NEED TO KNOW
- Mia Sara opens up to PEOPLE about her life now, nearly 40 years after her breakout role as Sloane in 1986’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
- “I got a really, really good [life],” says the actress and poet, now 57, who lives in a 17th-century farmhouse with her two children and husband Brian Henson
- Sara’s first feature film in nearly 15 years, The Life of Chuck, is in select theaters now, and opens wide on Friday, June 13
Mia Sara has been just fine outside of the acting world, but director Mike Flanagan was able to coax her back.
Speaking with PEOPLE about her role in The Life of Chuck — her first feature film in nearly 15 years — the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star admits she is “a crazy fan girl” of Flanagan’s, which played heavily into why she signed on to the Stephen King adaptation from The Haunting of Hill House creator.
“My whole family are huge Mike Flanagan fans,” says Sara, now 57, who lives in a 17th-century farmhouse in Suffolk, England, with filmmaker husband Brian Henson (whose father is the late Jim Henson), son Dashiell, 28, and daughter Amelia, 20.
Sara recalls of how her part in The Life of Chuck came to be after meeting Flanagan, 47, and his wife Kate Siegel in a social setting, “He just said, ‘Well, don’t you ever really want to work again?’ ”
“And I said, ‘Oh, I don’t know.’ He said, ‘Well, what if I offered you something?’ I said, ‘Well, okay, if you offer me something, I’ll do it,’ ” she adds.
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In The Life of Chuck, Sara stars as Sarah Krantz opposite Mark Hamill‘s Albie Krantz, the grandparents of the titular Chuck (played as a child by Flanagan and Siegel’s son Cody Flanagan, as a preteen by Benjamin Pajak, as a teenager by Jacob Tremblay and as an adult by Tom Hiddleston.)
“I couldn’t believe when Mike told me that it was Mark Hamill was going to play the grandpa,” Sara tells PEOPLE. “I get to be married to Luke Skywalker! It’s the greatest thing.”
The actress — who has also written poetry, much of which is showcased on her website — adds that she and Hamill, 73, “had so much fun” together on set.
“We knew we had just this little short moment, but we really had fun trying to convey the loving relationship,” she says. “And when it was over, we just thought, ‘Oh, that’s not enough. We want to do more [together].’ ”
Asked whether “more” acting gigs for her might be in the future, Sara tells PEOPLE, “If Mike needs me, I’ll be there.”
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While Sara hasn’t seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in “very long time” and doesn’t regularly keep in touch with the cast — whom she starred alongside as Sloane in the 1986 teen-comedy classic — she has fond memories of making the movie, particularly the big parade scene and all the dancing.
“We did a reunion thing during COVID, which was nice. It was nice to see everybody,” she says of the cast coming together virtually back in June 2020, including the other two actors from the John Hughes movie’s main trio: Matthew Broderick (Ferris) and Alan Ruck (Cameron).
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Both Sara and Henson, 61, are from New York City, but moved to England as they both had “early imprints” having “lived and worked [there] when we were young,” generating a love that stuck so much they decided to relocate there full time.
As for what her life looks like now? “I read a lot of crime fiction. I cook a lot,” Sara says, adding of her decision to step away from the spotlight, “I started when I was really young, and I met my husband, and I just felt like, ‘I kind of need to get a life.’ And I got a really, really good one.”
The Life of Chuck is in select theaters now, and everywhere Friday, June 13.
