The Movies That Made Us (2019) s01e02 Episode Script
Home Alone
Ah, the holidays.
A time for family, festivity, goodwill toward men, and getting trampled in a department store.
But mostly, it's movies that get you Christmas-y.
I'm obsessed with Christmas.
And every year, come late November, one movie really slaps you in the face.
Kevin! Home Alone redefined Christmas movies.
This movie never goes away.
Launched the career of the biggest little movie star on the planet.
Okay.
Come and get me.
And became one of the highest grossing comedies of all time.
It's close to a billion dollars.
Bombs away.
But for the people who made this mega hit - Action! - it was no holiday.
He didn't want to hear my ideas.
He didn't want to talk to me.
It's a tale of backdoor deals.
I'm sure there was back channeling going on.
Bad decisions.
- The decision was - You're fired.
And naughty boys.
- Joe takes me by the collar.
- "Let's go talk to the producer.
" Why do I always get treated like scum? For many, it's a movie that makes Christmas come to life.
I don't really like Christmas.
But it almost wasn't made at all.
- Close up - Pack up our stuff.
It was scary.
What an idiot.
This is the surprisingly painful story of one of movie history's greatest Christmas miracles.
Sometimes the movie gods are on your side.
These are the movies that made us.
In 1989, this school just outside Chicago became the most unlikely location for a low-budget movie Don't you know how to knock, phlegm-wad? about a nine-year old boy left home alone - by his family - Kevin! who must defend his house from two bungling burglars, Ow! all while learning the true meaning of Christmas.
But before we go back to school we need to go back to the beginning, and the idea for Home Alone, which all started with a jolly fat man beloved by millions.
No, not him.
Who are you? I'm your Uncle Buck.
Which was the name of the John Candy comedy, featuring an eight-year-old unknown actor named Macaulay Culkin.
You have much more hair in your nose than my dad.
How nice of you to notice.
I'm a kid.
That's my job.
While I was doing Uncle Buck, I really had fun working with a boy.
I never That's one age group I had never I'd never worked with.
So, the idea for Home Alone "Mac, he'll be good.
What if What if I did a movie that starred a nine-year-old? Let him carry the whole movie.
" Where a nine-year-old might be precocious, John's usual scripts involved brats.
John and the Brat Pack almost singlehandedly created the modern teen comedy.
He gives good kids bad ideas.
- Pretty In Pink.
- Breakfast Club.
- Sixteen Candles.
- Weird Science.
Ferris Bueller.
During the '80s alone, he'd written 16 movies - and directed eight of them.
- Mr.
Mom Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
The Vacation series John would write scripts from Friday night to Sunday morning.
He wrote Ferris Bueller's Day Off in - Seven days.
- The man is He's a righteous dude.
a comedy machine.
The John Hughes machine cranked out scripts.
And one of them was the timeless Christmas classic, - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
- Ah! But this machine was only human.
And he couldn't direct everything he wrote.
So, John handed the directing duties over to Action! Well, a younger version of himself.
Maybe people were calling me that.
And here's why they may have.
Chris Columbus was a screenwriting prodigy.
He wrote basically most of the other good '80s movies that John Hughes didn't.
I always thought Gremlins was sort of the quintessential Chris Columbus movie, but he didn't direct it.
But Columbus was looking to right that ship.
I was determined to write enough films that would be successful enough, that someone would give me the opportunity to direct, and that was Adventures in Babysitting.
Adventures in Babysitting.
was Chris's first feature directing gig, - followed by - Was it "Honeymoon Hotel"? Whatever that Elvis - Heartbreak Hotel.
- Heartbreak Hotel.
Not too well remembered.
Well, Roger Ebert remembered it enough to give it one star.
Well, that was generous.
- Heartbreak Hotel - was a heartbreak.
And it was sort of a latter-day Elvis movie.
We had a great time making the movie.
It was really fun, but then it tanked.
And in a town where you're only as good as your last gig.
I thought, "It's time to start writing again," because I didn't know if I'd ever get another directing job after that.
But one flop movie didn't bother John Hughes.
John really liked Chris's work and thought, "I can be the guy who gives him the movie that puts him back on top.
" So, asking him to direct Christmas Vacation quite suited Chris - because - I'm just obsessed with Christmas.
And I loved the script, and I was like, "I'm in.
" And then I met the star.
Ultimately, I don't think he clicked as a director with Chevy.
who was a complete and utter Ignorant blood-sucking, dog-kissing, - brainless - ass-.
I am a professional.
I was a green director.
He had no confidence in me.
He didn't want to hear my ideas.
He didn't want to talk to me.
It was a horrible experience, and I had to get out of it.
First person he called up was John.
Before Chris even said, "I'm not sure that I should do this.
" John said, "I don't think you should do this.
" He was incredibly supportive because he was that guy, too.
So, I'm officially back to screenwriting now that Not so fast, Mr.
Columbus.
John calls me the following week and says, "I just wrote a script I wrote two scripts over the last two weekends.
" He sent them both to me.
The second script was Home Alone.
And I said to Monica, my wife, "This script is great.
" I was laughing out loud.
Chris had a second chance, a movie about Christmas I love Christmas.
No cleft-chinned actors to stand in his way, and a perfect John Hughes script.
How could Chris Columbus ever repay John Hughes? I said, "I'm gonna do a pass on the script.
" John didn't like getting notes at all.
John's draft was more boisterous comedy, and less about the meaning of Christmas.
I tweaked the church scene a little bit and added a few lines in there that would then set up the end of the movie.
Two days later, he sent me his rewrite of that.
And after some vigorous back and forth, they were sure they had a script they could sell.
So, John took it to Warner Brothers head honcho, Bob Daly, - who wondered - Can you do this for a price? It's a little kid.
It's not Clint Eastwood, it's not Mel Gibson.
Movie stars were selling movies.
You know, Arnold Schwarzenegger was making all this money, and John was just sort of convinced that it was gonna be a nice film, it would do well, it would get reviewed well, but it wasn't gonna be a hit.
And John said, "I think maybe it's a ten-million-dollar movie.
" Bob Daly said, "All right.
If you can do this movie for ten, we'll make it.
" Ten million might sound like a lot, but compared to most movies that came out in the late '80s, ten million dollars was nothing.
So, you might be wondering how they pulled off all that stunt work, - star power - Polka King of the Midwest.
and pyrotechnics for only ten million dollars.
Well, they didn't.
More on that later.
As the frantic scramble to make the movie began, they turned their attention to casting.
John already kind of wrote the movie for Macaulay.
But they'd need more than just one kid.
And so, I saw kid, after kid, after kid, after kid, after kid, after kid.
- Maybe 100 kids.
- One of whom was Buzz? Don't you know how to knock, phlegm-wad? Buzz was a dick.
"Buzz dick" "Buzz cock.
" Karen speedily leafed through headshots of kids and adults alike.
I had done Beetlejuice, so I was crazy about Catherine O'Hara.
I will go insane, and I will take you with me.
I mean, she's funny as hell.
But there was more to this role than just selling gags.
It was actually selling that idea, that a family could leave their kid home alone.
What kind of a mother am I? And weren't horrible people for doing it.
Otherwise, it could be a horror story.
A concern that continued as they cast two of the most important characters in the movie.
There was a debate about how funny these burglars should be, versus how scary they should be.
With that in mind, for the role of Harry, they wondered if Jon Lovitz could pull it off.
Don't be silly.
I'm capable of playing any role.
Robert De Niro was considered, too.
You bother me about a steak? But it was his Raging Bull co-star Joe Pesci.
who was probably more suited to a kid's movie.
You - kicking, stinky horse-manure smelling you.
I was a huge Raging Bull fan, as relentlessly depressing as that movie is.
So, I always wanted to work with Pesci, and when he agreed to do the movie, I was stunned.
And to star alongside Pesci, - they cast Daniel - Daniel - Daniel - Daniel Dan Roebuck.
Roebuck? - I went in an audition for Chris - Yeah.
and I got the part.
There was like six weeks of work.
Then a few weeks later, they said, "We're gonna need you for eight weeks.
" And I said, "Well, okay.
But do I get a raise?" On this film's budget It's not Clint Eastwood, it's not Mel Gibson.
- I doubt it.
- The studio wouldn't pay for him.
And I said, "For my pride, no I'm I'm quitting.
" We said, "Okay, we'll get somebody in our price range.
" - We got - Dan Roebuck, who was a great actor.
And with that, Marv was cast.
With all that money the studio was saving, surely they'd let Chris go after the big guns - when hiring his crew.
- Don't up.
Julio Macat was Director of Photography on the action classic Tango & Cash.
On the Second Unit.
- Uh, that still counts, right? - Yeah.
I was inexpensive.
I think that was a great motivator.
Well, as they say, you can fix it in post.
So Chris's pick to edit the film was Raja Gosnell.
I was the editor of Heartbreak Hotel.
That movie did not go well in terms of its box office fortunes.
- That's one way of putting it.
- It tanked.
But Raja had firsthand experience with other big hits.
I tended to be like a second editor hire.
Secondhand experience, then.
This movie needed to ooze Christmas-y-ness.
I'm just obsessed with Christmas.
And it would be the production designer's job to capture this magical time of year.
I don't really like Christmas.
Oh, bah humbug! But John Muto had done one movie with Chris Columbus.
We had done a movie in Texas called Heartbreak Hotel.
- Oof.
- Not too well remembered.
Oh, we remember.
It tanked.
These rookie filmmakers would have to learn on the job.
And for that, John Hughes would take them to school.
This one, right here, called New Trier High School, where they'd set up their production offices.
But New Trier wasn't just any old high school.
It was an abandoned school.
I think they'd run out of children.
But not just any children.
Why should he get to skip school when everybody else has to go? That's right, the ghost of John Hughes' films past inhabited the halls, being the location for Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Uncle Buck.
John Hughes wanted to make movies in Chicago away from the studio system.
He hated studio notes, he hated the interaction with the studio.
Hughes shot whenever he could in Chicago, but this time it would be less Brat Pack and more unpack and set up the offices.
All the rooms in a U that you can have in any department.
You know, I had a big classroom that I could use for an art department.
This is Producers, this is Production Manager.
While the crew shared intimate, personal tales of teenage angst It was a Breakfast Club existence.
the grownups went house hunting.
Without the location all the other department heads cannot do their jobs.
Even though the streets were lined with upper middle-class mansions.
Every day, ten hours a day, we were out there scouting.
Jackie wouldn't stop until she found just the right one, that being this one.
The concept really was that the house would be warm and inviting.
I'm the man of the house.
It has to be that special of a house in order to justify his actions.
This house becomes his tool to manipulate the bad guys.
He's like the king of the castle.
It was everything they'd need in a location, except the inside.
We couldn't really shoot in their house.
Hello.
It's just far too small to get the crew in the door.
Ah! Yes.
So it was obvious, we needed the proper set.
But the question was, where to build it? We just didn't have great sound stages in Chicago.
We walked into this gym, and we were like, it's got a grid in the ceiling, and it's big enough, and we could build a house in here, I would think.
And the next thing we knew, we built all the sets in the school, so it was a beautifully built, structurally built, two floors, so you could walk up steps.
Actually, the front door we shot here.
So, apart from the exteriors, almost everything else in the movie was done right here, in this gymnasium.
The school turned into a backlot.
And just like a Christmas tree, once it's up, it needs to be decorated, and don't spare the tinsel.
Listen, this is Christmas, so everything in the house is red or green.
There's nothing blue, - the closest is in the tile.
- And he's not wrong.
This is green, that's green, green, red, red, green.
Even the phone is green.
It's a little garish, isn't it? Oh, Bah humbug! The set was growing by the day, and Warner Brothers' little kid-sized budget of about ten million dollars was growing, too.
But this wasn't what Warner Brothers and Bob Daly had agreed to.
If you can do this movie for ten, we'll make it.
But we started to have a feeling, like, if you don't shortcut it, this thing may turn out to be really something special.
It was such a fun project, and there was so much enthusiasm for it, that even though the budget was climbing - Eleven, 92, 12.
- three, four, five Thirteen million to 14 million.
John believed that Warner Brothers would be comfortable with whatever budget it ended up at.
Don't be a moron.
So just before the Christmas break, they handed in the final budget to Warner Brothers for approval.
And it was 14.
7.
And with that, they all went to bed for a long winter's nap.
As the crew assembled for the New Year, they sprang into action.
Assuming that budget was approved by Warner Brothers, of course.
"Uh, hang on a second.
" Okay.
Hang on a second.
Two days, three days, four days, five "What are you doing?" "Well, just hold on.
" Awaiting budget approval from the studio, an eerie feeling began haunting the vacant school.
John finally came and said, "They're having issues with the budget.
" Unless we could deliver a $13.
5 million budget the next day, they were going to pull the plug.
This is Warner Brothers.
Aren't we close enough? I mean, it's not like we said it was 25.
So the decision was, we'll push back.
We'll write a really good memo showing that there's nothing left to cut.
And then the word came back "Warner Brothers is shutting us down.
" They announced that the movie was over.
- Oh, no.
- And we should pack up our stuff.
They stop paying you, they send you home.
I mean, the picture would just have to shut down.
It was scary.
It was scary.
I didn't have that much experience in the business, so I was depressed, I called my wife, I said, "That's all, you know, this looks like it's over.
" And once the call came Warner Brothers moved fast.
I hang up the phone, and I had seen the production manager from Warner Brothers going to each office telling everybody the project is dead.
"Close up, pack up leave, go home.
" And with that Home Alone was dead.
But hold on a minute.
Obviously, Home Alone did get made.
But to find out how, we need to go back in time several weeks before Warner Brothers pulled the plug.
I don't really like Christmas.
And while John Muto grappled with his distaste of the holidays, John Hughes was secretly meeting with this guy.
My name is Tom Jacobson, I was Executive Vice Let me start over.
And starting over with Home Alone is what they did.
So, when John was in town leading up to Christmas, he, of course, had lunch with his studio executive producer buddy.
And his boss, 20th Century Fox President, Joe Roth.
We were walking back from the commissary, and we asked him, how's it going on Home Alone because we'd heard about it.
And John said, "Well, I'm actually fighting with the studios at Warner Brothers.
" And he was talking about the budget that they started at, and the budget they were at now, and studio wouldn't give them enough money.
And so, I said, "John, what's the story of Home Alone?" So he told us in detail, how he was left home alone, why you could believe it, how he had to fight the bad guys, how he defended his home, how he learned the value of family, it was all there, the pitch.
And Joe, in particular said, "That's a fantastic story," And he said, "What's the budget that you're at?" And he told them the figures.
And "What do they want to give you?" And it was a million two apart.
"Well, I'll make that movie at that price in a second.
That's a great story.
" And thus began a legally questionable exchange Who is it? between John Hughes and 20th Century Fox.
Legally, another studio isn't supposed to see a piece of material until it's legally in turnaround.
And that didn't exactly happen.
Leave it on the doorstep and get the hell outta here.
Basically, a screenplay was left somewhere so that somebody could pick it up.
It was clandestinely delivered.
And so, the sneaky Fox executives were true to their word, and said "If you get the call from Warner Brothers, don't drop a stitch, just keep going.
" So, as the news circulated around the schoolyard that they'd all been expelled They announced that the movie was over.
- Oh, no.
- And we should pack up our stuff.
But for Scott, who as we now know knew what was actually happening, well, he was just signing up for Drama Club.
So the call came from Warner Brothers to tell us to stop working.
I had to say, "Oh, my God, what am I gonna do, and what are we gonna do with all these people, and how's everybody gonna get paid?" Click.
Pick up the phone, dial Fox, and say, "We got the call," and they said, "You're now a Fox picture.
Everything is fine.
Keep going.
" Click.
- But for some, it was too late.
- Oh, no.
That Warner Brothers production manager was already doing the rounds.
So he'd go into an office, he'd tell people the film was over.
I'd walk into an office and say, "It's not over.
It's now a Fox movie, don't worry about it.
" Come out, he'd go into the next office.
We went to everybody's office in the U around the school, to the very end, where he comes out of the last office and sort of like just turned around and goes, "Oh!" You know, like, "What are you doing?" I said, "You're fired.
" As work resumed without a hitch.
The next day, there was all this new equipment.
There were 20th Century Fox T-shirts on every chair.
One payroll to another payroll.
Didn't stop one day of pre-production.
So good on Tom Jacobson and Joe Roth for pulling us out of the ashes of-of history.
With that little mishap behind them, many on the crew now saw an opportunity to make history.
Among them, rookie director of photography, Julio Macat.
I can honestly say that I was scared - less.
I knew I could do shots, but I wasn't sure that I could do something that would come together as a whole.
So, I watched a lot of cartoons for reference.
But the timing of it, like, when is the slip? Whoa, whoa, whoa! - When is the "whoa"? - Ah! When is the boom? When does the little feather float down afterwards? As Julio did his ahem, homework, the timing of white fluffy float-y stuff was on Chris's mind, too.
I wanted the movie to feel very Christmas-y.
And you want snow on the ground.
Well, February in Chicago shouldn't be a problem.
It was warm and not any snow on the ground at all.
So we had to make fake snow.
We had foam, we had all kinds of things.
But one all important scene couldn't really be faked.
We knew in the script that the scene where the mom comes home, we needed a snowy morning.
And it was understood that when the first snowflake dropped, they'd drop everything, and reset for this scene whenever that may be.
They started filming on Valentine's Day, 1990.
We were shooting the convenience store, where Kevin goes to buy a toothbrush.
Is this toothbrush approved by the American Dental Association? They were shooting the old man coming into the drugstore, which was a real drugstore in Winnetka.
This is where he steals the toothbrush, and he comes out, and the cop sees him.
- Shoplifter! - He's running across the street, and we have a lot of people ice skating in the park.
But nothing about this ice skating rink was natural.
The skating rink, we built that out of cold, freezing coils of glycol.
And we built the camera, we pulled it through the legs, and Mac got to slide between his legs, and you can see the joy in his eyes.
Yee haw! As Macaulay slid over frozen coils of glycol, next to grass covered with bags of shaved ice, a valid question was How much snow? Did we have enough money in the budget for snow? But the heavens provided, a Christmas miracle.
I remember the day it kind of started to rain a little bit.
And then it just dumped.
Our beepers started going off saying, "We're moving to the McCallister house first thing in the morning, make it happen.
" On just their second day of shooting, they'd nailed one of the most important shots in the movie.
The money shot, that's what it was.
It was the money shot.
The snow looked fantastic.
It was more snow than we really needed, but we weren't gonna mess with it.
But their little snowy miracle came with a side of trimmings.
We used potato flakes, because we needed the snow blowing, and within a day or two when snow started to melt, the potato flakes started to degrade and it became this horrible funky vegetable smell.
So, two days into shooting, it had dumped, and things were turning rotten.
The same could be said for one particular cast member.
Dan Roebuck, who was a great actor.
He's got your gun.
I ain't going after him by myself.
We brought him to Chicago.
And then we did a screen test with that actor and Joe Pesci.
I don't think Joe felt like they had chemistry.
They just felt a little flat.
And after three days, Chris came into our office and said, "Guys, we have to replace Dan Roebuck.
It's not working.
" I really need to try to get Dan Stern into this movie.
That's a good idea.
What an idiot I was to let that almost get away.
That would've been, like, "Oh, I missed it.
Why? Oh, because my pigheadedness.
" Thank God they came back to me.
Then when we did the camera test with Joe Pesci and Dan Stern, it was magical.
- Bother you when I do that? - Nope.
Actually, the Stern and Pesci magic double act went way back.
We had done a movie called I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can many years before that.
And we became friends on that.
So, Joe Pesci got his pal and his way, and everyone was happy.
Oh, everyone except Joe.
He was critical of some of the dialogue as I remember.
Crowbars up.
He felt that some of the things he had to say were What's so funny? you know What are you laughing at? not to the level of thespian that he is.
You're sick, you know that? Really sick.
But really, it wasn't so much about dialogue.
You know, you could get locked up for uh For, um It was more about language.
The hardest thing for Pesci was not swearing.
Don't with me, Al.
- How the? - Give me a They you at the drive-through.
Joe said an interesting thing to me.
He said, "Every time I get a script, if it's not a Scorsese script" He goes "The only way I can read it is if add every three or four words.
" So he says, "If it says, 'How are you doing today, Mr.
Anderson?' I say, 'How the you doing today, Anderson, you - wad?" Although it's a wholesome family film, one might excuse the odd swear word.
- All things considered - Oh - Shoot, dumb - What? And he said, "I wanna make a language like a What? What? What? What happened? Like a cartoon gruff guy.
Ah! Gee! But Joe's gruff guy persona - Hands off the head, pal! - Come on.
wasn't always an act.
Just ask this guy.
My name is James Giovannetti.
He was the Second Assistant Director.
The Second AD is in charge of the cast.
And Pesci and I, we would, you know, sometimes bang heads.
Especially, when it came to the morning call time.
One day, I was literally sitting in my office and the door burst open, and in rolled Not rolled, Joe dragged me.
Exactly.
Joe takes me by the collar.
- "Let's go talk to the producers.
" - Yeah, exactly.
- Joe.
- And then Grabbing and punching And I was like, "Holy God.
" And it was all about the fact that Jimmy - had given him a certain call time.
- At seven o'clock.
"You don't need me at seven o'clock.
" "I'm not coming in at that time.
" Because he always wanted to play golf.
- Yes.
Right.
- Golf.
Forever golf.
And he would play nine holes.
He would come in at 9:00.
- Nine o'clock.
- Nine o'clock.
For a cast filled with children, it was fairly evident that Macaulay was better behaved on the set than Joe Pesci.
But Joe's childish behavior was no problem for Chris.
Cut.
Okay.
He was great with kids.
I love the way that Chris Columbus worked with Macaulay and the rest of the kids.
He has in him a child-like wonder.
Here's what you can do Megan Hillary.
You guys can move a little faster here, okay? He treated us like actors, not as child actors.
Me and Chris decided that we would use a dolly shot.
Now what should I do here? - Do a dolly shot.
- You think so? - Yeah.
- I don't know.
- Do you think, really? Okay.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- And what about after this? Mmm I'm not sure.
- What about a close-up? - Good idea.
Through wondrous, child-like eyes, Chris Columbus watched over Macaulay.
I thought the Murphys went to Well, most of the time.
Meanwhile, John Hughes was keeping a watchful eye on his script.
If an actor wanted to do something in a way that John didn't agree with, then they had to do it his way.
It was perfectly written.
What are we gonna mess with John Hughes' stuff? I mean no way.
But one day, things went off script.
But just for the day.
Everybody looked forward to the day when John Candy would be on set.
We all knew that if Candy is gonna be on the set, Hughes is gonna be on the set.
John Hughes, had only been on the set one day prior to that.
But we also knew that if Hughes and Candy get together, it's gonna be a long day.
And where Chris and the cast were expected to film the script as written with the writer himself on set, well, he just rewrote the rules.
He encouraged me to let John improvise.
- So when he's talking about his band - The Kenosha Kickers - and the hits and "Polka, Polka, Polka" - Polka, Polka, Polka.
that's all improvisation.
Polka, polka, polka He had worked with Catherine O'Hara before so the two of them just just flew.
And as they flew in the back of a rental van, John Hughes made sure to get the most out of his one day with John Candy.
I don't think John Candy knew it was gonna be 23 hours.
And there was a point where Candy looked at John, and it was, like "You son of a" Maybe we shouldn't talk about this.
For a 23-hour day, an actor as big as John Candy must have made a fortune in overtime or something.
John Candy did that as a favor for us.
Sure.
You know, it's Christmas time.
It wasn't some big salary, it was scale.
Yep, that's right.
Dan Charles, the pizza boy, made more than John Candy on Home Alone.
Cheapskate.
But there was one other iconic moment in the film that wasn't exactly performed as written.
John's script at that moment, he was supposed to do this and then pause and scream.
But he did this and then he kept his hands there just because it was such a little kid thing to do, but as a result, he created this iconic moment by putting his hands there and keeping them there.
But the screams in Home Alone are only one voice in this symphony of pain.
Part of the vision of Home Alone was to make absolutely certain that the stunts felt painful.
- Ah! - Oof! Chris was like, "If it hurts, it's funny.
" It's just so ridiculously violent, but for some reason, it's also maddeningly funny.
Being slapped with sticks, or anything else, is going to hurt, but not for these guys.
For these guys My name is Troy Brown, and I was Joe Pesci's stunt double in Home Alone.
Hi.
My name is Larry Nicholas, and I was hired to stunt double, Macaulay Culkin.
Of all the tough jobs on this movie, these guys probably had it the hardest.
No You know, basically it's just throwing yourself up and landing hard.
Ah! Oof! I love it.
And Troy had a lot of love to give, a lot of very tough love.
It was pre-CGI.
There was no special effects.
There was no trick visual effects and pads built into the ground.
It's so scary to watch because they really do the stuff.
That gives you a good sense of pressure, 'cause you got to get it right on the day when you're shooting.
And it was under this pressure I was scared - less.
that the rookie cinematographer hatched a backup plan.
We used to call it bonus cam.
- Otherwise known as - The chicken cam.
It was as small as you can get the camera.
I just wanted to make sure that I got the stunts and I figured if it only happens once, I want to have a wide shot that covers it.
As Julio faced his fear, it was time for Troy to approach his.
When I did the first stair fall, no one told me how to take the fall.
I just launched myself as high and far as I could.
Ah! Oof! People were holding their breath, like Ironically, when we were shooting that stuff uh it was not funny at all.
It was terrifying.
Oh,.
This is too much.
Every time one of those very difficult stunts was done, we all looked away from the monitors.
I would yell cut, and I'd say, "Is he okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine.
I'm all right" And Troy remained fine.
Fall after fall night after night.
We actually used a real shovel for the hit on that one.
Ah! Ow! And we have to be able to get up and do it multiple times.
And the other thing about stuntmen is they're crazy, so they could fall on their back, their head would fall off, they'd put it under their arm and say, - "I'm fine.
I'm fine.
" - I love it.
The falls in Home Alone had a huge impact on the stunt industry.
Now, when somebody does a fall where they get a lot of air, and they fall on their back, they'd call it the "Home Alone.
" You guys give up or are you thirsty for more? As the stunts and gags all came together When I got to the top, he pulled the whole rod and all the shelves broke as I was falling.
they were starting to realize Julio's - Bonus cam.
- AKA The chicken cam.
was having quite an impact.
At first, it was just wherever we could put it.
Pretty soon at dailies we started realizing that bonus cam was the best angle.
Ow.
And it was kind of helping us develop the style for the comedy and the gags.
So we started to really do more with bonus cam.
We put it on a rope and we threw it down the chute.
So, bonus cam became a star.
And this gave Julio a little bonus confidence.
I had a bit of a spring in my step, and I felt like this could work.
Hang up the phone and make me, why don't you? There's some moments that really get you.
And, you know, for me, the choir singing when the boy goes inside the church was a great moment.
And you live for things like that.
It was the magical scene that you see.
Even Chris' choice of "O Holy Night" and the way Julio shot that church, and just the overall pacing of it.
Sometimes the movie gods are on your side.
You know, Macaulay Culkin had never, in the film, had to do a scene that was that extensive.
Macaulay came in that day, and it was as if he were performing on stage.
- Been a good boy this year? - I think so.
He sat down, and he just did the whole scene.
And I was stunned.
I don't care how mad I was, I'd talk to my dad, especially around the holidays.
You know, he just seemed to get that particular scene.
You know, that's a lot for a young kid to do.
As tears pool in the eyes of anyone who watches that scene, the crew prepared for the final shot.
And that's where they really turned on the waterworks.
We're The Wet Bandits.
The truism is anytime you build a set with water in it, it's gonna leak.
I mean, it is what it is, right? We have to have a set, we have to have it flooded.
Where are we gonna do it? The answer was down this hall, past the canteen through the auditorium, and in this door.
The pool.
The pool, it has water in it now.
And it's like, "Well, it may as well drip into an empty pool, right?" So, we built the set down at the shallow end? Uh, yes.
That is correct.
Hiya, pal.
We outsmarted you this time.
Get over here.
They jumped in the deep end on Home Alone.
And now Chris Columbus had finished shooting his third feature film.
We finished the movie.
I felt proud of the movie and we were You know, we were excited to get into post, having absolutely no idea what we were about to find out.
And with that, school was out.
Everyone was gone.
It was just myself, my assistant, and my other assistant editor.
And so The Breakfast Club became The Shining.
Here's Hughesy.
Ah! It was madness.
There was tape everywhere and things, and For ten weeks, Raja Gosnell and his team We were basically wandering these halls, you know, going a little bit crazy.
somehow managed to put something together.
I'd just do it until it felt right, and when it felt right, it was basically a Road Runner cartoon.
But for the director Chris Columbus, something was a bit off.
Chris saw the movie and liked the first cut, he's like, "But, Raja, that music.
" I'm like, "I know, I'm sorry.
" It wasn't entirely Raja's fault, though.
So, there was another composer who had been hired contracted to do the movie.
- Dan Roebuck.
- Just kidding.
It was Bruce Broughton.
He became unavailable, and he couldn't do it.
So Broughton was brought off.
We were left without a composer.
As a joke, I said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get John Williams?" That's John Williams, who wrote this terrifyingly memorable tune and this operatic space melody.
Be it Superman or Indiana Jones, like an extraterrestrial in a bike basket, John Williams could elevate movies.
So, when Chris floated John Williams I thought, "He's out of his mind.
" And we all laughed about it.
Silence.
Dead silence.
And I don't remember how this happened.
We got the rough cut of the movie to John Williams.
He loved it.
He loved the movie and he agreed to score the movie.
And suddenly it all comes to life.
Mom? In the last three weeks, you put this music on top of it, which changes the whole movie.
That took our movie, which was this little low-budget Christmas movie, giving us, arguably, the greatest living composer, even back then.
Even with the maestro of the movies waving his magic wand, Home Alone was still just a low-budget family movie starring a kid.
Home Alone came out right around Thanksgiving.
It was up against Rocky V.
Do I look like a raccoon? But many film critics weren't in Home Alone's corner.
Home Alone comes out, Ebert and Siskel hate the movie.
Writer/producer John Hughes and his director Chris Columbus have made a sort of a pre-teen Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the formula is wearing thin on me.
At that point in time, Siskel & Ebert was it.
They could make or break movies.
The dopey new comedy Home Alone.
But while Home Alone duked it out with the critics and Rocky V, only one would come away victorious.
Ah! We had predicted for the opening weekend, based on tracking, market research tracking, eight million dollars.
We're gonna be happy with eight million dollars.
Really happy.
It made $17 million.
We had no idea.
I just wanna go home, okay? Kevin saddled up The Italian Stallion and any other movie that dared stepped foot on Kevin's turf.
Full page, "Number one two weeks in a row.
" The number one movie for three weeks in a row.
Five weeks in a row.
It was week after week, and the movie keeps beating the hell out of them every weekend.
Ebert and Siskel, they gotta be incredibly frustrated, because it doesn't stop.
By Christmas of 1990, Home Alone was just getting started.
It was number one all the way through Christmas.
And, of course, it went up because now you have the Christmas holiday and all the kids are out of school, so I was shooting City Slickers at the time.
On a weekly basis, Billy Crystal came into the trailer with The Hollywood Reporter.
He said, "Your movie's number one.
" And then the next week, Billy's in and says, "You're number one again.
" I said, "How about that?" I'm not a goofball anymore.
I made it.
We shot that movie for three months and I was I was, like, number one in the box office for - Two, three, four, five - Eleven, 92 - Maybe 12? - Twelve - Fourteen weeks.
- Something like that.
It was week after week after week.
Number one.
By the end of its almost half-year run, Home Alone had made over $285 million.
And two other movies in history had done that.
Star Wars and E.
T.
And then there was Home Alone.
Like, that was the list.
Uh It's kind of It's kind of odd.
It's kind of odd to think about.
And it was a movie that no one expected to succeed or even hear about, really.
We thought it was a pretty good movie, but we had no idea it was going to have the effect it did on the audience.
Just as this movie had defied all expectations, so had the people that made it.
They all went on to have extraordinary careers.
It was wonderful for my career.
That was a It was a turning point.
It put me on the map as a comedic cinematographer.
I started getting huge comedy movies I was editing, which eventually led to a directing career doing some big movies.
Everybody wants to hire you, everybody wants to meet with you.
And Chris Columbus, himself, becoming a family movie specialist, really began opening Gryffin-doors shall we say? John Candy made one more feel-good, family mega hit before his time ran out at just age 43.
Even though, it was John Hughes' highest-grossing movie, in many ways, Home Alone marked the end of this great filmmaker's hit-making run.
Hughes churned out family movies, but he was never able to duplicate the success of the original Home Alone.
Oh, I I was devastated when John passed away.
He was only 59 years old.
I really love John.
And, uh, it was a shock.
But I kind of was without words.
My career was mostly due to him.
John had a writing superpower.
And he wrote up until he died.
And at his funeral, that's how people remembered him.
A poet.
Someone who had something to say, who said it.
I still miss him.
You know what? Where's the driveway? - Remember? - Oh, yeah.
- Remember the circular driveway? - They had a circular driveway.
Oh! You're right.
- Oh, they changed all the landscaping.
- Yeah.
The legacy of Home Alone is not just here in the suburbs of Chicago.
It's all around the world at Christmas time every single year.
Let's go back to San Francisco two years ago.
It's Christmas time and I drive by the where the symphony plays downtown, and there's a poster for Home Alone there.
And it says they're gonna be playing with a live orchestra.
And I get a call, ironically, two days later, asking me if I would introduce the movie.
I said, "Sure, I'd love to.
" So, I go into this gigantic theater of maybe 1200, 1300 people.
And I introduced the movie and I sit down and I watched the movie with a live audience and a live orchestra.
And I saw the audience I was watching the audience laughing and that was a defining moment in my life, that the film actually ended up being at a place that we wanted it to end up when we started, which is timeless.
Home Alone.
This low-budget movie starring a kid has made its mark on the world, and Daniel Stern.
People tattoo my face on their bodies for the rest of their lives.
That's crazy.
And thanks to a team who, no matter what the odds, found a way to get this perfect holiday movie made.
And that's truly a Christmas miracle.
I love this movie.
A time for family, festivity, goodwill toward men, and getting trampled in a department store.
But mostly, it's movies that get you Christmas-y.
I'm obsessed with Christmas.
And every year, come late November, one movie really slaps you in the face.
Kevin! Home Alone redefined Christmas movies.
This movie never goes away.
Launched the career of the biggest little movie star on the planet.
Okay.
Come and get me.
And became one of the highest grossing comedies of all time.
It's close to a billion dollars.
Bombs away.
But for the people who made this mega hit - Action! - it was no holiday.
He didn't want to hear my ideas.
He didn't want to talk to me.
It's a tale of backdoor deals.
I'm sure there was back channeling going on.
Bad decisions.
- The decision was - You're fired.
And naughty boys.
- Joe takes me by the collar.
- "Let's go talk to the producer.
" Why do I always get treated like scum? For many, it's a movie that makes Christmas come to life.
I don't really like Christmas.
But it almost wasn't made at all.
- Close up - Pack up our stuff.
It was scary.
What an idiot.
This is the surprisingly painful story of one of movie history's greatest Christmas miracles.
Sometimes the movie gods are on your side.
These are the movies that made us.
In 1989, this school just outside Chicago became the most unlikely location for a low-budget movie Don't you know how to knock, phlegm-wad? about a nine-year old boy left home alone - by his family - Kevin! who must defend his house from two bungling burglars, Ow! all while learning the true meaning of Christmas.
But before we go back to school we need to go back to the beginning, and the idea for Home Alone, which all started with a jolly fat man beloved by millions.
No, not him.
Who are you? I'm your Uncle Buck.
Which was the name of the John Candy comedy, featuring an eight-year-old unknown actor named Macaulay Culkin.
You have much more hair in your nose than my dad.
How nice of you to notice.
I'm a kid.
That's my job.
While I was doing Uncle Buck, I really had fun working with a boy.
I never That's one age group I had never I'd never worked with.
So, the idea for Home Alone "Mac, he'll be good.
What if What if I did a movie that starred a nine-year-old? Let him carry the whole movie.
" Where a nine-year-old might be precocious, John's usual scripts involved brats.
John and the Brat Pack almost singlehandedly created the modern teen comedy.
He gives good kids bad ideas.
- Pretty In Pink.
- Breakfast Club.
- Sixteen Candles.
- Weird Science.
Ferris Bueller.
During the '80s alone, he'd written 16 movies - and directed eight of them.
- Mr.
Mom Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
The Vacation series John would write scripts from Friday night to Sunday morning.
He wrote Ferris Bueller's Day Off in - Seven days.
- The man is He's a righteous dude.
a comedy machine.
The John Hughes machine cranked out scripts.
And one of them was the timeless Christmas classic, - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
- Ah! But this machine was only human.
And he couldn't direct everything he wrote.
So, John handed the directing duties over to Action! Well, a younger version of himself.
Maybe people were calling me that.
And here's why they may have.
Chris Columbus was a screenwriting prodigy.
He wrote basically most of the other good '80s movies that John Hughes didn't.
I always thought Gremlins was sort of the quintessential Chris Columbus movie, but he didn't direct it.
But Columbus was looking to right that ship.
I was determined to write enough films that would be successful enough, that someone would give me the opportunity to direct, and that was Adventures in Babysitting.
Adventures in Babysitting.
was Chris's first feature directing gig, - followed by - Was it "Honeymoon Hotel"? Whatever that Elvis - Heartbreak Hotel.
- Heartbreak Hotel.
Not too well remembered.
Well, Roger Ebert remembered it enough to give it one star.
Well, that was generous.
- Heartbreak Hotel - was a heartbreak.
And it was sort of a latter-day Elvis movie.
We had a great time making the movie.
It was really fun, but then it tanked.
And in a town where you're only as good as your last gig.
I thought, "It's time to start writing again," because I didn't know if I'd ever get another directing job after that.
But one flop movie didn't bother John Hughes.
John really liked Chris's work and thought, "I can be the guy who gives him the movie that puts him back on top.
" So, asking him to direct Christmas Vacation quite suited Chris - because - I'm just obsessed with Christmas.
And I loved the script, and I was like, "I'm in.
" And then I met the star.
Ultimately, I don't think he clicked as a director with Chevy.
who was a complete and utter Ignorant blood-sucking, dog-kissing, - brainless - ass-.
I am a professional.
I was a green director.
He had no confidence in me.
He didn't want to hear my ideas.
He didn't want to talk to me.
It was a horrible experience, and I had to get out of it.
First person he called up was John.
Before Chris even said, "I'm not sure that I should do this.
" John said, "I don't think you should do this.
" He was incredibly supportive because he was that guy, too.
So, I'm officially back to screenwriting now that Not so fast, Mr.
Columbus.
John calls me the following week and says, "I just wrote a script I wrote two scripts over the last two weekends.
" He sent them both to me.
The second script was Home Alone.
And I said to Monica, my wife, "This script is great.
" I was laughing out loud.
Chris had a second chance, a movie about Christmas I love Christmas.
No cleft-chinned actors to stand in his way, and a perfect John Hughes script.
How could Chris Columbus ever repay John Hughes? I said, "I'm gonna do a pass on the script.
" John didn't like getting notes at all.
John's draft was more boisterous comedy, and less about the meaning of Christmas.
I tweaked the church scene a little bit and added a few lines in there that would then set up the end of the movie.
Two days later, he sent me his rewrite of that.
And after some vigorous back and forth, they were sure they had a script they could sell.
So, John took it to Warner Brothers head honcho, Bob Daly, - who wondered - Can you do this for a price? It's a little kid.
It's not Clint Eastwood, it's not Mel Gibson.
Movie stars were selling movies.
You know, Arnold Schwarzenegger was making all this money, and John was just sort of convinced that it was gonna be a nice film, it would do well, it would get reviewed well, but it wasn't gonna be a hit.
And John said, "I think maybe it's a ten-million-dollar movie.
" Bob Daly said, "All right.
If you can do this movie for ten, we'll make it.
" Ten million might sound like a lot, but compared to most movies that came out in the late '80s, ten million dollars was nothing.
So, you might be wondering how they pulled off all that stunt work, - star power - Polka King of the Midwest.
and pyrotechnics for only ten million dollars.
Well, they didn't.
More on that later.
As the frantic scramble to make the movie began, they turned their attention to casting.
John already kind of wrote the movie for Macaulay.
But they'd need more than just one kid.
And so, I saw kid, after kid, after kid, after kid, after kid, after kid.
- Maybe 100 kids.
- One of whom was Buzz? Don't you know how to knock, phlegm-wad? Buzz was a dick.
"Buzz dick" "Buzz cock.
" Karen speedily leafed through headshots of kids and adults alike.
I had done Beetlejuice, so I was crazy about Catherine O'Hara.
I will go insane, and I will take you with me.
I mean, she's funny as hell.
But there was more to this role than just selling gags.
It was actually selling that idea, that a family could leave their kid home alone.
What kind of a mother am I? And weren't horrible people for doing it.
Otherwise, it could be a horror story.
A concern that continued as they cast two of the most important characters in the movie.
There was a debate about how funny these burglars should be, versus how scary they should be.
With that in mind, for the role of Harry, they wondered if Jon Lovitz could pull it off.
Don't be silly.
I'm capable of playing any role.
Robert De Niro was considered, too.
You bother me about a steak? But it was his Raging Bull co-star Joe Pesci.
who was probably more suited to a kid's movie.
You - kicking, stinky horse-manure smelling you.
I was a huge Raging Bull fan, as relentlessly depressing as that movie is.
So, I always wanted to work with Pesci, and when he agreed to do the movie, I was stunned.
And to star alongside Pesci, - they cast Daniel - Daniel - Daniel - Daniel Dan Roebuck.
Roebuck? - I went in an audition for Chris - Yeah.
and I got the part.
There was like six weeks of work.
Then a few weeks later, they said, "We're gonna need you for eight weeks.
" And I said, "Well, okay.
But do I get a raise?" On this film's budget It's not Clint Eastwood, it's not Mel Gibson.
- I doubt it.
- The studio wouldn't pay for him.
And I said, "For my pride, no I'm I'm quitting.
" We said, "Okay, we'll get somebody in our price range.
" - We got - Dan Roebuck, who was a great actor.
And with that, Marv was cast.
With all that money the studio was saving, surely they'd let Chris go after the big guns - when hiring his crew.
- Don't up.
Julio Macat was Director of Photography on the action classic Tango & Cash.
On the Second Unit.
- Uh, that still counts, right? - Yeah.
I was inexpensive.
I think that was a great motivator.
Well, as they say, you can fix it in post.
So Chris's pick to edit the film was Raja Gosnell.
I was the editor of Heartbreak Hotel.
That movie did not go well in terms of its box office fortunes.
- That's one way of putting it.
- It tanked.
But Raja had firsthand experience with other big hits.
I tended to be like a second editor hire.
Secondhand experience, then.
This movie needed to ooze Christmas-y-ness.
I'm just obsessed with Christmas.
And it would be the production designer's job to capture this magical time of year.
I don't really like Christmas.
Oh, bah humbug! But John Muto had done one movie with Chris Columbus.
We had done a movie in Texas called Heartbreak Hotel.
- Oof.
- Not too well remembered.
Oh, we remember.
It tanked.
These rookie filmmakers would have to learn on the job.
And for that, John Hughes would take them to school.
This one, right here, called New Trier High School, where they'd set up their production offices.
But New Trier wasn't just any old high school.
It was an abandoned school.
I think they'd run out of children.
But not just any children.
Why should he get to skip school when everybody else has to go? That's right, the ghost of John Hughes' films past inhabited the halls, being the location for Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Uncle Buck.
John Hughes wanted to make movies in Chicago away from the studio system.
He hated studio notes, he hated the interaction with the studio.
Hughes shot whenever he could in Chicago, but this time it would be less Brat Pack and more unpack and set up the offices.
All the rooms in a U that you can have in any department.
You know, I had a big classroom that I could use for an art department.
This is Producers, this is Production Manager.
While the crew shared intimate, personal tales of teenage angst It was a Breakfast Club existence.
the grownups went house hunting.
Without the location all the other department heads cannot do their jobs.
Even though the streets were lined with upper middle-class mansions.
Every day, ten hours a day, we were out there scouting.
Jackie wouldn't stop until she found just the right one, that being this one.
The concept really was that the house would be warm and inviting.
I'm the man of the house.
It has to be that special of a house in order to justify his actions.
This house becomes his tool to manipulate the bad guys.
He's like the king of the castle.
It was everything they'd need in a location, except the inside.
We couldn't really shoot in their house.
Hello.
It's just far too small to get the crew in the door.
Ah! Yes.
So it was obvious, we needed the proper set.
But the question was, where to build it? We just didn't have great sound stages in Chicago.
We walked into this gym, and we were like, it's got a grid in the ceiling, and it's big enough, and we could build a house in here, I would think.
And the next thing we knew, we built all the sets in the school, so it was a beautifully built, structurally built, two floors, so you could walk up steps.
Actually, the front door we shot here.
So, apart from the exteriors, almost everything else in the movie was done right here, in this gymnasium.
The school turned into a backlot.
And just like a Christmas tree, once it's up, it needs to be decorated, and don't spare the tinsel.
Listen, this is Christmas, so everything in the house is red or green.
There's nothing blue, - the closest is in the tile.
- And he's not wrong.
This is green, that's green, green, red, red, green.
Even the phone is green.
It's a little garish, isn't it? Oh, Bah humbug! The set was growing by the day, and Warner Brothers' little kid-sized budget of about ten million dollars was growing, too.
But this wasn't what Warner Brothers and Bob Daly had agreed to.
If you can do this movie for ten, we'll make it.
But we started to have a feeling, like, if you don't shortcut it, this thing may turn out to be really something special.
It was such a fun project, and there was so much enthusiasm for it, that even though the budget was climbing - Eleven, 92, 12.
- three, four, five Thirteen million to 14 million.
John believed that Warner Brothers would be comfortable with whatever budget it ended up at.
Don't be a moron.
So just before the Christmas break, they handed in the final budget to Warner Brothers for approval.
And it was 14.
7.
And with that, they all went to bed for a long winter's nap.
As the crew assembled for the New Year, they sprang into action.
Assuming that budget was approved by Warner Brothers, of course.
"Uh, hang on a second.
" Okay.
Hang on a second.
Two days, three days, four days, five "What are you doing?" "Well, just hold on.
" Awaiting budget approval from the studio, an eerie feeling began haunting the vacant school.
John finally came and said, "They're having issues with the budget.
" Unless we could deliver a $13.
5 million budget the next day, they were going to pull the plug.
This is Warner Brothers.
Aren't we close enough? I mean, it's not like we said it was 25.
So the decision was, we'll push back.
We'll write a really good memo showing that there's nothing left to cut.
And then the word came back "Warner Brothers is shutting us down.
" They announced that the movie was over.
- Oh, no.
- And we should pack up our stuff.
They stop paying you, they send you home.
I mean, the picture would just have to shut down.
It was scary.
It was scary.
I didn't have that much experience in the business, so I was depressed, I called my wife, I said, "That's all, you know, this looks like it's over.
" And once the call came Warner Brothers moved fast.
I hang up the phone, and I had seen the production manager from Warner Brothers going to each office telling everybody the project is dead.
"Close up, pack up leave, go home.
" And with that Home Alone was dead.
But hold on a minute.
Obviously, Home Alone did get made.
But to find out how, we need to go back in time several weeks before Warner Brothers pulled the plug.
I don't really like Christmas.
And while John Muto grappled with his distaste of the holidays, John Hughes was secretly meeting with this guy.
My name is Tom Jacobson, I was Executive Vice Let me start over.
And starting over with Home Alone is what they did.
So, when John was in town leading up to Christmas, he, of course, had lunch with his studio executive producer buddy.
And his boss, 20th Century Fox President, Joe Roth.
We were walking back from the commissary, and we asked him, how's it going on Home Alone because we'd heard about it.
And John said, "Well, I'm actually fighting with the studios at Warner Brothers.
" And he was talking about the budget that they started at, and the budget they were at now, and studio wouldn't give them enough money.
And so, I said, "John, what's the story of Home Alone?" So he told us in detail, how he was left home alone, why you could believe it, how he had to fight the bad guys, how he defended his home, how he learned the value of family, it was all there, the pitch.
And Joe, in particular said, "That's a fantastic story," And he said, "What's the budget that you're at?" And he told them the figures.
And "What do they want to give you?" And it was a million two apart.
"Well, I'll make that movie at that price in a second.
That's a great story.
" And thus began a legally questionable exchange Who is it? between John Hughes and 20th Century Fox.
Legally, another studio isn't supposed to see a piece of material until it's legally in turnaround.
And that didn't exactly happen.
Leave it on the doorstep and get the hell outta here.
Basically, a screenplay was left somewhere so that somebody could pick it up.
It was clandestinely delivered.
And so, the sneaky Fox executives were true to their word, and said "If you get the call from Warner Brothers, don't drop a stitch, just keep going.
" So, as the news circulated around the schoolyard that they'd all been expelled They announced that the movie was over.
- Oh, no.
- And we should pack up our stuff.
But for Scott, who as we now know knew what was actually happening, well, he was just signing up for Drama Club.
So the call came from Warner Brothers to tell us to stop working.
I had to say, "Oh, my God, what am I gonna do, and what are we gonna do with all these people, and how's everybody gonna get paid?" Click.
Pick up the phone, dial Fox, and say, "We got the call," and they said, "You're now a Fox picture.
Everything is fine.
Keep going.
" Click.
- But for some, it was too late.
- Oh, no.
That Warner Brothers production manager was already doing the rounds.
So he'd go into an office, he'd tell people the film was over.
I'd walk into an office and say, "It's not over.
It's now a Fox movie, don't worry about it.
" Come out, he'd go into the next office.
We went to everybody's office in the U around the school, to the very end, where he comes out of the last office and sort of like just turned around and goes, "Oh!" You know, like, "What are you doing?" I said, "You're fired.
" As work resumed without a hitch.
The next day, there was all this new equipment.
There were 20th Century Fox T-shirts on every chair.
One payroll to another payroll.
Didn't stop one day of pre-production.
So good on Tom Jacobson and Joe Roth for pulling us out of the ashes of-of history.
With that little mishap behind them, many on the crew now saw an opportunity to make history.
Among them, rookie director of photography, Julio Macat.
I can honestly say that I was scared - less.
I knew I could do shots, but I wasn't sure that I could do something that would come together as a whole.
So, I watched a lot of cartoons for reference.
But the timing of it, like, when is the slip? Whoa, whoa, whoa! - When is the "whoa"? - Ah! When is the boom? When does the little feather float down afterwards? As Julio did his ahem, homework, the timing of white fluffy float-y stuff was on Chris's mind, too.
I wanted the movie to feel very Christmas-y.
And you want snow on the ground.
Well, February in Chicago shouldn't be a problem.
It was warm and not any snow on the ground at all.
So we had to make fake snow.
We had foam, we had all kinds of things.
But one all important scene couldn't really be faked.
We knew in the script that the scene where the mom comes home, we needed a snowy morning.
And it was understood that when the first snowflake dropped, they'd drop everything, and reset for this scene whenever that may be.
They started filming on Valentine's Day, 1990.
We were shooting the convenience store, where Kevin goes to buy a toothbrush.
Is this toothbrush approved by the American Dental Association? They were shooting the old man coming into the drugstore, which was a real drugstore in Winnetka.
This is where he steals the toothbrush, and he comes out, and the cop sees him.
- Shoplifter! - He's running across the street, and we have a lot of people ice skating in the park.
But nothing about this ice skating rink was natural.
The skating rink, we built that out of cold, freezing coils of glycol.
And we built the camera, we pulled it through the legs, and Mac got to slide between his legs, and you can see the joy in his eyes.
Yee haw! As Macaulay slid over frozen coils of glycol, next to grass covered with bags of shaved ice, a valid question was How much snow? Did we have enough money in the budget for snow? But the heavens provided, a Christmas miracle.
I remember the day it kind of started to rain a little bit.
And then it just dumped.
Our beepers started going off saying, "We're moving to the McCallister house first thing in the morning, make it happen.
" On just their second day of shooting, they'd nailed one of the most important shots in the movie.
The money shot, that's what it was.
It was the money shot.
The snow looked fantastic.
It was more snow than we really needed, but we weren't gonna mess with it.
But their little snowy miracle came with a side of trimmings.
We used potato flakes, because we needed the snow blowing, and within a day or two when snow started to melt, the potato flakes started to degrade and it became this horrible funky vegetable smell.
So, two days into shooting, it had dumped, and things were turning rotten.
The same could be said for one particular cast member.
Dan Roebuck, who was a great actor.
He's got your gun.
I ain't going after him by myself.
We brought him to Chicago.
And then we did a screen test with that actor and Joe Pesci.
I don't think Joe felt like they had chemistry.
They just felt a little flat.
And after three days, Chris came into our office and said, "Guys, we have to replace Dan Roebuck.
It's not working.
" I really need to try to get Dan Stern into this movie.
That's a good idea.
What an idiot I was to let that almost get away.
That would've been, like, "Oh, I missed it.
Why? Oh, because my pigheadedness.
" Thank God they came back to me.
Then when we did the camera test with Joe Pesci and Dan Stern, it was magical.
- Bother you when I do that? - Nope.
Actually, the Stern and Pesci magic double act went way back.
We had done a movie called I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can many years before that.
And we became friends on that.
So, Joe Pesci got his pal and his way, and everyone was happy.
Oh, everyone except Joe.
He was critical of some of the dialogue as I remember.
Crowbars up.
He felt that some of the things he had to say were What's so funny? you know What are you laughing at? not to the level of thespian that he is.
You're sick, you know that? Really sick.
But really, it wasn't so much about dialogue.
You know, you could get locked up for uh For, um It was more about language.
The hardest thing for Pesci was not swearing.
Don't with me, Al.
- How the? - Give me a They you at the drive-through.
Joe said an interesting thing to me.
He said, "Every time I get a script, if it's not a Scorsese script" He goes "The only way I can read it is if add every three or four words.
" So he says, "If it says, 'How are you doing today, Mr.
Anderson?' I say, 'How the you doing today, Anderson, you - wad?" Although it's a wholesome family film, one might excuse the odd swear word.
- All things considered - Oh - Shoot, dumb - What? And he said, "I wanna make a language like a What? What? What? What happened? Like a cartoon gruff guy.
Ah! Gee! But Joe's gruff guy persona - Hands off the head, pal! - Come on.
wasn't always an act.
Just ask this guy.
My name is James Giovannetti.
He was the Second Assistant Director.
The Second AD is in charge of the cast.
And Pesci and I, we would, you know, sometimes bang heads.
Especially, when it came to the morning call time.
One day, I was literally sitting in my office and the door burst open, and in rolled Not rolled, Joe dragged me.
Exactly.
Joe takes me by the collar.
- "Let's go talk to the producers.
" - Yeah, exactly.
- Joe.
- And then Grabbing and punching And I was like, "Holy God.
" And it was all about the fact that Jimmy - had given him a certain call time.
- At seven o'clock.
"You don't need me at seven o'clock.
" "I'm not coming in at that time.
" Because he always wanted to play golf.
- Yes.
Right.
- Golf.
Forever golf.
And he would play nine holes.
He would come in at 9:00.
- Nine o'clock.
- Nine o'clock.
For a cast filled with children, it was fairly evident that Macaulay was better behaved on the set than Joe Pesci.
But Joe's childish behavior was no problem for Chris.
Cut.
Okay.
He was great with kids.
I love the way that Chris Columbus worked with Macaulay and the rest of the kids.
He has in him a child-like wonder.
Here's what you can do Megan Hillary.
You guys can move a little faster here, okay? He treated us like actors, not as child actors.
Me and Chris decided that we would use a dolly shot.
Now what should I do here? - Do a dolly shot.
- You think so? - Yeah.
- I don't know.
- Do you think, really? Okay.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- And what about after this? Mmm I'm not sure.
- What about a close-up? - Good idea.
Through wondrous, child-like eyes, Chris Columbus watched over Macaulay.
I thought the Murphys went to Well, most of the time.
Meanwhile, John Hughes was keeping a watchful eye on his script.
If an actor wanted to do something in a way that John didn't agree with, then they had to do it his way.
It was perfectly written.
What are we gonna mess with John Hughes' stuff? I mean no way.
But one day, things went off script.
But just for the day.
Everybody looked forward to the day when John Candy would be on set.
We all knew that if Candy is gonna be on the set, Hughes is gonna be on the set.
John Hughes, had only been on the set one day prior to that.
But we also knew that if Hughes and Candy get together, it's gonna be a long day.
And where Chris and the cast were expected to film the script as written with the writer himself on set, well, he just rewrote the rules.
He encouraged me to let John improvise.
- So when he's talking about his band - The Kenosha Kickers - and the hits and "Polka, Polka, Polka" - Polka, Polka, Polka.
that's all improvisation.
Polka, polka, polka He had worked with Catherine O'Hara before so the two of them just just flew.
And as they flew in the back of a rental van, John Hughes made sure to get the most out of his one day with John Candy.
I don't think John Candy knew it was gonna be 23 hours.
And there was a point where Candy looked at John, and it was, like "You son of a" Maybe we shouldn't talk about this.
For a 23-hour day, an actor as big as John Candy must have made a fortune in overtime or something.
John Candy did that as a favor for us.
Sure.
You know, it's Christmas time.
It wasn't some big salary, it was scale.
Yep, that's right.
Dan Charles, the pizza boy, made more than John Candy on Home Alone.
Cheapskate.
But there was one other iconic moment in the film that wasn't exactly performed as written.
John's script at that moment, he was supposed to do this and then pause and scream.
But he did this and then he kept his hands there just because it was such a little kid thing to do, but as a result, he created this iconic moment by putting his hands there and keeping them there.
But the screams in Home Alone are only one voice in this symphony of pain.
Part of the vision of Home Alone was to make absolutely certain that the stunts felt painful.
- Ah! - Oof! Chris was like, "If it hurts, it's funny.
" It's just so ridiculously violent, but for some reason, it's also maddeningly funny.
Being slapped with sticks, or anything else, is going to hurt, but not for these guys.
For these guys My name is Troy Brown, and I was Joe Pesci's stunt double in Home Alone.
Hi.
My name is Larry Nicholas, and I was hired to stunt double, Macaulay Culkin.
Of all the tough jobs on this movie, these guys probably had it the hardest.
No You know, basically it's just throwing yourself up and landing hard.
Ah! Oof! I love it.
And Troy had a lot of love to give, a lot of very tough love.
It was pre-CGI.
There was no special effects.
There was no trick visual effects and pads built into the ground.
It's so scary to watch because they really do the stuff.
That gives you a good sense of pressure, 'cause you got to get it right on the day when you're shooting.
And it was under this pressure I was scared - less.
that the rookie cinematographer hatched a backup plan.
We used to call it bonus cam.
- Otherwise known as - The chicken cam.
It was as small as you can get the camera.
I just wanted to make sure that I got the stunts and I figured if it only happens once, I want to have a wide shot that covers it.
As Julio faced his fear, it was time for Troy to approach his.
When I did the first stair fall, no one told me how to take the fall.
I just launched myself as high and far as I could.
Ah! Oof! People were holding their breath, like Ironically, when we were shooting that stuff uh it was not funny at all.
It was terrifying.
Oh,.
This is too much.
Every time one of those very difficult stunts was done, we all looked away from the monitors.
I would yell cut, and I'd say, "Is he okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine.
I'm all right" And Troy remained fine.
Fall after fall night after night.
We actually used a real shovel for the hit on that one.
Ah! Ow! And we have to be able to get up and do it multiple times.
And the other thing about stuntmen is they're crazy, so they could fall on their back, their head would fall off, they'd put it under their arm and say, - "I'm fine.
I'm fine.
" - I love it.
The falls in Home Alone had a huge impact on the stunt industry.
Now, when somebody does a fall where they get a lot of air, and they fall on their back, they'd call it the "Home Alone.
" You guys give up or are you thirsty for more? As the stunts and gags all came together When I got to the top, he pulled the whole rod and all the shelves broke as I was falling.
they were starting to realize Julio's - Bonus cam.
- AKA The chicken cam.
was having quite an impact.
At first, it was just wherever we could put it.
Pretty soon at dailies we started realizing that bonus cam was the best angle.
Ow.
And it was kind of helping us develop the style for the comedy and the gags.
So we started to really do more with bonus cam.
We put it on a rope and we threw it down the chute.
So, bonus cam became a star.
And this gave Julio a little bonus confidence.
I had a bit of a spring in my step, and I felt like this could work.
Hang up the phone and make me, why don't you? There's some moments that really get you.
And, you know, for me, the choir singing when the boy goes inside the church was a great moment.
And you live for things like that.
It was the magical scene that you see.
Even Chris' choice of "O Holy Night" and the way Julio shot that church, and just the overall pacing of it.
Sometimes the movie gods are on your side.
You know, Macaulay Culkin had never, in the film, had to do a scene that was that extensive.
Macaulay came in that day, and it was as if he were performing on stage.
- Been a good boy this year? - I think so.
He sat down, and he just did the whole scene.
And I was stunned.
I don't care how mad I was, I'd talk to my dad, especially around the holidays.
You know, he just seemed to get that particular scene.
You know, that's a lot for a young kid to do.
As tears pool in the eyes of anyone who watches that scene, the crew prepared for the final shot.
And that's where they really turned on the waterworks.
We're The Wet Bandits.
The truism is anytime you build a set with water in it, it's gonna leak.
I mean, it is what it is, right? We have to have a set, we have to have it flooded.
Where are we gonna do it? The answer was down this hall, past the canteen through the auditorium, and in this door.
The pool.
The pool, it has water in it now.
And it's like, "Well, it may as well drip into an empty pool, right?" So, we built the set down at the shallow end? Uh, yes.
That is correct.
Hiya, pal.
We outsmarted you this time.
Get over here.
They jumped in the deep end on Home Alone.
And now Chris Columbus had finished shooting his third feature film.
We finished the movie.
I felt proud of the movie and we were You know, we were excited to get into post, having absolutely no idea what we were about to find out.
And with that, school was out.
Everyone was gone.
It was just myself, my assistant, and my other assistant editor.
And so The Breakfast Club became The Shining.
Here's Hughesy.
Ah! It was madness.
There was tape everywhere and things, and For ten weeks, Raja Gosnell and his team We were basically wandering these halls, you know, going a little bit crazy.
somehow managed to put something together.
I'd just do it until it felt right, and when it felt right, it was basically a Road Runner cartoon.
But for the director Chris Columbus, something was a bit off.
Chris saw the movie and liked the first cut, he's like, "But, Raja, that music.
" I'm like, "I know, I'm sorry.
" It wasn't entirely Raja's fault, though.
So, there was another composer who had been hired contracted to do the movie.
- Dan Roebuck.
- Just kidding.
It was Bruce Broughton.
He became unavailable, and he couldn't do it.
So Broughton was brought off.
We were left without a composer.
As a joke, I said, "Wouldn't it be great if we could get John Williams?" That's John Williams, who wrote this terrifyingly memorable tune and this operatic space melody.
Be it Superman or Indiana Jones, like an extraterrestrial in a bike basket, John Williams could elevate movies.
So, when Chris floated John Williams I thought, "He's out of his mind.
" And we all laughed about it.
Silence.
Dead silence.
And I don't remember how this happened.
We got the rough cut of the movie to John Williams.
He loved it.
He loved the movie and he agreed to score the movie.
And suddenly it all comes to life.
Mom? In the last three weeks, you put this music on top of it, which changes the whole movie.
That took our movie, which was this little low-budget Christmas movie, giving us, arguably, the greatest living composer, even back then.
Even with the maestro of the movies waving his magic wand, Home Alone was still just a low-budget family movie starring a kid.
Home Alone came out right around Thanksgiving.
It was up against Rocky V.
Do I look like a raccoon? But many film critics weren't in Home Alone's corner.
Home Alone comes out, Ebert and Siskel hate the movie.
Writer/producer John Hughes and his director Chris Columbus have made a sort of a pre-teen Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the formula is wearing thin on me.
At that point in time, Siskel & Ebert was it.
They could make or break movies.
The dopey new comedy Home Alone.
But while Home Alone duked it out with the critics and Rocky V, only one would come away victorious.
Ah! We had predicted for the opening weekend, based on tracking, market research tracking, eight million dollars.
We're gonna be happy with eight million dollars.
Really happy.
It made $17 million.
We had no idea.
I just wanna go home, okay? Kevin saddled up The Italian Stallion and any other movie that dared stepped foot on Kevin's turf.
Full page, "Number one two weeks in a row.
" The number one movie for three weeks in a row.
Five weeks in a row.
It was week after week, and the movie keeps beating the hell out of them every weekend.
Ebert and Siskel, they gotta be incredibly frustrated, because it doesn't stop.
By Christmas of 1990, Home Alone was just getting started.
It was number one all the way through Christmas.
And, of course, it went up because now you have the Christmas holiday and all the kids are out of school, so I was shooting City Slickers at the time.
On a weekly basis, Billy Crystal came into the trailer with The Hollywood Reporter.
He said, "Your movie's number one.
" And then the next week, Billy's in and says, "You're number one again.
" I said, "How about that?" I'm not a goofball anymore.
I made it.
We shot that movie for three months and I was I was, like, number one in the box office for - Two, three, four, five - Eleven, 92 - Maybe 12? - Twelve - Fourteen weeks.
- Something like that.
It was week after week after week.
Number one.
By the end of its almost half-year run, Home Alone had made over $285 million.
And two other movies in history had done that.
Star Wars and E.
T.
And then there was Home Alone.
Like, that was the list.
Uh It's kind of It's kind of odd.
It's kind of odd to think about.
And it was a movie that no one expected to succeed or even hear about, really.
We thought it was a pretty good movie, but we had no idea it was going to have the effect it did on the audience.
Just as this movie had defied all expectations, so had the people that made it.
They all went on to have extraordinary careers.
It was wonderful for my career.
That was a It was a turning point.
It put me on the map as a comedic cinematographer.
I started getting huge comedy movies I was editing, which eventually led to a directing career doing some big movies.
Everybody wants to hire you, everybody wants to meet with you.
And Chris Columbus, himself, becoming a family movie specialist, really began opening Gryffin-doors shall we say? John Candy made one more feel-good, family mega hit before his time ran out at just age 43.
Even though, it was John Hughes' highest-grossing movie, in many ways, Home Alone marked the end of this great filmmaker's hit-making run.
Hughes churned out family movies, but he was never able to duplicate the success of the original Home Alone.
Oh, I I was devastated when John passed away.
He was only 59 years old.
I really love John.
And, uh, it was a shock.
But I kind of was without words.
My career was mostly due to him.
John had a writing superpower.
And he wrote up until he died.
And at his funeral, that's how people remembered him.
A poet.
Someone who had something to say, who said it.
I still miss him.
You know what? Where's the driveway? - Remember? - Oh, yeah.
- Remember the circular driveway? - They had a circular driveway.
Oh! You're right.
- Oh, they changed all the landscaping.
- Yeah.
The legacy of Home Alone is not just here in the suburbs of Chicago.
It's all around the world at Christmas time every single year.
Let's go back to San Francisco two years ago.
It's Christmas time and I drive by the where the symphony plays downtown, and there's a poster for Home Alone there.
And it says they're gonna be playing with a live orchestra.
And I get a call, ironically, two days later, asking me if I would introduce the movie.
I said, "Sure, I'd love to.
" So, I go into this gigantic theater of maybe 1200, 1300 people.
And I introduced the movie and I sit down and I watched the movie with a live audience and a live orchestra.
And I saw the audience I was watching the audience laughing and that was a defining moment in my life, that the film actually ended up being at a place that we wanted it to end up when we started, which is timeless.
Home Alone.
This low-budget movie starring a kid has made its mark on the world, and Daniel Stern.
People tattoo my face on their bodies for the rest of their lives.
That's crazy.
And thanks to a team who, no matter what the odds, found a way to get this perfect holiday movie made.
And that's truly a Christmas miracle.
I love this movie.