“Home Alone” is a holiday classic that has left viewers with many questions over the years.
During a recent interview on The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast, the film’s director, Chris Columbus, answered one of the Internet’s most burning questions: What did the McCallister parents do for a living?
In the film, not only does the family live in a mansion in Chicago, but the parents, played by Catherine O’Hara and John Heard, are able to pay for a trip to Paris, for 15 people, including both their immediate and extended family members. Many fans of the film have been wondering, since the movie’s 1990 release, how the couple were able to afford everything.
“Back then, John and I had a conversation about it, and we decided on what the jobs were,” Columbus said. “We thought the mother, at the time, because we used mannequins in the basement — I do remember having a conversation — she was a very successful fashion designer. The father could have, based on John Hughes’ own experience, worked in advertising, but I don’t remember what the father did.”
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Columbus also dispelled the popular belief the dad worked in organized crime, explaining that “even though there was, at the time, a lot of organized crime in Chicago,” the father was definitely not involved.
The movie focuses on a large family who leave for a family vacation to Paris, only to realize they have left behind their youngest son, Kevin. Kevin must then reconcile with being left behind, while also defending his home from burglars, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern.
While “Home Alone” went on to become the movie child star Macaulay Culkin is most known for, Columbus shared he wasn’t sold on casting him as the lead when he first signed on to the project. In the end, he conceded that Culkin “was obviously the right kid,” but that he had to get over “the ego” he had as a director to recognize it.
“This is why John Hughes was a great producer for a director, and I learned a lot from him,” Columbus explained. “He said, ‘Will you take a look at meeting Macaulay?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’d like to meet Macaulay, but I’d like to meet everyone else, too.’ I ended up meeting 300 other kids, too. Total colossal waste of time, because then I met Macaulay again, and it was magical.”
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Culkin, of course, would go on to be the ultimate child star of the 1990s, going on to star in the film’s sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,” “My Girl,” “Richie Rich,” “The Pagemaster” and many others.
When it came time to casting the other characters, Columbus said he knew the moment he saw Pesci and Stern on screen together that they were the perfect duo. He also confirmed the rumor that legendary comedian Chris Farley was also up for a role in the movie.
“Farley was just starting out at the time,” Columbus said about inviting Farley to an audition. “This guy came in at 7 a.m. for our first reading for the guy who played Santa Claus in the movie. He was not in any particularly great shape. He had just come out from all night being in Chicago.”
Ultimately, he said, “We had to say, ‘Well, not this time.’” He also shared that later in life, he and Farley became good friends and would often discuss his audition for the movie.
In the interview, Columbus also shared how he came to direct the classic movie, explaining he was supposed to direct another Christmas classic, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” however, his interactions with Chevy Chase led him to pass on the opportunity.
“I’m asking him all these questions, and he was just dead and not interested and distracted,” Columbus said on The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is weird. For an actor who’s committing to this movie, he really doesn’t want to talk about it.’”
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He continued: “Then, 40 minutes into the conversation, he says the most surreal thing I’ve ever heard in a meeting, before or since. He said to me, ‘Wait a second, you’re 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 meant.”
A second meeting with the actor didn’t help persuade him, as Columbus shared Chase ignored him throughout the dinner and “was like I wasn’t even involved in the film.” “Every time I brought up the film, he changed the subject,” he explained.
It was then that John Hughes presented him with the opportunity to direct “Home Alone.” He also famously directed “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Gremlins” and “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
