Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York director Chris Columbus was set to helm another Christmas classic.
On this week’s episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, the veteran filmmaker, who most recently produced a new version of Nosferatu that will be released in theaters on Christmas Day, talks about his “bizarre” relationship with Chevy Chase. ” reflected on how their encounter led to this series. first place.
It all started, Columbus recalled, when Chicago native John Hughes sent him the script for National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which Hughes was to produce, and asked him to direct. Columbus desperately needed the job after some box office disappointments left his potential directorial future up in the air, but he enthusiastically said yes and filmed the second installment over Christmas. I started doing it.
He then sat down with the movie’s star, Chevy Chase, but things quickly got very awkward. “I’m asking him all these questions and he’s just dead, uninterested, distracted,” Columbus said. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is weird. As an actor working on this movie, I really don’t want to talk about this movie.'” And 40 minutes into the conversation, he later added, I just said the most unrealistic thing I’ve ever heard at a conference. He said to me, “Wait a minute, are you the director?” And I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “Oh, I thought you were a drummer.” I don’t even know what the hell that means. ”
Columbus then explained to Hughes about the “surreal” meeting, and Hughes suggested that the three of them have dinner to set things right. But this time, Columbus says: (Chase) was ignoring me. It felt like I wasn’t involved in the movie. Every time I brought up movies, he changed the subject. ” Columbus concluded that he had no choice but to leave the film, although he did not know if he would have the opportunity to direct another film.
Just a week later, as the “ultimate mince,” Hughes sent Columbus a Christmas script he had written and planned to produce, Home Alone. Some 35 years later, Columbus marveled, “Let’s talk about dodging bullets.”
Director Hughes was fully committed to casting a young Macaulay Culkin to play the film’s protagonist, Kevin McCallister, but Columbus was initially unsure. “That’s why John Hughes was a great producer for a director, and I learned a lot from him,” Columbus explained. “He said, ‘Would you like to meet Macaulay?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’d like to meet Macaulay, but I’d also like to meet everyone else.’ I ended up meeting 300 other kids as well. It was a complete and colossal waste of time. Because then I met Macaulay again and it was magical. ”
What about the rumors that Chris Farley almost appeared on Home Alone? “Farley was just starting out at the time,” Columbus said, and the director invited him to audition on Saturday morning. “This guy came in at 7 a.m. for the first reading of the guy who played Santa Claus in the movie. He wasn’t feeling particularly well. He came out from being in Chicago all night. The director continued, “We said, ‘Well, this time. And over the years, I got to know Farley really well and we talked about it all the time.”That was the first time we met. It was audition time,” Columbus said.
Columbus also weighed in on one of the internet’s biggest debates: what did McAllister’s parents do for work to afford a beautiful house in Chicago?
“At the time, John and I talked about it and decided what the job was,” Columbus said. Kate McAllister, played by Catherine O’Hara, was “a highly successful fashion designer”, as suggested by a mannequin in her home’s basement. I can’t say for sure about John Heard’s Peter McAllister. “Based on John Hughes’ own experience, his father may have worked in advertising, but he does not remember what his father did.” However, he said he could rule out certain occupations. I was able to do it. Online speculation is that that profession may have drawn criminals Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) to the McAllister home in the first place. At that time, there was a lot of organized crime in Chicago. ”
