Director of Alone in the house says he almost directed another iconic holiday movie — National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation — but eventually left after falling out with the film’s star, actor Chevy Chase.
Speaking with Vanity Fairdirector Chris Columbus said he has already signed on to direct Christmas Restwhich was released in 1989 and began filming when he first met Chase.
“I was signed… and then I met Chevy Chase. Even considering my situation at the time, where I desperately needed to make a movie, I realized I couldn’t work with that guy,” Columbus told the news outlet. “I was one of the many who couldn’t work with him.”
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Chris Columbus.
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Columbus added that his first one-on-one meeting with the actor led to a bizarre interaction.
“He had to know that I was directing the film. I talked about how I saw the film, how I wanted to make the film. He didn’t say anything. I talked for about half an hour. He didn’t say a word,” Columbus said. “And then he paused and said—and this makes no sense to any human being on the planet, but I’m telling you. I probably never told this story. Forty minutes into the meeting, he says, ‘Wait a minute. You are the director?’ And I said, ‘Yeah… I’m directing the movie.’ And he told me the most surreal, bizarre thing. I still haven’t been able to make any sense of it. He said, ‘Oh, I thought you were a drummer.’ I said, ‘Uhh, okay. Let’s start talking about the movie again.’ After about 30 seconds, he said, ‘I have to go.’ ”
The two later met again, this time with the film’s producer, John Hughes, though Columbus said he “basically doesn’t exist,” as the two exchanged stories.
“We spent two hours together, and I left dinner thinking, ‘There’s no way I’m going to make a movie with this guy,'” Columbus said. Vanity Fair. “First of all, he is not engaged. He treats me like a f—. I don’t need this. I’d rather not work anymore. I’d rather write… Who tells anyone that? It doesn’t make sense. So telling that story almost makes no sense, but it really happened. I thought, this is how we’re going to work together? I’ll be on the set and he won’t listen to me.”
So Columbus called Hughes and said he was leaving the film.
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“I called John and said, ‘This is really hard for me, but I can’t do this movie with Chevy Chase.’ ”
The move turned out to be a fortuitous one, eventually leading Columbus to take on another holiday film project: Alone in the house.
“I gave up Christmas Rest. The next weekend I got another script from John – and that’s it Alone in the house. Alone in the houseit was an even more personal, better script for me,” Columbus said. “And I thought, I can really do something with this, and I don’t have to deal with Chevy Chase.”
Chase previously dismissed reports that he was difficult to work with, saying in a 2022 interview: “I am who I am. And I like… who I am. I don’t care. And it’s part of me that I don’t care. And I’ve thought about it a lot… I just don’t care.”
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Source: HIS Education