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Merry Christmas ya filthy animals: 11 Home Alone facts that will blow your mind


Home Alone facts that will absolutely blow your minds (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

There is no denying Home Alone is the best Christmas film ever to grace our screens. Sorry Buddy the Elf, but you don’t quite compare to Kevin McCallister accidentally being left at his Chicago home while his family jetted off to Paris.

It has been nearly three decades since we were first introduced to Macaulay Culkin’s sassy nine-year-old going up against two dim-witted burglars, Marv (Daniel Stern) and Harry (Joe Pesci).

The festive classic was released all the way back in 1990, but there are some things about Kevin and co that are still blowing our minds.

1. Robert de Niro could’ve been a Wet Bandit

Joe and Daniel will go down in history for their epic stints as Marv and Harry, aka the Wet Bandits (who mixed things up a little in the second film to become the Sticky Bandits). But it turns out it all could have been very different – as actual Robert De Niro turned down the role of Harry.

Yes seriously.

Could you imagine De Niro as part of the Wet Bandits? (Picture: AP)

In fact, Rat Race star Jon Lovitz also walked away from the part, before Joe swooped in and smashed it.

2. That tarantula was real

The Bandits didn’t get the easiest time of it on this set, having to throw themselves into every single trap. But Daniel went one further, and let producers place the tarantula on his face for one take – basically like an I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here trial.

This scream is burned into our brains (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

But he wasn’t allowed to scream in case he scared the spider, so had to mime it and let the tarantula crawl around his face, before dubbing his shriek in later. A total trooper.

3. The script was written in 10 days

Screenwriter John Hughes penned the script for Home Alone in less than 10 days, son James confirmed.

He revealed his dad thought up the whole thing when he was worried about his family’s first European holiday, all the way back in 1989, and got his pen out when they eventually returned home. Nine days later and the first draft was done.

A cinematic masterpiece thought up in just a few days? Your fave could never.

4. Buzz’s girlfriend is actually a boy in costume

If you cast your mind back to the scene where Kevin was snooping around Buzz’s room and he riffled through his brother’s chest, coming across a framed picture of his girlfriend.

‘Buzz, your girlfriend, woof.’

‘Buzz, your girlfriend. Woof!’ (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

Well, that wasn’t actually a girl but a boy dressed up as a girl, because producers thought it would be kind of mean to put a girl in that role. And the art director’s son was ‘more than willing’ to volunteer for the part.

5. Angels With Filthy Souls isn’t real.

Nope, don’t bother searching for the black-and-white movie on Netflix, Amazon Prime or anywhere else, as it only exists in the Home Alone universe. It was specifically made for the film, and filmed inside an abandoned high school gym.

Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.

6. Daniel Stern got a bloody nose during filming, and can be heard swearing

Daniel got so into filming one particular scene that he ended up getting a bloody nose. Remember the moment he shoved his head through the dog door? He accidentally managed to clip his nose on it.

Speaking to Hollywood Reporter, he confirmed: ‘I got a bloody nose when I had to stick my head through the doggie door.

‘I had to pull my head out quickly, and I clipped my big-ass nose on the door thing.’

As well as this, he also said ‘s**t’ when he tried to get this shoe through the same flap, which made it into the final cut – look for it at 55.27.

7. Joe Pesci accidentally really bit Macaulay Culkin

It wasn’t just Daniel and Joe that had a tough time on set, with all those tricks going haywire, as Macaulay Culkin didn’t fare any better. In fact, he was permanently scarred while filming the moment the Bandits eventually caught up to Kevin.

Macaulay was scarred for life while filming this scene (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

In a chat with Rule Forty Two, Macaulay confessed: ‘In the first Home Alone, they hung me up on a coat hook, and Pesci says, “I’m gonna bite all your fingers off, one at a time.”

‘And during one of the rehearsals, he bit me, and it broke the skin.’

8. Macaulay Culkin’s stunt double was a 30-year-old man

Home Alone and the New York sequel sees Kevin McCallister taking on some insane stunts – such as sledding down his stairs, straight into a snowy mound, zip-lining through his tree house and using a rope to scale an entire home. But it was understandably too dangerous for Macaulay to film them all himself.

In came 30-year-old stuntman Larry Nicholas, who was around his height, and took on all the scary moments so that he didn’t have to.

Sorry guys, this isn’t actually Macaulay Culkin zip-lining (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

Unfortunately, he could be seen performing the zip-line scene as ‘Kevin’ in the first instalment, but we can still pretend…

9. Marv was supposed to get his very own Home Alone spin-off

Daniel starred in Greg Beeman’s 1995 film Bushwhacked, about a delivery man who goes on the run after he’s framed for murder.

But it turns out, this was originally meant to be a spin-off of the original festive classic – according to Mental Floss, the snow globe-loving burglar would have given up his life of crime, before being framed for the murder.

Just a little darker…

10. John Heard (Peter McCallister) was adamant the film would be terrible

Director Christopher Columbus revealed John Heard (Peter McCallister) really wasn’t too thrilled about being cast in the film, and was actually adamant that it was going to be terrible.

But, after seeing the end product, he apologised to Chris while working on the second one.

Speaking on Alec Baldwin’s podcast, the director revealed he still has John’s apology on tape somewhere.

John Heard didn’t think Home Alone would be a success and boy was he wrong… (Picture: 20th Century Fox)

‘Heard, who I love… While he was making Home Alone, he thought he was making the biggest piece of s**t in the world. He was a pain in the ass a little bit,’ he admitted.

‘He comes back on Home Alone 2, and the first day he’s shooting, I yell, “Action”, he breaks character…

‘He said: “I just would like to say to Chris and the crew, I owe you a big apology. We made a great movie the first time and I’m here to support you.” We have it in dailies, I still have a tape of that.’

11. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern went extra with their parts

John wasn’t the only person on set who didn’t think Home Alone would be quite as big, as IMDB states Joe and Daniel also thought it wouldn’t be a success – and decided to go as over-the-top as possible.

‘I don’t know if I knew it was going to be a hit, but it had heart and comedy and a message, so I auditioned for it and really wanted to get it,’ Daniel told The Wrap.

It turns out they nailed it, with the film heading straight into the Guinness World Record as the highest-grossing domestic live-action comedy ever.

Well, until 2017 when Never Say Die knocked it off that perch.

Seeing as how a reboot has been teased, we predict Home Alone will be reigning strong at Christmas for a very long time.



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