On November 16, 1990, ‘Home Alone’ was released worldwide—and from that moment on, Christmas and New Year’s took on a different tone for millions of viewers. From the very beginning, it was clear that this film would not remain just “another Christmas comedy.” A stellar lineup — Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, music by the legendary John Williams, a script by John Hughes, and direction by Chris Columbus — virtually guaranteed success.
But the biggest discovery was nine-year-old Macaulay Culkin, a fair-haired boy with an angelic appearance. He instantly became a star and the face of an entire generation of Christmas movies. The film’s success was staggering: Home Alone grossed more than $476 million worldwide and for a long time remained the highest-grossing comedy in film history.
How the Idea Was Born
The concept came to John Hughes while he was working on Uncle Buck. It was there that he first noticed how naturally Macaulay Culkin fit the role of a clever, slightly cheeky child. In that film, there was a scene in which Culkin’s character interrogates a potential babysitter through a mail slot.
Hughes liked the moment so much that a similar scene appeared in Home Alone — only this time Kevin confronts a burglar through a dog door. The role of Kevin was written specifically for Macaulay. Even so, Chris Columbus honestly auditioned more than 100 other children but ultimately admitted that Culkin had no competition.
Another Culkin
Macaulay’s younger brother, Kieran Culkin, also appeared in the film. He played cousin Fuller — the boy who isn’t allowed to drink soda before bedtime. For Kieran, it was his acting debut, but he later built an impressive career. For his role in the series Succession, he received multiple Golden Globe nominations and won the award in 2024.
A Lesson for the Director
Working with Kieran and Macaulay taught Chris Columbus an important life lesson: when you sign a contract with a child, you sign a contract with their family. The director later admitted that he was naïve and unaware of the complicated situation within the Culkin family. In 1995, Macaulay’s parents became embroiled in a highly publicized court battle over their son’s fortune — one of Hollywood’s most talked-about dramas of that era.
Filming Locations
Despite the fact that, according to the plot, the McCallister family flies to Paris, all filming took place in Chicago. The Paris airport scenes were shot at O’Hare International Airport, and the interior of the business-class airplane cabin was built right on the basketball court of a local school. The flooded basement was actually a school swimming pool.
Kevin’s house was real: its owners lived there during filming. Most rooms were used without alteration, but the dining room and several other spaces were built separately, since they were meant to be spectacularly destroyed on screen.
Columbus deliberately avoided visual details that might give away the era — which is one reason the film still looks surprisingly fresh today.
The Brutal Reality of the Traps
For audiences, the scenes with the burglars are pure comedy, but for the crew they were a major source of stress. In the early 1990s, computer-generated effects were rare, and stunt performers carried out all the tricks for real.
From a medical standpoint, most of Kevin’s traps would have been deadly. In 2012, doctors analyzed the injuries Harry and Marv would have sustained. The verdict was grim: a red-hot iron would have caused facial bone fractures and severe disfigurement; the blowtorch would have led to serious skull damage and required skin grafts.
The only truly safe gag involved the “glass” ornaments Marv steps on. They were made of sugar, and the actor wore rubber pads on the soles of his feet as an extra precaution.
A Scar and a Real Spider
Joe Pesci used a method-acting approach: he avoided Macaulay on set so the boy would genuinely fear him. One scene, in which Harry hangs Kevin on a hook, ended with a real injury — Pesci accidentally bit the young actor’s finger. Culkin still has a scar from the incident.
The tarantula on Marv’s face, however, was absolutely real. Actor Daniel Stern agreed to only one take. To avoid frightening the spider, he had to mime his scream silently — the shriek was added later during editing.
Joe Pesci and Family-Friendly Cinema
Accustomed to tough roles in Martin Scorsese’s crime dramas, Pesci struggled to adapt to a “family” format. He frequently forgot himself and swore on set. To deal with this, Columbus suggested that Pesci replace profanity with the harmless word “fridge”.
A Movie Within the Movie
The iconic scene featuring the gangster film Kevin watches on TV turned out to be a small cinematic trick. Angels with Filthy Souls does not actually exist. The scene with Michael Guido and Ralph Foody was shot специально for Home Alone as a parody of the classic 1938 film Angels with Dirty Faces.
The Snow That Stayed in Chicago
After filming wrapped, the artificial snow — made from wax and plastic — was donated to the Chicago Opera. It was later used in several stage productions, a rare example of movie Christmas magic finding a second life on the theater stage.
