"I prayed that the guys would stay alive": how the film "Home Alone" was filmed

Thirty years ago, on November 10, 1990, the US premiere of the comedy "Home Alone", which later became a classic of family cinema.

The events of the film take place shortly before Catholic Christmas.

In the story, the McCallister family with many children goes on vacation from Chicago to Paris, but forgets at home one of the offspring, eight-year-old Kevin.

He is left alone for several days.

The guy rejoices at his suddenly acquired independence: rushing around the house, eating ice cream, watching an adult gangster movie and doing everything that his parents usually forbade him.

However, the fun ends when thieves Harry and Marv take notice of the McCallister cottage.

Using a variety of homemade traps, Kevin will try to protect his home from bandits.

The idea for the film belongs to John Hughes, screenwriter of a number of popular films - The Breakfast Club, Beethoven, Dennis the Tormentor, 101 Dalmatians. 

Hughes believed that his projects are so successful because they talk about family relationships and problems that everyone understands.

“My films are popular because I'm talking about familiar things.

A good family quarrel is much more interesting for me than Armageddon, "- quoted screenwriter Kirk Honeycutt in his book John Hughes: A Life in Film.

By the way, the scriptwriter was inspired by personal experience to create the story of Kevin.

One day, preparing for a trip, Hughes made a list of things to remember, and jokingly thought that he clearly should not forget the children at home.

He began to fantasize about this topic and, seeing in it comedic potential, John wrote the script.

• © kinopoisk.ru

The author sent the resulting text to Chris Columbus, who was going through difficult times after the failure of the film "Hotel of Broken Hearts".

“It seemed that my directing career was over, or at least on hiatus for several years.

I resigned myself to having to return to my much more successful career as a screenwriter.

But one person still believed in my directing ability.

John Hughes, ”the director recalled.

In 2015, Columbus said that he was fascinated by Christmas for a long time and immediately liked the script.

In addition to the humorous component, he was hooked on a strong emotional context.

“Christmas is the time when people experience the happiest or most miserable time in their lives.

I decided that it would be a great backdrop for the story of a boy who was left alone at home for Christmas, ”Entertainment Weekly quoted Columbus as saying.

Working with child actors

John Hughes originally saw Macaulay Culkin in the title role, who in 1989 starred in his film "Uncle Buck".

However, Columbus refused to immediately approve the boy and held a casting, which was attended by hundreds of children.

At the very end, Culkin came to audition.

He and Columbus read a few scenes, and the director realized that an aspiring artist was indeed the most suitable candidate for the lead role.

“He doesn't look like the perfect Hollywood kids.

His ears are slightly bulging.

He had a pleasant, non-annoying voice.

And besides, he was very funny, ”explained the director.

To gallery page

Speaking about casting for the roles of other children involved in the film, the director emphasized that they were not required to have serious acting skills.

The main thing is for young artists to be natural.

Of course, filmmakers faced a lot of difficulties because of working with underage actors.

So, Macaulay Culkin could only shoot until ten o'clock in the evening, while the main part of the plot unfolds precisely at night.

For this reason, in the evening, the team tried to shoot all the artist's plans, and at night to work with the rest.

And where the presence of Culkin was assumed behind the scenes, the director himself played him.

“I was Kevin McCallister from about 10 pm to 6 am,” Columbus joked.

Finding the perfect home

Another challenge for filmmakers was finding a suitable mansion for filming.

They were looking for a visually appealing and cozy home, but at the same time suitable for setting numerous traps - including in terms of angles and shadows.

As a result, the desired location was found in the town of Winnetka near Chicago.

Interestingly, the owners of the cottage lived in it all the time while the shooting was going on.

The film studio provided them with an apartment, but when the owners carefully read the contract, they decided to stay at home: according to the document, in the absence of the owners, the film crew could do anything on the set, including demolishing the walls.

• © imdb.com

Fortunately, destruction was avoided.

However, already at the premiere of the film, the owners of the mansion saw that Kevin, it turns out, had cut the top of one of the fir trees in the backyard to put it at home and dress it up for Christmas.

The rest of the scenes were filmed near the main location.

In particular, a tree house was built specifically for filming, which was demolished after the completion of the film.

The filmmakers also used the premises of the local school.

In the pool, for example, they "built" the basement of a neighbor's house in order to flood it later.

The mansion's kitchen was also located in the school building.

In addition, scenes that occurred in the aircraft's business class were filmed in the surrounding area.

And the role of the Paris airport was taken over by the Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

Scary stunts and tricks of the directors

Despite the fact that "Home Alone" is a family comedy, some of the stunts required serious efforts from the directors and stuntmen.

The director noted that such episodes became funny after the fact, but filming them was not at all fun.

“We watched, and I just prayed that the guys would stay alive.

Then they as if nothing had happened, we watched the recording and only then calmed down enough to laugh, "Columbus said.

By the way, some of these tricks were developed on set.

As director Freddie Hayes said in an interview with Chicago Magazine, the team tried to take into account the mistakes of other filmmakers and achieve the most convincing in such scenes.  

“In the old days, if you had to depict falling, slipping on balls or something like that, people just fell.

We wanted to raise the stakes and make it seem as if a person really slips on ice - when your legs fly into the air and you crash flat on your back.

Our approach has changed the way we film falls.

For the next 15 years, no matter what comedy was filmed, I was invited for an interview and said: "We want to fall, like in" Home Alone, "explained Hayes.

It should be added that in real life, the bandits would have little chance of surviving after meeting with Kevin McCallister.

In 2012, American physician Ryan St. Claire told The Week how "meeting" a particular trap could actually affect a person's condition.

For example, an iron that fell in one of the scenes directly on Marv's face would most likely break the lower wall of his eye sockets.

As a result - a disfigured face and visual impairment.

Harry, due to a short touch on a red-hot door handle, could also get serious complications or even lose his arm: according to the doctor, if the handle glows in the dark, it means that it has warmed up to 751 degrees Fahrenheit (400 ° C), while the second contact with water at 155 ° F (about 68 ° C) already causes third degree burns.

After prolonged contact with the blowtorch in the episode, when Harry enters the house through the back door, his skin and skull should have been damaged so much that in life the bandit would need a bone transplant.

• © kinopoisk.ru

Naturally, the film crew had to resort to a lot of tricks to achieve the comic effect of traumatizing the villains.

For example, in the scene with Marw falling on an icy staircase, the filmmakers deceived the audience a little.

“We wanted the fall to look cartoonish, but it came out too slowly.

John Mickels, the favorite artist of John Hughes, was constantly on duty on the set.

We took a piece of plywood, put it on top of the stairs, and Mickels drew steps on it.

Everything looked very convincing, it allowed Leon to throw his legs high, fall on his back and fly out of the frame, ”said Freddie Hayes.

The team also had to come up with a lot of sound effects that would complement the picture.

So, at the moment the body falls to the ground, a sound is heard in the frame with which frozen roast beef falls.

And instead of the sound of burning flesh, the viewer can hear the chicken skin being fried.

According to editor Michael Vilhoit, the soundtrack had to be realistic, but at the same time fun.  

Another interesting story from the filming of "Alone" is connected with the gangster film "Angels with Dirty Souls", which Kevin watches.

It was in it that one of the most recognizable phrases in the tape sounded - "Keep your change, you dirty animal."

In fact, there is no such film.

Separate scenes were filmed specifically for the Columbus tape.

They are a parody of classic noir with distinctive visuals, dialogue and characters.

Filming took one day, and the main role was played by theater actor Michael Guido.

According to the artist, a few days after the premiere, children began to recognize him on the street.

They stopped him and quoted the dialogue from the film.

This went on for several years.

The results exceeded all expectations

After the premiere, "Home Alone" received mixed reviews from critics.

Many responded positively about the performance of Macaulay Culkin and the rest of the artists, but the film itself was considered funny, but at the same time too banal.

Also, reviewers wrote about the incredible cruelty shown in the picture.

Washington Post columnist Ginny Cooper noted that the tape has a lot of other shortcomings: Kevin's brothers and sisters turned out to be too unattractive and angry, and the parents treat their son with obvious neglect.

According to the critic, the funniest moments of the film do not shine with variety, and in the second part the comedy ends altogether - on the obligatory touching scene in which the child begins to teach the adult.

In November 1990, Cooper suggested that Home Alone was unlikely to be on the list of films traditionally watched on Christmas Day.

• © kinopoisk.ru

And Chris Columbus himself did not expect the tape to be successful at the box office.

The team expected to earn about $ 40 million on a budget of $ 18 million. However, the fees in the end were stunning.

Only in the first weekend, "Home Alone" raised more than $ 17 million. He headed the box office and was on the first line for 12 weeks.

In cinemas, the tape ran almost until the end of June.

During this time, the film earned almost $ 286 million at the American box office. The total gross of the tape worldwide amounted to more than $ 476 million, thanks to which it entered the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-grossing American comedy.

Home Alone was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song (Somewhere in My Memory) and Soundtrack, and nominated for a Golden Globe in two categories: Best Comedy or Musical and Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical (Culkin).

The film "Home Alone" has gained a huge number of fans all over the world and has become a real New Year classic.

The tape is often included in the selection of the best paintings for the winter holidays.

And the performers of the main roles are still associated primarily with this project.

Daniel Stern said that in 2003 he was in Iraq in a guarded base camp.

There he was offered to go to a jewelry store so that the actor could buy a gift for his wife.

“We are driving these (military -

) vehicles to Baghdad, and in front of the entrance to the jewelry store we are surrounded by a crowd of Iraqi children, shouting: 'Marv!

Marv! "

There were 16 of them, and in the middle of the war zone in Baghdad, they still recognized me as the hero of the Home Alone movie.

This movie is literally everywhere, ”Stern recalled.

In 1992, a sequel was released - "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York".

The key roles in it were played by the actors from the first part, the director was again Chris Columbus.

The sequel also became successful at the box office, grossing $ 365 million. Five years later, the premiere of the tape "Home Alone 3" with a different storyline and a new cast took place.

Its results were no longer so impressive - $ 79 million. The next part of the franchise - "Home Alone 4" - did not go to theatrical distribution at all.

In 2019, it became known about Disney's plans to restart the franchise for its own streaming service.

The film will be directed by Dan Mather ("Grandfather of Easy virtue") and starring Archie Yates ("Jojo Bunny"), Ellie Kemper ("Macho and Nerd") and Rob Delaney ("Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw").

It is assumed that the plot of the tape will be similar, but a new character will take the place of Kevin McCallister.