My poor little angel (Home alone) is one of the Christmas classics that accompany every home this festive season. This December the comedy will be directed by Chris Columbus and written by John Hughes He was 35 years old; And anecdotes about its creation and the chaotic filming are still circulating today.
According to James Hughes, son of the legendary screenwriter, the idea came about during a family trip to Europe in 1989. “What if one of the boys was accidentally left behind?”thought his father. This thought was enough to create one of the most successful comedies of all time.
Returning from the trip, Hughes wrote the first draft of the script in just nine days, completing it with a “hectic ending” that included: “an eight-hour, 44-page writing marathon to get to the end.”James Hughes recounted in an oral history collected in Chicago in 2015.
The project began under the direction of Warner Bros., but the studio halted production when the budget ballooned. At this point, 20th Century Fox took control, hired Chris Columbus to direct, and cast an eight-year-old boy named Macaulay Culkin Playing Kevin McCallister.
The rest is history: The film was released in November 1990, grossed $476.7 million worldwide, was nominated for Oscars and Golden Globes, and became the highest-grossing live-action comedy in history in two decades. Furthermore, in 2023 My poor little angel was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress due to its “cultural, historical and aesthetic significance.”
The family spirit of the film was also transferred – with nuances – to the filming.
Filming took place between February and May 1990 at various locations in Illinois. The main set was built at New Trier High Schoolclosed at the time to recreate the interiors of the iconic McCallister home.
But the size of the cast, which consisted largely of children, made the set a complicated terrain on more than one occasion. The child actors also had to complete their compulsory schooling between takes.
Hillary Wolfwho played Megan McCallister, recalled that “I spent most of my free time doing homework with tutors,” although she admitted the context was pleasant.
“The set happened to be in a school so we went outside, there were huge fields and it was pretty quiet.”
Wolf, who was 12 at the time of filming, described the general atmosphere as relaxed and warm, mostly thanks Catherine O’Hara. “She was incredibly funny. She was very good to us. She was as cool as can be. It was really fun, a very calm set. It wasn’t like other sets,” the actress told the Daily Mail.
The franchise seal My poor little angel It is physical humor based on the protagonist’s strategies and traps. On screen, the falls, punches, and other situations Kevin inflicts on the “wet bandits” seem cartoonish; But there was real danger on set.
Chris Columbus himself admitted years later that they subjected stunt doubles to extreme situations. “Every time we did a trick we were afraid these guys would end up dead, so we couldn’t laugh.”he admitted to the American Film Institute.
“Nobody laughed, we thought they were really hurt… Personally, you were always afraid that you were going to kill these guys because they really did everything with just protective gear.”
Joe Pesci He wore a ceramic helmet to prevent his head from catching fire in one scene, and Daniel Stern wore rubber feet to protect himself when stepping on glass. Nevertheless, accidents occurred that the actors kept secret for decades.
Terrie Snellwho played Aunt Leslie revealed to dem Daily Mail: “There were a few little mishaps. There was a problem with one of the thieves, there was a problem with Uncle Frank and there was a problem with Aunt Leslie. We all got a little hurt, but it’s not something we really want to make public.”
Macaulay Culkin himself also had an accident during filming. Speaking to fans on the film’s 35th anniversary, the actor revealed that Joe Pesci accidentally injured him during a rehearsal.
In the scene, one of the thieves threatens to bite Kevin’s fingers.
“He said, ‘I’m going to bite these fingers one at a time,’ and then he sank his teeth into my finger. I screamed like a child screams, and you should have seen his face because this tough guy said, ‘Uh,’ because he knew he had bitten a nine-year-old boy. A nine-year-old colleague,” Culkin said. “Call HR!” He concluded with a laugh.
“35 years have passed and I still have this little hole here. That’s Joey’s tooth. Not the gold one, but the normal one. He gave me a souvenir,” he remembers.
In the Daily Mail interview with Hillary Wolf, the actress, who played Kevin’s older sister, recounted her surprise when she was told that The King of Pop had come to filming.
“I remember I was in front of the house and a van pulled up with no windows and my mom said, ‘Oh look, there’s a Michael Jackson impersonator.'” That wasn’t the case. “Michael Jackson literally showed up on set one day.”he said.
The singer was a friend of Culkin – they later shared the video clip from Black or white– and spent several hours with the children’s cast. “It was weird, but he was super nice. He literally came out and stayed with us… “He was there for a few hours and was just with the boys,” Wolf described.
Hillary Wolf also revealed that she had a little summer romance on set: she started dating Shane CulkinMacaulay’s older brother. “It was my first kiss. That’s why I spent more time there because we liked each other,” he recalled.
Three and a half decades later, relations are still intact. The cast maintains contact via a private Facebook group and organizes regular meetings. “We exchange messages at least once a week,” Wolf said. “The family stayed together even though we were all scattered across the country.”
The occasional royalty checks that come to your home are another reminder of a job well done. “Every time it happens I think, ‘This is hilarious’. But I love it, 35 years have passed and (the film) is still valid,” he celebrated.
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