FILM · 1990 · USA
Home Alone
- Directed by
- Chris Columbus
- Runtime
- 103 min
- Studio
- Hughes Entertainment, 20th Century Fox
311 archived facts 8 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister makes the most of the situation after his family unwittingly leaves him behind when they go on Christmas vacation. When thieves try to break into his home, he puts up a fight like no other.
Summary: TMDB
Home Alone: 36 Facts About the Characters and Cast
- #019
Contains a major spoiler — show
John Candy took the role of Gus Polinski as a favor to John Hughes and was paid a set fee (the Screen Actors Guild minimum). The character was inspired by the real-life Jan "Polka King" Lewan, a Pennsylvania resident whose polka band toured worldwide.
- #031
Although the role was written by John Hughes specifically for Macaulay Culkin, several hundred other children were auditioned by Chris Columbus. According to the DVD commentary, Columbus hesitated to cast Culkin because Hughes had cast him very recently in Uncle Buck (1989) and he did not want to appear in the film community as a pushover. After auditioning all the other young actors, however, he realized Culkin was in fact the best choice for the role.
- #036
Contains a major spoiler — show
The sled Kevin uses to slide down the stairs can also be seen next to the television while Kevin watches How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966), in Chris Columbus's office. The entire cast signed it.
- #040
When the producers first cast Daniel Stern as Marv, Stern agreed to six weeks of shooting. When they later told him they needed him for eight weeks but the studio would not pay him more, Stern turned the offer down. On the studio's recommendation, Daniel Roebuck took over the role of Marv from tape because he was willing to work for a lower fee than Stern. According to Roebuck, after a two-day meeting with producers who were "cold" toward him, he was told he was no longer needed because his screen tests showed a lack of chemistry with Joe Pesci. The studio eventually gave in to the producers' wishes and brought Stern back, since he and Pesci had been friends since appearing in I'm Dancing as I Can (1982) and had great chemistry. Roebuck earned a hefty paycheck for his troubles, but only on the condition that he not take any other acting work until the film was completed. Roebuck, who was able to make a down payment on a house with the money he received for not working on the project, saw the rejection as a major blow to his ego and suffered from his experience with this film for a long time.
- #042
To get Macaulay Culkin to memorize his lines, Chris Columbus bribed him by promising to let him play Nintendo, and the strategy worked.
- #070
Chris Farley auditioned for Santa Claus.
- #095
Contains a major spoiler — show
Several members of Chris Columbus's family had small roles in this film: his mother-in-law and his daughter Eleanor Columbus were passengers on the plane. His wife Monica Devereux-Columbus was a flight attendant, and his father-in-law played the police officer who delivers the line "tell them to count their kids again."
- #106
According to an article published in The Wall Street Journal, the owners of the McCallister house said they were first approached by a location scout who had previously worked with John Hughes. They were initially asked whether they could shoot in a house they owned before they owned the house featured in this film, Uncle Buck (1989). They were trying to sell it at the time and did not want to take it off the market for several months during filming, so they turned the offer down. After moving into their home, the couple was offered a second film, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), and this time they decided to decline because they were renovating.
- #116
When casting the role of Kevin McCallister, Chris Columbus had seen Macaulay Culkin in Uncle Buck (1989) but first wanted to try other children, while John Hughes was set on Culkin. Columbus met Culkin in New York, was very impressed by him and thought he was wonderful. Columbus brought five more children into the auditions, but none of them resembled Culkin. Columbus went with Culkin because he did not have such a perfect look and connected instantly with the children in the audience. Columbus knew the cameras would love him, and he was extremely funny.
- #119
Danny DeVito was initially considered for the role of Harry.
- #126
Appearing on a 2018 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014), Macaulay Culkin admitted that one major plot point in Home Alone always bothered him: why didn't Kevin call the police when the burglars tried to break in? Although he eventually does so while the burglars are inside the house, the answer is actually quite simple: Kevin recognized Harry as the police officer who came to question his family at the start of the film, so he may have thought the police could not be trusted. And he probably still believes the police are looking for him because of the accidental theft after Old Man Marley scared him out of the store.
- #137
Alan Rickman was considered for the role of Harry Lyme. Rickman had worked with Macaulay Culkin's aunt Bonnie Bedelia on Die Hard (1988).
- #142
Rowan Atkinson auditioned for the role of Harry. Bob Hoskins also turned the role down.
- #144
Kirstie Alley was considered for the role of Kate McCallister based on her performance in Look Who's Talking (1989). Alley turned the offer down, however, because she was working on Look Who's Talking Too (1990).
- #149
Old Man Marley, played by Roberts Blossom, is said to be a serial killer. Blossom's most notable role before this film was the lead in Deranged (1974), a fictionalized version of serial killer Ed Gein.
- #170
When Kevin first wakes up and realizes his family has left him behind, he turns on the kitchen television and Miracle on 34th Street (1947) comes on. You see Maureen O'Hara in one of the first scenes of that film. A year after this film, Chris Columbus brought O'Hara back to the screen for the first time in twenty years in Only the Lonely (1991). That film was also produced by John Hughes, starred John Candy and gave Macaulay Culkin a small role.
- #182
Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix were considered for the role of Buzz. They had appeared together in I Love You to Death (1990) and My Own Private Idaho (1991).
- #199
In early August 2019, Twentieth Century Fox's new owners, The Walt Disney Company, announced that this film would be among the first batch of existing Fox films to be remade for its Disney+ streaming service. Fans of the film joked that it would only be a short film, since Kevin would only need to make a call using a mobile phone. The film Home Sweet Home Alone (2021) premiered in 2021 and was a standalone sequel in which Devin Ratray reprised the role of Buzz McCallister. It received extremely negative reviews, which also suffered from the excessive use of CGI and highlighted uncreative, sanitized versions of the booby traps. Viewers also criticized the absence of the cartoonishly wild violence of the first two films, which, as many doctors have said, would in reality be life-threatening or potentially fatal. In fact, a fan theory suggests that the character Kevin grows up to become the Jigsaw character in the violent Saw film series.
- #201
Dennis Hopper was briefly considered for the role of Harry Lyme, but director Chris Columbus decided to overlook him because his villain role in Blue Velvet (1986) was one Columbus found too surreal and frightening for a children's film. Columbus chose Joe Pesci instead, despite Pesci being known for being very profane, because he had some experience with comedy through Easy Money (1983) and Lethal Weapon 2 (1989).
- #219
Dudley Moore and Phil Collins were considered for the role of Harry.
- #231
Joe Pesci was not the first choice for the role of Harry. Many actors were considered for the part, including Robert De Niro, Jon Lovitz, Christopher Lloyd, Bob Hoskins, Dudley Moore, Phil Collins, Danny DeVito, Kevin Pollak, Rowan Atkinson, Michael Biehn, James Caan, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones, Ray Romano, Jack Nicholson, John Stamos, Brad Garrett, Gene Hackman and Kurt Russell.
- #233
Sigourney Weaver, Diane Keaton, Holly Hunter, Jodie Foster, Glenn Close, Geena Davis, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stockard Channing, Carrie Fisher, Madonna, Daryl Hannah, Kelly McGillis, Lea Thompson, Linda Hamilton, Helen Hunt, Laura Dern, Jane Seymour, Anjelica Huston, Sharon Stone, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange, Marilu Henner, Debra Winger, Jennifer Gray, Annie Potts, Kelly Preston, Maureen McCormick, Bette Midler, Meg Ryan, Lynda Carter, Kim Cattrall, Gates McFadden, Ally Sheedy and Mary Steenburgen were also considered for the role of Kate McCallister.
- #234
Gilbert Gottfried and Kevin Pollak were considered for the role of Harry Lyme.
- #235
Tim Allen, Michael Keaton, Bryan Cranston, Ted Danson, Richard Gere, John Lithgow and Christopher Reeve were considered for the role of Peter McCallister.
- #245
Tim Curry, Joe Pantoliano and Zack Norman were considered to play Harry Lyme. Curry took on the role of the Hotel Concierge in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).
- #246
Warren Beatty was considered for the role of Peter McCallister.
- #248
At one point, Deidre Hall was considered for the role of Kate McCallister.
- #254
Robin Williams, one of the actors considered for the role of Peter McCallister, starred in Chris Columbus's Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Nine Months (1995) and Bicentennial Man (1999).
- #256
James Rebhorn was considered for the role of Uncle Frank.
- #260
James Stewart and Vincent Gardenia were considered to play Old Man Marley. According to the Academy Museum, which acquired the film's casting archives, "[Stewart's] agent was interested and he was available, but they ended up going with Roberts Blossom." This would have been among the last films for both men before Gardenia's death in 1992 and Stewart's death in 1997.
- #268
Daniel von Bargen was considered for the role of Uncle Frank.
- #277
Fred Willard was considered for the role of Peter McCallister.
- #278
Lance Kinsey was considered for the role of Peter McCallister.
- #288
Michael Ironside was considered for the role of Uncle Frank.
- #291
This is the second film in which Joe Pesci plays a plumber. In the 1983 classic "Easy Money," in which he starred alongside Rodney Dangerfield, Pesci plays Nicky Cerone. He owned "Nicky's Royal Flush Plumbing." He had the line "Who am I? I'm the guy who put the bathrooms in this joint!"
- #311
The station wagon seen in the McCallister garage after everyone but Kevin has left for the airport is a Buick model, the Buick version of the same-era Oldsmobile station wagon that would appear in the Nickelodeon TV series The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Because Kevin's father is named Peter, a name sometimes shortened to Pete, Pete is also the name of a character in the Nickelodeon series played by Mike Maronna, whose father drives him around in an Olds wagon. In Home Alone, the character Jeff, also played by Maronna, was to be Peter McCallister's son and Kevin's brother. In summary, a man named Peter was to be the father of a character who plays Pete in a series featuring a similar model of car.
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