Home Alone shot through a child’s eyes
Home Alone has become as much a part of Christmas as It’s a Wonderful Life.
The 1990 feature made Macaulay Culkin a household name and was No. 1 at the box office for an incredible 12 straight weeks. It topped $285 million in domestic box office back when a movie ticket went for half what it costs today.
Nearly a quarter-century later, everyone is familiar with the premise of the film: eight-year-old Kevin McCallister (Culkin) is accidentally left alone over Christmas when his parents (Catherine O’Hara and John Heard) and siblings sleep in and then race to the airport for a trip to Paris. Two dim-witted burglars (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) try to break into his house, but the lad outsmarts them with various booby traps and hilarity ensues.
The film almost didn’t get made. Warner Bros pulled out at the last minute and 20th Century Fox stepped in, boosting the modest budget by a few million dollars. Executive producer John Hughes was said to have penned the script in two weeks after being charmed by Culkin while directing Uncle Buck.
“He loved this boy and he just cranked out the script,” says Julio Macat, ASC, the cinematographer on Home Alone. Macat went on to shoot five Hughes productions and is currently shooting Daddy’s Home with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in New Orleans.
“I’ve done 36 films,” says Macat, “and this is still by far my favourite.”
Home Alone was Macat’s first film as a cinematographer. He was teamed with a young director then just making a name for himself, Chris Columbus, who went on to shoot Only the Lonely with Macat as well as helm the first two Harry Potter films.
Columbus had seen some Christmas commercials Macat had shot for McDonald’s as well as some second unit work. “We hit it off and I knew this was my chance,” says Macat. “One of my motivators was fear — I thought every day they were going to figure out I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Instead, Macat contributed significantly to the look of the film. He says he and Columbus drew inspiration from A Christmas Story, a holiday favourite made by Canadian director Bob Clark. “It was the story of a little kid. Everything was centred around him and he wanted his rifle and stuff — that was kind of the flavour.”
To that end, Macat suggested pitching his camera lower than usual, shooting many scenes at wide angles to see this world from Culkin’s perspective.
“We really got into the mind of a young kid.”