FILM 1444: HOME ALONE
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.
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.
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.
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.
