The Home Alone Movies that cast a then delightful Macaulay Culkin brightened up the holidays, but it may actually owe its success to one horrible actor.
Chevy Chase has been known for a while as one of those mean Hollywood actors who nobody wants to work with. According to the TV Cheat Sheet, the 72-year old actor reportedly stormed out of the set of "Community's" season three finale, jeopardizing the entire episode. He is also known to have had several public bouts with the "Community" creator Dan Harmon.
Thanks to this actor's horrible way of treating people including director of whatever film he is involved with the classic holiday comedy Home Alone now celebrates it's 25th anniversary, according to the Movie Pilot. Moveover, Director Chris Columbus shared about his experience with Chase after which he found the inspiration to do "Home Alone" in an interview with Chicago Magazine.
The Movie Pilot quotes what Columbus told the magazine, "In 1989, I directed Heartbreak Hotel, and it was a disaster. It opened on a Friday, and by Wednesday it was only playing at two o'clock in the afternoon. Around that time, John Hughes sent me the script for Christmas Vacation. I love Christmas, so to do a Christmas comedy had been a dream. I went out to dinner with Chevy Chase.
"To be completely honest, Chevy treated me like dirt. But I stuck it out and even went as far as to shoot second unit [collecting establishing shots and special sequences, usually without principal actors]. Some of my shots of downtown Chicago are still in the movie. Then I had another meeting with Chevy, and it was worse. I called John [who was producing the film] and said, 'There's no way I can do this movie. I know I need to work, but I can't do it with this guy.' John was very understanding.
"About two weeks later, I got two scripts at my in-laws' house in River Forest. One was Home Alone, with a note from John asking if I wanted to direct. I thought, Wow, this guy is really supporting me when no one else in Hollywood was going to. John was my savior."
So thanks to Chevy Chase, Kevin McCallister filled our holidays with so much laughter. By far, according to the Movie Pilot, "Home Alone" is still considered the highest-grossing comedy of all time.
