John Hughes conceived Home Alone from a clear premise: a young boy is accidentally left home alone at Christmas and must defend his house against two burglars. Chris Columbus directed on location in suburban Chicago and converted a local high school into the booby-trapped house interior. Macaulay Culkin starred as Kevin McCallister, with Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, and Catherine O'Hara in key supporting roles. Bruce Broughton was hired to write the score but left due to a scheduling conflict. John Williams volunteered to score after seeing a rough cut, bringing star talent to a small production.
Hughes tapped Chris Columbus to direct the film on location in the suburbs of Chicago - a local high school was converted into the central, booby-trapped house interior - and he also suggested Macaulay Culkin, an adorable bundle of sassy wit and sweetness, to play the pint-sized hero, Kevin McCallister. Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern were cast as the bumbling but dogged bandits, Harry and Marv, and Catherine O'Hara brought humor and compassion to the part of Kevin's mother.
Stranded without a composer in post-production, Columbus was already immediately moving on to his next film, Only the Lonely with John Candy, when he learned that John Williams was interested in seeing a rough cut of Home Alone. John screened the film, and sent word to Columbus that he wanted to score it. "We were just completely overwhelmed," Columbus said. Here was a small, $18 million movie that he and his producers were simply hoping would double its budget.
Collection
[
|
...
]