Home Alone director Chris Columbus has opened up about the backstory behind Kevin McCallister’s parents.
Five children and a 10-bedroom, six bathroom property in Illinois? The McCallisters may’ve not been living in a cost of living crisis during the 90s but we’ve always how could they afford such an abode – AND to go away to Paris at Christmas too?
The house
The McCallister’s home that you see in the hit festive film has reportedly got a whopping 10 bedrooms and six bathrooms.
The house measures 9,126 square feet and sits on just over half an acre, as per House Beautiful.
It really is no surprise that it’s worth a staggering $5.25 million – the property went under a huge renovation project back in 2018 seeing it installed with a private movie theatre and basketball court – Kevin would’ve had a field day if he’d been left alone with those.
Granted, it would’ve been a bit cheaper back in the 90s when the McCallisters were in residence, however, it still would have cost a pretty penny.
On a podcast episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter, Columbus revealed the back story behind the McCallisters.
The McCallisters’ backstory
Columbus explained he and writer, producer John Hughes had a chat about the backstory for the McCallisters and decided on ‘what the jobs were’ together.
If you’d noticed the mannequins in the basement of the house, that’s a clue as to what Kate McCallister (Catherine O’Hara) did for work.
As quoted by The Hollywood Reporter, Columbus confirmed: “[She] was a very successful fashion designer.”
And Peter McCallister? (John Heard) Well, that’s not quite as clear.
Rumours have been swirling online about Peter McCallister actually being part of a mob and that being the reason Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) end up targeting the house.
However, Columbus confirmed the dad very much wasn’t involved in any sort of ‘organised crime’.
“Even though there was, at the time, a lot of organised crime in Chicago,” he added.
One Twitter user wrote: “As amusing the mob accountant rumour is regarding Peter McCallister (Kevin’s father), I always assumed he was a marketing/advertising executive. The reason being #HomeAlone was written by John Hughes, whose previous films had “dads” w/ similar jobs..”
Columbus continued: “The father could have, based on John Hughes own experience, worked in advertising, but I don’t remember what the father did.”
