These days, the McCallisters and the Wet Bandits are frequent holiday guests, with Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York established Christmas staples. But this cast of familiar faces almost looked quite different and nearly featured Robert De Niro, if director Chris Columbus had his way.
Released in 1990, the original Home Alone starred Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a child too clever by half who fights to protect his home from the Wet Bandits, Harry and Marv, ultimately played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern. With a budget of just $18 and box office earnings of $285 million, Home Alone became the most successful film of that year. But why wasn’t De Niro involved?
‘Home Alone’ director Chris Columbus wanted Robert De Niro as Harry
De Niro has not spoken personally about a potential gig in Home Alone. However, the plans were confirmed by Columbus during a 2020 interview with Insider. Columbus was then asked if he knew if, when approached, De Niro gave the job serious thought.
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“No, I don’t think so,” he admitted.
He went on, “It was talked about a little internally, but when Pesci said yes, I was stunned.” When Columbus went shopping for actors who could pull off the nefarious monster type, he evidently did not have to search far, for Pesci was coming from exactly the same place as Pesci, a fact that ended up still impacting Pesci’s presence on the set.
Pesci and De Niro were still good fellas, wise guys
Pesci may have ended up opposite Daniel Stern in Home Alone, but he had just wrapped up one of his – many – collaborations with his work buddy and partner De Niro. Pesci’s performance in 1990’s Goodfellas gave him an imposing aura on the set of Home Alone that he used to maximize the fear factor against his movie rival, Culkin’s Kevin.
His work on Goodfellas playing Tommy DeVito also earned Pesci an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Besides De Niro, alongside Pesci is usually Martin Scorsese, resulting in collaborations like Raging Bull (1980), Casino (1995), and The Irishman (2019).
But it’s Home Alone that ended up having a particularly remarkable staying power in people’s psyche. Columbus crossed paths with Scorsese not long after the director had wrapped up The Irishman, which was voted as the best film of 2019 and was nominated for ten categories at the 92nd Academy Awards.
Still, there’s no forgetting the Sticky Bandits.
“I ran into Marty Scorsese after he had done The Irishman,” shared Columbus, “and he told me, ‘We’re out in the streets shooting and all anyone wanted to talk to Joe about was Home Alone.’” He added, “Quite a compliment from the guy who directed Joe’s best work. I find it hilarious that people are still coming up to Joe Pesci and they want to talk about him in Home Alone.”
Which is your favorite of either actor’s career, and would have De Niro been a good addition to the Home Alone cast?