Despite the passage of time, “Home Alone” remains an integral part of Christmas for many. Can a real tarantula pass by a thief? Who should have played Robert De Niro? And in which scene did some viewers notice Elvis Presley? Here are 10 facts that only die-hard Christmas fans know.
The 1990 cult comedy has no shortage of scenes that will freeze your blood in your veins. In one of them, Kevin puts a spider on the face of a burglar (played by Daniel Stern). The actor agreed to let a real tarantula walk over him, provided the scene was done in one photo shoot, Time magazine reported. Interestingly, the horrified thief's scream was only added in post-production. The filmmakers didn't want to risk spooking the spider on location.
The script was created in a few days
According to James Hughes, son of screenwriter John Hughes, his father wrote the screenplay for Home Alone in less than 10 days after he was worried about traveling with his family to Europe in 1989. “Two weeks later, when he returned home, he thought about it again: What if one of the children had accidentally been left behind?” – wrote James Hughes in an article for “Chicago” magazine in 2015. “In the next 9 days, he completed the first draft of the film,” we read. The son of the famous screenwriter added that his father wrote the last 44 pages of the screenplay in just 8 hours. “Before he had finished, he had expressed concern in the margins of his diary that he was working too slowly,” he said.
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Kieran Culkin also starred in Home Alone.
It's no secret that Kieran Culkin – the actor best known for his role as Roman Roy in the TV series Match – is privately the brother of Macaulay Culkin, the actor who played Kevin. However, not everyone knows that the brothers had the opportunity to appear together in a Christmas hit. The younger Culkin brothers play Kevin's younger cousin, who he doesn't want to share a bed with at the beginning of the movie.
Kieran Culkin in Home Alone
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Robert De Niro turned down the role
Joe Pesci, who played the role of thief Harry Lime, was not the first choice of the filmmakers. Previously, as the magazine “Mental Floss” reported, Robert De Niro was offered this role. After him, Jon Lovitz of “Saturday Night Live” fame also turned down the offer.
For his part, Roberts Blossom, who plays Marley, the elderly man who saves Kevin from the thieves, was originally not supposed to appear in the film, because the first version of the script did not include the character. The writer eventually added it as a nod to Dickens' “A Christmas Carol” after the director suggested that “the story could use more heart,” Time wrote.
Macaulay Culkin, Daniel Stern and Joe Pesci in Home Alone DPA/PAP
Some people saw Elvis on the screen
Although the movie “Home Alone” was released 13 years after the death of Elvis Presley, some conspiracy theorists that the king of rock and roll is still alive have claimed that he has a cameo role in the movie. It's in a scene at the airport where Kevin's mother (Catherine O'Hara) argues with a Scranton airport employee. Behind the woman, you can see a man in a shirt and necktie, who somewhat resembles Presley. Journalists from the Skeptical Inquirer magazine discovered years later that the supposed Elvis was actually Gary Grott, who was an extra in several films directed by Chris Columbus.
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Tennis balls took the place of children on the field
Katherine O'Hara, mentioned above, taped some of her lines to a tennis ball placed on a stand at the height of Kevin's or another child's head. All because of regulations that prohibit the participation of minors in photos after hours. 22. – We recorded a scene with one of the children, and then even at one o'clock in the morning we filmed me closely, – said the actress in one of the interviews.
“Home Alone” 27 years on
Home Alone hit US cinemas before Christmas 1990 and remained in the top 10 for 12 weeks and into June 1991. At the time, the film grossed over $285 million and became the highest-grossing film of 1990 in the United States, as well as the highest-grossing American comedy in history. As for the last achievement, “Kevin” remained in the first place for 27 years.
Kevin's house is worth millions
Not only the producers of the film, but the current owners of the house who “played” the house of Kevin's parents can complain about the lack of profit. According to USA Today, the impressive residence was sold before this year's holidays for $5.25 million, or the equivalent of approximately PLN 21.4 million. The property was renovated and expanded in 2018, but “the current owners have made every effort to preserve the architectural details and integrity of the home's memorable and recognizable spaces,” according to an excerpt from the sale announcement.
The New York Times noted this year that the building, located in Winnetka, a suburb of Chicago, “is a major tourist attraction in the region.” This house was previously put up for sale in 2011. “Very few houses have played the main role in the film, in the sense that they have become additional characters,” said Marissa Hopkins of the sales company at the time.
Home from the movie “Home Alone” Shutterstock
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The hit of “Kevin” became the official song of the state
The film's music was composed by John Williams, one of the most famous composers of modern film music, the creator of the soundtracks of such cult series as “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones”. But “Home Alone” is also an unforgettable hit. Thanks to the movie, one of them, “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree,” recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958, became popular again in the early 1990s.
Asked in a 2019 interview with Billboard magazine when he found out he'd scored a hit, the singer responded: “Someone called me and said, 'Have you seen the movie Home Alone? You should, because 'Rockin' ' comes out there. Then it (song – ed.) was a hit with the youth. I knew it was something special, but you never know what's going to be a hit,” said Lee in December 2024, Tennessee recognized “Rockin' Around the Tree” as the state's official holiday song.
Time, Billboard, USA Today, tvn24.pl
Main photo source: DPA/PAP
