We revisit the merry mayhem of the 1990 Christmas classic.
You guys give up, or you thirsty for more?
Consider this our gift to you, you filthy animal.
Credit: Everett Collection
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:You were in an interesting place in your career when the script forHome Alonecame along.
Can you set the scene?
Well, thats an understatement.
It was really a flop.
Things didnt work out onChristmas Vacation, and then John sent me the script forHome Alone.
He actually sent me two scripts that weekend: One wasHome Aloneand the other one was calledReach the Rock.
I read both scripts andHome Alonejust appealed to me immediately.
I was laughing out loud when I read the script.
Beyond the humor, what about this story grabbed you?
I thought there was a really strong emotional context to the film.
Ive always been fascinated by Christmas, even back when I wroteGremlins.
I mean, we didnt change a word of that scene.
Did you end up making script changes after signing on to direct?
Certain little things I would add here and there.
I remember adding that.
John took those scenes and ran with them.
Can you give us a few examples of John Candys improvisation?
That just came out of nowhere.
That was probably on hour 23 of shooting.
We were all sort of punch drunk.
John had written very specific physical humor for the end of the film.
And it was extremely important that the house fit the gags of the movie.
Particularly from a visual point of view and from a stunts point of view.
The back of the house needed to work for that.
Its the kind of house if you were a kid it would be fun to be left home alone.
Do you remember how many homes in the Chicagoland area you looked at during the scouting process?
This is exactly how I imagined the house.
The thing that strikes me about the house is that it feels very lived-in in a lovely way.
Its not a Nancy Meyers home where everything sparkles.
The set design was very detailed: How did you nail down the interior look?
I wanted it to feel timeless.
I want it to feel like it was just made yesterday.
You also needed access to some of the neighboring homes, right?
And cooperation from the neighbors?
We built the basement in the swimming pool because we were able to flood it.
We had permission from most of the neighbors.
We would be shooting from like 5:30 at night to 6 in the morning.
I think that the lights and the actors shouting, and me yelling Action!
probably got on a few peoples nerves.
Were the night shoots problematic considering you had a child star?
So I was Kevin McCallister from about 10 at night to 6 in the morning.
But I think its just directorial responsibility [that] I should meet other kids.
I met a lot of kids hundreds and hundreds of kids, hundreds of casting tapes.
And I think one of the final meetings if notthefinal meeting was with Macaulay.
We read a couple of the scenes together, and I called John and said, Hes amazing.
Because hes a real kid.
He doesnt look like one of these Hollywood-perfect kids.
His ear is bent a little bit.
Im curious: Was screaming part of the audition process?
Because Kevin screamsa lotin the movie.
Its interesting, some of that was improvised.
That was not written the way Macaulay performed it.
I thought he was going to slap on the cologne and move his hands and scream.
Thats why he was such an interesting kid: No one else would have done that.
This had to be a fairly intensive shoot as far as the stunts were concerned.
Was there a scene you were most worried about pulling off?
I think all of the stunts Every time the stunt guys did one of those stunts it wasnt funny.
Wed watch it, and I would just pray that the guys were alive.
I really thought Troy, our stunt man, had broken his back on that first take.
You must have spent a lot of time testing all those booby traps.
An extraordinary amount of prep.
Youre in a situation where truly peoples lives are on the line.
There were significant stunt tests going on throughout shooting.
But again, you dont know.
Anything can go wrong on the night of shooting.
These guys just really did the stunts.
Was that gangster sendup the first thing you shot since it weaved throughoutHome Alone?
We shot it pretty early on in the schedule.
InHome Alone 2it was the very first day of shooting,Angels With Even Filthier Souls.
People kind of looked a little differently back then.
Our expectations were very modest initially.
It wasnt like there was another show playing; a lot of people were turned away that first weekend.
So it created this kind of frenzy and then… word of mouth.
People talked about how much they loved the movie, and they were going back to see it.
And it ended up being No.
1 weekend after weekend after weekend.
Which doesnt happen anymore.
I think a lot of people probably forget it was also nominated for two Oscars for the score.
Was it hard to get John Williams to sign on?
If you see an early poster forHome Alone,the credits read Music by Bruce Broughton.
So we were left without a composer.
His score took the movie to a different level.
Theres an amazing conspiracy theory thatElvis made a cameoinHome Alone.
Can you confirm or deny?
I just talked to someone else about this.
I even went so far as to go back its all over the internet.
it’s possible for you to actually look at the frames of the guy.
And Im an Elvis Presley fanatic: If that were Elvis, I would have known.
it’s possible for you to say that I cant.
I said its a much more serious version ofHome Alone.
Well, Im just glad youre aware.
That is so great that you mentioned that.
You are the first person to mention that to me.
I thought people must just be too afraid to talk about the fact that its similar.
What do you imagine a grown-up Kevin McCallister is up to today?
They want to get back into that house and they want to get Kevins kid.
Thats sort of my little fantasy.
