Catherine O'Hara reveals "Home Alone" scene's lasting impact
Catherine O'Hara has many remarkable roles to her credit, but she will be mainly remembered as the character from "Beetlejuice" and Kevin's mom from the classic holiday hit. The actress recently talked about the scene that impacted her the most during the filming of "Home Alone."
"Home Alone" hit theatres at the end of 1990. This modest comedy, with a budget of only $18 (CAD 26) million, became the biggest hit of the season, surpassing films such as "Dances with Wolves," "Pretty Woman," and "Total Recall." In the United States alone, it grossed $285 (CAD 410) million. However, even then, after such enormous success, no one suspected that Chris Columbus's film would become so significant in the lives of many generations of viewers worldwide.
One of the stars of "Home Alone" is Catherine O'Hara, who, in one of her recent interviews, talked about a scene that, due to its particular kind of cruelty, stayed with her the most.
The scene is from the beginning of the film. Kevin caused trouble, and his mom sends him to the attic (beautifully finished, with a big bed) to spend the last night there as punishment before the trip. At that moment, the boy utters the famous line: "I don’t want to see you again for the rest of my life, and I don’t want to see anybody else, either."
"I hope you don’t mean that – you’d feel pretty sad if you woke up tomorrow morning and you didn’t have a family," replied Mrs. McCallister at that moment. "No, I wouldn’t," Kevin retorted. "Then say it again - maybe it’ll happen," his mom warned him.
"I can’t tell you how much that killed me – I could not wrap my head around saying something so horrific to this beautiful child. Of course I was not yet a mother at the time and I had no idea the kind of things would come out of my own mouth with my own two sons," Catherine O'Hara joked at the end.
