The McCallisters may have been les incompetents parents, but “Home Alone” director Chris Columbus is finally debunking a theory surrounding one of the most enduring Christmas movies.
Columbus, 66, shut down speculation that the fictional family had ties to the mob and revealed how Kevin’s (Macaulay Culkin) parents, played by Catherine O’Hara and the late John Heard, afforded that stunning Chicago-area home for themselves and their five sassy kids.
“The father could’ve, based on John Hughes’ own experience, worked in advertising. But I don’t remember what the father did,” said the “Harry Potter” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” filmmaker.
Fuzzy though he is on what the patriarch did for a living, Columbus said there was “no organized crime, even though there was, at the time, a lot of organized crime in Chicago.” Funnily enough, Heard did have fictional ties to the mob later in his career with a recurring role on “The Sopranos.”
As for O’Hara’s Kate, Columbus said he and screenwriter-producer Hughes, who died in 2009, decided “she was a very successful fashion designer.”
That, he said, explained the reason for the mannequins Kevin stumbles on in the basement.
“Home Alone” devotees know well that it’s not just the sprawling abode that nods to the family’s wealth.
The original 1990 hit, which centers on an inadvertently abandoned 8-year-old defending his home against clumsy burglars (played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern), features a 15-person trip to Paris at Christmastime.
Early on in the film, there are mentions of Peter’s brother, who has been transferred to Paris, funding the transcontinental airfare, including the adults’ first class tickets.
Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago estimated that Kate and Peter, whose house was also home to their five kids, would have had an income of $305,000 in 1990, or over $730,000 today, The New York Times reported in 2023.
The 9,000-square-foot home, which served as the house’s exterior, sits at 671 Lincoln Ave. in Winnetka, which Realtor.com dubbed Illinois’ wealthiest neighborhood in November 2023.
The five-bedroom, six-bathroom property was listed for sale in May of this year for $5.25 million. At the time of publication, the listing says “sale pending.”