“Kevin home alone”
Curious! The film was shot in a gymnasium
“Home Alone” is one of the most popular Christmas films of all time.
© Picture Alliance
Home Alone was filmed almost 30 years ago, but previously unknown facts are only now coming to light. For example, the classic Christmas film was not filmed in the McCallister mansion, but in the gymnasium of an abandoned school.
“Home Alone” has been one of the most popular Christmas films for almost three decades, but it’s only now that it’s coming out that the classic is in the was filmed in the gymnasium of an abandoned school. The Netflix documentary “The Movies That Made Us” recently revealed this and other strange facts. GALA has summarized the most curious facts for you.
“Home Alone” filming was canceled due to lack of money
“Kevin – Home Alone” was a so-called low-budget production with a budget of almost nine million euros. That wasn’t a large sum in the early 1990s, at a time when almost 63 million euros were wasted on many blockbusters. After the actors, location and production design had been decided, the film team presented the final calculation to the responsible US film company Warner Bros. Entertainment – and it exceeded the magical budget limit at 13.2 million euros.
Warner couldn’t agree on this and put the film on hold. The team was no longer paid and was told to pack up. BUT: As if writer and producer John Hughes, 59, had suspected it, he met with rival 20th Century Fox weeks earlier. The film company was enthusiastic about the story of the film, agreed with the budget and took over the supervision and remaining costs. “Kevin – Home Alone” was saved!
The film set for Home Alone was a gymnasium
The magnificent McCallister mansion doesn’t actually look all that magnificent. To be precise, only the exterior facade was used for the film. The house itself was too narrow to accommodate the film crew. All interior shots were therefore filmed in an abandoned school – namely the “New Trier Township High School”, which is located in the small American town of Winnetka, in the state of Illinois. But this is no ordinary school. The hit film “Ferris Makes You Blue” with Matthew Broderick, 57, was filmed in the building. The entire production and film team settled in the school and occupied the classrooms. But where could such a large house be rebuilt? Those involved decided on the gym. In no time, the bare place was transformed into a cozy villa Christmas setting. All of the scenes in the house, as well as all of the traps that Kevin set for the bandits, were filmed in the gym.
The film set of “Home Alone” was in an abandoned school.
© Screenshot Netflix
Daniel Stern turned down the “Marv” role for good reason
Daniel Stern initially turned down the role of Marv.
© Picture Alliance
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Daniel Stern had to come. The director called him again and Stern chimed in. Whether he agreed to the salary this time was not discussed. But Daniel and Joe, as old acting colleagues, were a well-rehearsed team. The jokes just flowed out of them. The wet (or sticky) bandits were born.
Joe Pesci played golf instead of showing up on set on time
© Picture Alliance
Joe Pesci is known, among other things, from the award-winning mafia drama “Goodfellas”, for which he won an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1991. No wonder that many of the lines in the idiotic bandit role Harry were too clumsy for him. But there was a much bigger problem: Pesci didn’t agree with starting work at seven in the morning. At the time, he preferred to pursue his passion – playing golf – and didn’t show up on set until nine o’clock. Even Macaulay Culkin, who was ten at the time, behaved better on site. But what can you refuse an Oscar winner? Nothing.
Sources used: Netflix “The Movies That Made Us”, Instagram