The surprising actors who almost landed the role in the Christmas classic HOME ALONE

At home alone is one of those classic Christmas movies that is watched all over the world during the holidays. It’s full of great jokes, music, and perfect casting that culminate in the magic of the movie. But just like all films, it could have looked very different if some casting choices had gone differently.

The 1990 family film dominated the box office for 12 weeks straight and held the title of highest-grossing live-action comedy for 27 years. He had some pretty powerful star power with the actor Joe Pesci he signed on to play the thief Harry, but apparently, the role was initially offered to him Those good guys co-star Robert De Niro.

Director Chris Colombo he knew it would be a gamble to get one of the serious actors in the role, and revealed in 2020: “It had been talked about a little bit internally, but when Pesci said yes, I was stunned.”

Between De Niro and Pesci, the director had difficulty deciding who should play the role of Harry. After De Niro’s passing, production approached the comedian Jon Lovitzwho made a decision he would later regret. “I didn’t want to take a backseat to some kid,” Lovitz admitted in an interview with Huff Post. “Then it became the greatest comedy of all time. Oops.”

One of the most surprising and fun near-casting choices concerns the future SNL writer and comedy legend, John Mulaney. Before Macaulay Culkin Secured his iconic role as Kevin McCallister, Mulaney, who was two years Culkin’s junior, almost had his chance at stardom.

Mulaney was performing in a children’s sketch comedy troupe when a talent scout noticed him and asked for an audition. However, his parents put a stop to his potential Hollywood breakthrough, refusing to let him “audition for a movie”.

After all these years, Mulaney isn’t bitter about losing the role. He said Rowing in 2015 than the original At home alone it is “an almost perfect film” and that he didn’t “think anyone could do it as well as Macaulay”. The comedian even incorporated the missed opportunity into his stand-up material, which you can see in his Netflix special The comeback boy.

Other interesting castings “almost” include Frasier star Kelsey Grammerwho was Uncle Frank’s first choice, and Saturday evening live legend Chris Farleywho auditioned for the role of Santa Claus, but was not selected. Both would have been good choices, but they wouldn’t have changed the film too much.

All in all, those who would have been missed still went on to have great careers and the film became a holiday staple for many. It’s just fun to know what could have happened.

via: CB