovered in a Maine South High School cabinet in 2015, when district employees were relocating their offices.
Where was the library scene from Breakfast Club filmed?
Chicago, Illinois filming locations for The Breakfast Club (1985). The five main characters pass an afternoon of detention in this archetypal teen film. This being the case, the setting must be the fictitious suburb of ‘Shermer’ The majority of the film takes place in the library of ‘Shermer High School,’ which was constructed in the gymnasium of what was then Maine North High School, located at 9511 Harrison Street in Des Plaines, Illinois, approximately 20 miles away.
- It had closed in 1981 and was vacant during filming.
- This structure currently serves as the district headquarters for the Illinois State Police and other offices.
- The exterior of the school was modeled after the Maine North entrance on Harrison Street, where Breakfasters are dropped off by their parents.
Some of the hallways and corridors are from’s own school, Glenbrook North High School, located at 2300 Shermer Road in northern Northbrook. This is, of course, the school that Ferris () attended. Shermer Road recalls the original name of Northbrook, which was Shermerville, the fictional suburb’s inspiration: Chicago, Illinois filming locations for The Breakfast Club (1985).
Table of The Breakfast Club Locations –
| Location Name | Latitude | Longitude |
|---|---|---|
| Des Plaines | 42.042301 | -87.889320 |
| Glenbrook North High School | 42.111607 | -87.831856 |
| Maine North High School | 42.059978 | -87.862991 |
| Northbrook | 42.130981 | -87.831558 |
| Park Ridge | 42.011009 | -87.835869 |
Where is the true Shermer High School located?
Then and Now: Iconic John Hughes Filming Locations! 12-26-2021 by Paige Pfeifer ( Universal Pictures/Getty ) Shermer, Illinois may be the most beloved nonexistent community. Its most famous residents practically invented adolescent angst, if only tangentially.
- John Bender, Samantha Baker, Kevin McAllister, and Ferris Bueller are all natives of Shermer, as is their creator John Hughes.
- Except for Hughes’s Shermer, which is a composite of the North Shore suburbs where he grew up and filmed his numerous iconic coming-of-age films, Shermer is fictional.
- This new decade marks the fortieth anniversary of a number of his films, so it’s high time we took a look at what these filming locations look like now, long after our favorite teenagers have grown up and moved on.
(© Paige Pfeifer) Shermer High School was created from the former Des Plaines, Illinois, Main North High School. It was used for exterior shots in The Breakfast Club, and the majority of the film’s library set was constructed within the old gymnasium.
Due to low enrollment, Main North had closed three years prior to filming, making it the ideal location for Saturday detention. It has since reopened and now serves as the headquarters of the Illinois State Police. John Hughes attended Glenbrook North High School, which was later featured in two of his most famous films.
The iconic ending shot of The Breakfast Club was filmed on the football field, and the entrance to the Performing Arts building served as the entrance to Ferris Bueller’s high school. Before filming The Breakfast Club, the cast went undercover at Glenbrook North to better understand how the local youth spoke and interacted, notably incorporating terms such as “sporto” into the film.
It continues to serve as a high school in Northbrook, Illinois. Cameron Frye’s home from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is the Ben Rose House in Highland Park. Fans of the film will recognize it as the place where Cameron had his breakdown (more of a breakthrough, really) and drove his father’s Ferrari through the plate glass windows and into a ravine.
With the picture windows boarded up, it is difficult to recognize the recently sold and renovated home. Glencoe Union Church continues to bring its community together every Sunday, but it will always be remembered for one service in particular: Samantha Baker’s older sister’s wedding, which she missed while driving toward the horizon with Jake Ryan, teen heartthrob and hair gel king. ( CBS by way of Getty Images) Shermer may be a forgery, and John Hughes may be deceased, but the heart and soul of him and his films are still very much alive in the community that inspired them: Iconic John Hughes Locations for Filming: Then and Now!
The Office of Principal Ed Rooney – El Camino Real Charter High School – Even though many of the film’s school scenes were shot in Illinois at Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook (John Hughes’ alma mater) and Maine North High School in Des Plaines, Principal Edward R.
- Rooney’s (Jeffrey Jones) office is located in the San Fernando Valley.
- For the shoot, the assistant principal’s office at El Camino Real Charter High in Woodland Hills was transformed into Rooney’s blue office.
- Prior to filming, the back wall of the office was sandblasted to reveal natural red brick that more closely resembled the appearance of both Glenbrook North and Maine North.
This rear wall has never been repainted, and the space looks essentially the same as it did thirty years ago. Grace, Ed’s pencil-hoarding, pint-sized secretary, used the office’s large anteroom as her workspace during filming (Edie McClurg). Additionally, some hallways at Cal State Long Beach appeared in the film.
