Fanspot
McCallister House
“When I grow up and get married, I’m living alone! Did you hear me? I’m living alone! I’m living alone!”
Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin)
With a budget of only $18 million and $476 million at the worldwide box office, Home Alone is one of the highest grossing feature films of all time. It is also one of the most watched films at Christmas.
The premise of Home Alone comes from the fertile imagination of John Hughes, the legendary director of teenage comedies like Breakfast Club. The idea was directly inspired by her own fears of forgetting one of her children when she goes on holiday. He insisted from the start that the action take place in Chicago, his home town. Director Chris Columbus and his team begin scouting the area for the perfect home. “So we needed to cast a house that would work for the stunts and also a house that was visually appealing and, if this makes sense, warm and menacing at the same time. It’s the kind of house if you were a kid it would be fun to be left home alone.” the director would later explain.
When the filmmaker finds the perfect site, he sends photos to John Hughes. The latter agrees. Immediately, the production team contacted the owners of the premises. John and Cynthia Abendshein have not lived in the house long and are delighted with the opportunity. The team literally moves in. Macaulay Culkin and his brother Keira spend a lot of time with Laura, the couple’s then six-year-old daughter. Several scenes are shot inside the house, such as all the ones taking place in the kitchen or in the attic. The staircase is also widely used. Concerning all the others, a little too small, the production prefers to invest the gymnasium of the old campus of the New Trier Township High School. In the Abendshein’s garden, Chris Columbus’ team built a tree house. Unfortunately, it will be destroyed at the end of the shooting, to the great displeasure of the children of the family. Fake steps are also installed as well as a fake door in the cellar.
Of course, such a barnum disrupts the life of the neighbourhood. During the filming, the school bus has to make a long detour, the electrical overload causes frequent blackouts and a neighbourhood dog even develops an allergy to fake snow. Nevertheless, everything is going well and the inhabitants are delighted. Fun fact: the famous McCallister house was also featured in the series Friends. In the episode where Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler (Matthew Perry) buy their house in the New York suburbs, the footage in the background is actually from the archives of Home Alone. In other words, the Geller-Bings ended up in Kevin McCallister’s home. Hopefully for them all the traps have been removed.
The shooting of the exterior scenes was to take only take only eight days. Finally, the film crew mobilized the neighborhood for almost a month.
671 Lincoln Ave
Built in 1921, this Gregorian-style house with 4200 sq ft of living space has seen its value increase due to its appearance in Home Alone.
This beautiful home offers 4200 sq ft of living space. With six bedrooms and four bathrooms, it was shaped to accommodate large families. Put up for sale in 2011, it cost $2.4 million at the time but was sold, after tough negotiations for $1.585 million. This estimate, one of the highest in the area, is directly due to the appearance of the house in Home Alone. The new owners have also equipped themselves with a solid fence, to keep at bay the most disrespectful fans.
The Fantrippers Buying Board
Kevin's plan of attack
Need to protect your home from the bad guys? Take a cue from Kevin McCallister with the framed replica of his famous battle plan inside his house in Mommy Missed the Plane.
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By Gilles Rolland
Passionné de cinéma, de rock and roll, de séries TV et de littérature. Rédacteur de presse et auteur des livres Le Heavy Metal au cinéma, Paroles de fans Guns N' Roses, Paroles de fans Rammstein et Welcome to my Jungle : 100 albums rock et autres anecdotes dépareillées. Adore également voyager à la recherche des lieux les plus emblématiques de la pop culture.