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Chris Columbus and the house from ‘Home Alone’
Chris Columbus is weighing in on the McCallisters’ professions — and how they could have possibly made enough money to buy that house.
The famous Winnetka, Ill., mansion in Home Alone has been the subject of speculation since the movie debuted in 1990. How did Kevin’s parents afford that house — and afford a massive family trip to Paris around the holidays? Columbus, the director behind the iconic Christmas movie, spoke onThe Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast on Dec. 24 about the decades-old question of Kevin’s parents’ careers.
The actual house — which sold just before Christmas — has five bedrooms and six bathrooms and hit the market at an asking price of $5.25 million. In the first film, in which the house is central to the plot and characters, one-half of the robber duo the Wet Bandits, Harry (Joe Pesci), says he originally started “working this street” for the chance to steal from the beautiful McCallister home.
The New York Times and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago have weighed in on the high-paying jobs the McCallister parents had to have to afford the place, said the podcast’s host Scott Feinberg.
“We thought the mother, at the time — because we used fashion mannequins in the basement, I do remember having a conversation — she was a very successful fashion designer,” Columbus, 66, confirmed of Catherine O’Hara’s character, Kate.
He continued, “I do remember we thought she was an extremely successful fashion designer, which was probably one of the reasons they ended up in Paris.”
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The ‘Home Alone’ house
Movie-goers have been more intrigued by the father’s profession, though. Feinberg noted that a common assumption is that the father (Peter, played by John Heard) was involved in organized crime, which could be why his house was such a target.
Columbus debunked that theory, though.
“The father could have — based on [writer] John Hughes’ own experience — worked in advertising,” Columbus said. “There’s no organized crime, even though there was, at the time, a lot of organized crime in Chicago.”
Related: 5 of the McCallister Kids From Home Alone Reunite For the First Time in 30 Years
Recently, the film’s star himself, Macaulay Culkin, admitted that he’s eyed the house in the past.
“I had half a mind to buy it — just for giggles,” the actor admitted earlier in December while speaking at a screening of the movie at the Rosemont Theater outside Chicago, according to the New York Times.
But he never planned to move into the property himself. Instead, he shared, he would turn it into something just as iconic as the 1990 film: a “movie fun house” where people could reenact scenes like the one where his character sleds down the stairs.
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The ‘Home Alone’ house
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Ultimately, his reason for foregoing the purchase was a reasonable one. “I got kids. I’m busy, man,” he said. Culkin shares two toddler sons with his fiancée Brenda Song.
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