23 Publicity Photos of Macaulay Culkin in “Home Alone” (1990)

Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the Home Alone franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O’Hara.

In Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister, an eight-year-old boy who is accidentally left behind when his family goes on vacation for Christmas. The film is a classic holiday comedy where Kevin must defend his home from two bumbling burglars, Harry (played by Joe Pesci) and Marv (played by Daniel Stern). Kevin’s clever use of household items to set up traps and his witty resourcefulness make for a fun and memorable movie. Culkin’s performance as Kevin became iconic, solidifying his status as a major child star in the early 1990s. The movie was a huge success and is still widely enjoyed as a holiday favorite today.

Hughes suggested to Columbus that they cast Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, because of his experience while shooting Uncle Buck (1989). Columbus met with 200 other actors for the part, as he felt it was his “directorial responsibility.” John Mulaney was asked to audition for the role of Kevin after being scouted in a children’s sketch comedy group, but his parents refused the opportunity. Columbus finally met with Culkin and agreed he was the right choice.

Cinematographer Julio Macat recalled that Pesci was more difficult to work with than Culkin. The older actor believed some of the dialogue was not of a quality commensurate with his acting ability. He also resented the early unit calls, since they prevented him from starting his day with nine holes of golf as he preferred to do.

Pesci said in a 2022 interview with People of working with Culkin, “I intentionally limited my interactions with him to preserve the dynamic” and made sure not “to come across on the screen that we were in any way friendly” in order to “maintain the integrity of the adversarial relationship.”

Principal photography took place from February 14, 1990, to May 8, 1990, over a course of 83 days on an $18.3 million budget. The house exterior scenes were filmed on location at a three-story single-family house located at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the North Shore village of Winnetka, Illinois, where many of Hughes’ previous films had also been shot, but at different houses. The only interiors of the house used for filming that made it to the finished film were the main staircase, basement, attic and most of the first floor landing, while all the other interiors of the house were duplicated on a sound stage to allow more room for equipment and crew. These sets were built in the then-disused gym of New Trier High School’s west campus, previously used by Hughes for Uncle Buck and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where the production company had already set up its offices. 671 Lincoln Avenue later became a tourist attraction. The tree house in the back yard was built specifically for the film and dismantled after filming ended.

While the film’s reception was initially mixed, in later years reception has been generally positive, with praise for its cast, humor, and music. Home Alone grossed $476.7 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing live-action comedy until the release of The Hangover Part II (2011), and made Culkin a child star. In 2023, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”