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FILM 1444: HOME ALONE

TRIVIA: Joe Pesci deliberately avoided Macaulay Culkin on set because he wanted Culkin to think he was mean.

The picture Kevin finds of Buzz's girlfriend was a picture of a boy made up to look like a girl because Chris Columbus thought it would be too cruel to make fun of a girl like that. The boy that was used in the photo was the art director's son.

Entered into The Guinness Book of World Records as the "Highest Box Office Gross - Comedy", accumulating $533,000,000 internationally.

The movie that Kevin watches on video tape is not a real film, but footage specially created. It was called "Angels With Filthy Souls." Along with other similar era references in the movie, this is a play upon the movie Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) starring James Cagney.

The ornaments that Marv steps on are actually candy.

Joe Pesci kept forgetting that he was filming a "family" movie during his character's on-screen outbursts, so director Chris Columbus advised him to say "fridge" instead of the "F-word".

The line "You guys give up, or are you thirsty for more?" was improvised.

Kevin's bed-wetting cousin, Fuller, is played by Macaulay Culkin's younger brother, Kieran Culkin.

Macaulay Culkin drew the map that he uses to set up the traps.

John Candy filmed his part in only one day, albeit a 23 hour day. The story about having once forgotten his son at a funeral home was entirely improvised. His part is obviously inspired by the character he played in Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) also written by John Hughes.

The movie is considered a traditional Christmas movie in Poland. It has aired on national TV during prime-time Christmas season every year since 1990. In 2011 the movie aired on December 23 with an audience of over five million, making it the most popular show aired during the Christmas season in Poland.

Daniel Stern wore rubber feet for his barefoot scenes.

According to Chris Columbus during an interview with Alec Baldwin on Baldwin's podcast Here's the Thing, John Heard was unhappy about working on the film, feeling that the film was going to be terrible. However, upon seeing the finished film and its subsequent success, Heard apologized to Columbus when they were shooting his scenes on the film's sequel, having broken character before his first take to tell Columbus. The director says he still had footage of Heard's apology on video-tape.

Many of the frames that focus on Kevin in the beginning of the film are shot from above his head, making him seem small and helpless. At the end of the film, Kevin is mostly shot from below, making him seem taller and more confident.

Although the part was written especially for Macaulay Culkin by John Hughes, several hundred other boys were auditioned by director Chris Columbus. According to the DVD Commentary, Columbus was hesitant to cast Culkin because John Hughes had so recently cast him in Uncle Buck (1989) and didn't want to appear as a pushover in the film community. It was only after auditioning all the other young actors that he realized Culkin was in fact the best choice for the part.

Director Chris Columbus would ask Joe Pesci to do his "How am I funny?" speech from Goodfellas (1990) on set.

Catherine O'Hara revealed in 2014 that Macaulay Culkin still calls her "Mom".

Chris Columbus was previously hired by John Hughes to direct one of the National Lampoon's Vacation films. After meeting with Chevy Chase, however, it became clear to Columbus that the two of them would not get along, so he asked Hughes if there were any other projects he could work on instead. Home Alone was one of the options presented to him.

Originally, Danny DeVito was considered for the role of Harry.

Jon Lovitz turned down the role of Harry Lime.