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Turns out Matthew Broderick could have used one of Ferris Bueller’s famous pep talks.

Broderick said he initially expressed doubt about playing the teenage slacker in the 1986 comedy “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” He recalled his concerns in an interview for the new book “Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency.”

“I was just starting out. I had done two plays on Broadway — these Neil Simon plays where I spoke to the audience and Ferris spoke to the camera, and I had done (the 1985 movie) ‘Ladyhawke,’ where the character sort of talks to the camera,” Broderick said.

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“And I thought, ‘I’m always going to be like this comedian who talks to the camera. I have to get a real part,’ or some stupid idea that like that. So I wasn’t sure about ‘Ferris,’ thought it wasn’t right and I should do something dramatic.”

Broderick, 54, said his agent Paula Wagner, then with CAA, and his manager wouldn’t let him turn the role down.

“I’m glad, because they were right. They were absolutely right. I probably have a few movies that I wish I hadn’t been in, but ‘Ferris’ was a good one,” Broderick said.

The movie, which was written and directed by North Shore filmmaker John Hughes and set in Chicago, earned more than $70 million in the United States, according to box-office tracker Box Office Mojo.

“Powerhouse,” which traces the history of the CAA through interviews with actors and agents, was released Tuesday.

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