Alan Ruck, ‘Succession’ and ‘Ferris Bueller’ Star, Comes to Connecticut for Exclusive Q&A

Actor Alan Ruck has appeared in over 100 film/TV roles but is best known as Cameron from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and Connor Roy from "Succession." Ruck is headed to Connecticut for an intimate Q&A session.

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Ruck is coming to the Ridgefield Playhouse on Friday, April 5th at 7 pm. The show is called "An Evening With Alan Ruck: In Conversation with Joe Pantoliano." In advance of the show, Ruck joined us on the Wednesday (3/27/24) edition of the I-95 Morning Show. We used the opportunity to learn more about the gig, his amazing career, and life away from the camera.

Lou: The show Succession is so loved and you're amazing in it. I think if anyone but you played Connor Roy, that character could have been really one-dimensional but your charm and comedic ability really turned him into somebody we could all fall in love with. What kind of work did you do to create that character?

Ruck: "I didn't treat him as a joke even though he is the family joke. Even in terms of the structure of the play, so to speak, he is comic relief. You don't do anything with a wink, you know what I mean? You don't wink at the audience and say, 'Yeah, he's an idiot, I know,' you don't do that. What you do is you try to figure out why a person would say some of the insane stuff that this guy said or do some of the crazy stuff he did. Like all of the other kids, he is really damaged, he's really messed up. I made a whole backstory for myself about why he ended up being this type of human being. The truth is, that Connor probably suffered from some kind of ADHD. Maybe 'suffered' isn't the right word. Connor is dealing with ADHD and maybe some kind of delusional disorder, and these things were never properly diagnosed or addressed when he was a kid. A lot of times in these dynastic families, the kids that are not bright and shiny are pushed to the back of the photograph, so to speak. What these families sometimes do with kids that have problems is they throw a lot of money at them in one way or another. Connor was a product of a broken home; his mom was in and out of mental institutions, he was in and out of boarding schools, and the old man was never around—this was a lonely kid. So, if you go into it like that and you realize that, this is how this person wound up being so odd. In a way, it's a miracle that a person like this survived; it's just that the wealth is so extreme he was basically allowed to create his own reality from the time he was very young. That's what he did—he created his own little world and disappeared into it, using it as a buffer against his painful reality. You know, the painful reality of his true family dynamics and the sort of lack of love from anybody in that family. So, as soon as you apply all of that to a character, hopefully, he is not just a one-note guy."

You can listen to the complete I-95 Morning Show interview with actor Alan Ruck below. Ruck also discussed his maturity level during the filing of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and his time on the set of "Twister." We even got him to clear up whether or not Connor Roy was truly interested in politics from a young age.

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Get your tickets to see Alan Ruck and Joe Pantoliano on the Ridgefield Playhouse website or by calling 203-438-5795. Tickets for the April 5th show are priced between $25-$99.