The “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” star stepped away from acting for more than a decade but returned to work with director Mike Flanagan.

Mia Sara calls this former costar ‘a dreamboat of a man’

The "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" star stepped away from acting for more than a decade but returned to work with director Mike Flanagan.

By Marina Watts

Marina Watts

Marina Watts is a news writer for with seven years experience covering entertainment, pop culture and celebrity news. Her previous work appears in PEOPLE, Bustle and Newsweek.

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July 2, 2026 8:30 a.m. ET

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Mia Sara at a 'Life of Chuck' screening in 2025. Credit:

Eric Charbonneau/Neon via Getty

- Mia Sara gushed about working with "dreamboat of a man" Mark Hamill on *The Life of Chuck* in a rare interview.

- The *Ferris Bueller's Day Off* star called her return to acting "a very healing experience" because the director, Mike Flanagan, is "amazing."

- Sara had taken a break from acting for more than a decade before working with Flanagan and Hamill for the 2025 movie.

Mia Sara was in good company when she returned to acting after a decade-long hiatus.

The *Ferris Bueller's Day Off* star recently gushed about working with *Star Wars* icon Mark Hamill on the 2025 movie *The Life of Chuck*, directed by Mike Flanagan and based on the Stephen King novella of the same name.

"I mean, come on. I got to work with Mark Hamill," she said earlier this year during an episode of Peter Ferriero's *Slice of Life Show** *podcast, revealing what it was like performing again after an extended break.

"It's so good," she continued. "Mark Hamill is like a dreamboat of a man. Like a dreamboat."

Benjamin Pajak, Mia Sara, and Mark Hamill.

Eric Charbonneau/Neon via Getty

Told in reverse chronological order, *The Life of Chuck* follows the formative moments of its title character, an accountant played by Tom Hiddleston. Sara portrays Chuck's grandmother while Hamill portrays his grandfather.

When asked what brought her to do *The Life of Chuck*, Sara simply said Flanagan. She said she considers herself "culturally illiterate," but "my kids turned me on to Mike Flanagan."

"I had watched [*The Haunting of*] *Hill House* and I'd watched I *Midnight Mass*, [which] to me was one of the best things I'd ever seen," she explained. "I just was so moved by that."

Her husband, Brian Henson, came home after work one day and mentioned that he'd met Flanagan. "I was like, 'What? You met Mike Flanagan? That's so cool.'" Sara recalled. "He said, 'No, he's so nice.' And he said, 'why don't we have dinner?' I'm like, 'Okay.' So, we went out to dinner. We met Mike and his stunning wife, Kate [Siegel]. We just got along. I love them."

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Siegel, a fellow actress, asked Sara why she stopped performing. Flanagan then asked, "Well, would you ever think of acting again?" Sara demurred despite Flanagan asking again.

"Brian said, 'Offer something and she'll do it,'" Sara said. "And so he did. He called my bluff. I said, 'For you? Of course. Of course. Yes. Of course.'"

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*The Life of Chuck*'s Hollywood premiere in 2025 marked Sara's first time on the red carpet in 14 years, since appearing in the 2011 *Wizard of Oz* sequel *Dorothy and the Witches of Oz*.

"It feels a little daunting, but I'm very grateful!" Sara told ** about returning to the red carpet for the Los Angeles premiere of *The Life of Chuck*. "It's unexpected."

Mia Sara in 2001.

J. Vespa/WireImage

Elsewhere in her *Slice of Life Show* interview, she called her return to acting "a very healing experience because Mike is amazing."

"He's a really good person and he has an absolutely-no-a ‑‑hole policy, and so literally top to bottom, everyone was wonderful," Sara said. As for whether she'll act again, Sara said she wasn't totally sure — but she does have a director in mind: "Mike's got my number. He knows. I'll do anything for him."

Watch Mia Sara's full interview on *The Slice of Life Show *above.

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