Even after over 30 years, Home Alone remains our favorite holiday movie. From the memorable characters to the impeccable writing, the holiday-themed movie never ceases to impress us every time we watch it. While many of us can recite most lines offhand, there are many things most people don’t know about Home Alone. Here are five Home Alone secrets you didn’t know.
John Candy’s lines weren’t so planned
John Candy played the role of Gus Polinski in the holiday movie. His character was one of those you just can’t forget; he was undeniably comedic. It’ll amaze you to know that most of his lines weren’t scripted.
In 2020, Columbus confirmed that John improvised most of his scenes in the movie. Even the popular funeral parlor story was improvised at 4:30 in the morning. John was only on the movie set once, and his co-actors could testify to his funny remarks.
The BB-gun effect wasn’t what you thought
While it’s true that Home Alone remains relevant to date, it was an old movie produced in 1990! So computer-generated imagery and other special effects weren’t so common then; besides, the production team was on a tight budget.
So they had to get creative about the scene where Kevin shoots Marv with a BB gun. We find it impressive that the production team paid someone in Chicago $600 to hand-paint the BB going into Marv’s head.
Most actors probably face this
Have you ever wondered how actors feel when they see themselves in films? Well, they do feel quite different. This fact was confirmed by Macaulay Culkin, who said he doesn’t watch Home Alone that often. Why?
In a 2018 interview, Macaulay said watching Home Alone always came with too much personal context. While watching, he remembers that day on set and things that went on behind the scenes.
They had to do the stunts for real
We’ve seen movies where the stunts weren’t anywhere near ‘real, but Home Alone isn’t one of them. Interestingly, while Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, and Culkin didn’t have to do the falls themselves, their stunt doubles had to do them all on set.
Troy Brown, Pesci’s stunt double, said he just launched himself as far and high as he could for the first icy stairs fall. The grounds weren’t padded for the film, and there were no special effects– it was all real.
The creative addition we’re all happy for
Aside from John Candy, who improvised his lines, the scriptwriter Hughes didn’t allow many changes. But it’ll amaze you to know that one of the most memorable scenes in the movie wasn’t initially intended.
Chris Columbus, the director, added the touching scene where Marley mentioned not being able to see his granddaughter; he also added the part where Marley is reunited with his daughter. Can we ever forget that scene?
