The Filming of Home Alone: Secrets Left Behind the Scenes

With the onset of the winter holidays, Christmas movies dominate our TV screens. For more than 30 years, Home Alone has been the most popular among them. It’s a family comedy about a boy named Kevin who is left alone on Christmas Day. Its fascinating story never ceases to amaze and delight young and adult viewers, so people all over the world watch the movie every year! However, few people know what happened behind the scenes and what fun facts escaped the eye. Learn more about them at new-york-trend.com.

How Did Kevin Become the Protagonist?

Home Alone and its sequel were directed by American director and producer John Hughes. The filming took place in the 1990s. The idea for them came to Hughes after the movie Uncle Buck, which he scripted and directed as well.

One of the scenes, when Culkin was interrogating John Candy’s character to see if he could be trusted, gave an idea to director Hughes. He thought about creating a fascinating Christmas story where the youngest child among the siblings, Miles, could be the main character. He was the most colorful character of all, smart and proactive yet naughty and unpredictable.

How Did the Movie Title Come About?

When it was decided that Kevin would be the main character, the director had to figure out how to make the plot so as to put him in the center of attention. He also needed to understand how to sparkle the interest of the audience. During his vacation with his family in France, the director had an idea. What would happen if a family forgot one of their kids at home in a hurry to go on a trip? At first glance, it seemed a bit implausible. How can you forget a child at home? But if there are many children in the family and everyone is anxious and in a hurry, it’s quite possible.

What Do We Know About the House Where Kevin and His Family Lived?

The first shots of Home Alone were filmed in a three-story brick house with an area of 395 square meters. It was built in 1920, 25 kilometers from Chicago. That’s where the McCallister family resides in the movie. They are planning to go to Paris to enjoy the winter holidays. Everyone’s in a hurry, running from one room to another because they’re late for the plane.

The film crew members remember that during the filming another family was behind the scenes, the owners of the house who rented it out. What’s more, they revealed another secret. The dining room and downstairs rooms that were destroyed in the movie were actually decorations. It’s also known that in 2011, the house where Home Alone’s Kevin and his family lived was sold for 1.6 million dollars and became a popular tourist location and a movie staple.

What Secrets Lie Behind the Filming of Funny and Extreme Scenes?

The filming of this Christmas movie took place near and inside the house, as well as in separate pavilions. The actors often had to participate in extreme and funny scenes. But filming all this wasn’t as easy and fun as it seems. There was no CGI back then, so they had to figure out how to do everything safely.

The film crew members admitted that Daniel Stern did walk barefoot on the glass. It was made of sugar but still unpleasant to walk on. There was also a live spider crawling on Stern’s face. The actor agreed to only one take of that scene and he was forbidden to scream so as not to scare the spider. The sound was added in post-production.

The film director had to abandon one of the scenes when the house comes to life against Kevin. The filming turned out to be very expensive, so they decided to show only 1 small fragment of this story in the movie. There’s a furnace in the basement that suddenly springs to life. In the movie, it opens by itself but in reality, it was people who did it.

What Did Kevin Hide From the Audience?

Macaulay Culkin, the star of the Home Alone movies, was thrilled to be filming in Chicago and New York. He felt very comfortable in front of a huge film crew and sometimes even invented plot twists to surprise the audience. For example, many of the crew members remember the scene when Kevin used his father’s aftershave and screamed because it burned his face. Later it turned out that at that moment the young actor was improvising when he decided to press his hands against his face.

He also developed a very close friendship with Catherine O’Hara who played his mother. In a 2014 interview, she admitted that the actor still calls her mom. During the filming, the actress was worried that her character wasn’t putting much effort into finding her son. Because of this, the director added a few scenes for her and Kevin.

While he was in his room at the Plaza Hotel in New York, Kevin watched the movie titled Angels with Filthy Souls. At first, the audience thought it was a real movie and searched for the full version to watch it. But then Culkin admitted that the scene was filmed specifically for Home Alone. None of the viewers even realized that the actor who played the gangster had been on the set for only 24 hours.

Home Alone Fun Facts

1. The McCallister family home was built in 1920. It has 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a fireplace, a double garage and a greenhouse. It was bought by an American family in 1988 but sold a few years later.
2. Left alone at home, the protagonist finds a photo of his brother Buzz’s girlfriend. In reality, it was a boy in disguise.
3. During the filming of the scene where the bandits hanged Kevin from a hook, one of them bit the boy’s finger so hard it bled.
4. There were 2 Culkins in this movie, Macaulay who played the protagonist and his brother Kieran who played Fuller.
5. The tape recorder used by Kevin was fake. After Home Alone gained great popularity, many fans wanted to have a device like that. At their request, identical recorders were produced and sold.
6. There are shots of a small tree house in the movie. It turns out that the film star, Macaulay Culkin, built it himself long before the filming.
7. When Catherine O’Hara was at the airport, the audience noticed a familiar-looking bearded man behind her. Many began to speculate that it was the king of rock’n’roll himself, Elvis Presley.
8. The glass Christmas tree ornaments in the McCallister house were made of sugar for safety reasons. According to the movie plot, the burglar named Marv steps on them. He also wore rubber pads on his feet to prevent himself from getting hurt.
9. According to the script, the main character Kevin created many traps to protect himself from the bandits. At one point in the movie, you can see a map of all the places where they were hidden. Many fans don’t even realize that the young actor made it himself. Little Macaulay drew the map before the filming started.
10. Initially, the script didn’t include Kevin’s neighbor. Later, he was invited to the set by the director to add more unpredictability to the movie.
11. In honor of the 25th anniversary of Home Alone, a Collector’s edition of Home Alone was released as a practical and unusual gift for fans. It was in the form of a metal paint bucket sporting images of the main character Kevin and the burglars.
12. At the beginning of the movie, there is a scene in the kitchen where Kevin’s siblings accidentally spill milk. It spreads all over the table. That’s where Kevin’s ticket was lying and none of the family noticed it. Later, the ticket marked as “Kevin” was thrown in the trash.