Filmmaker Chris Columbus (yes, that’s his name) has written, directed, and produced some of the best family entertainment of the last 40 years: Gremlins, The Goonies, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the first two Harry Potter films, to name a few. And of course there’s the 1990 hit Home Alone, which made over $475 million at the box office against its $18 million budget (hear that, Kevin Costner?!). So naturally, the studio wanted Columbus back for Home Alone 2, which saw Macaulay Culkin’s scrappy Kevin McCallister stranded for Christmas once again, this time in New York. The production wanted to film at classic NYC locale the Plaza Hotel, only its ownership was in baby-fisted hands at the time. So the whole reason we got a Trump cameo is because Trump made it a demand for filming on the property. Now, Columbus says he fears what Trump would do if the cameo were cut:
Not so crazy fears of retaliation: “I can’t cut it,” the San Francisco resident told the Chronicle in a recent interview. “If I cut it, I’ll probably be sent out of the country. I’ll be considered sort of not fit to live in the United States, so I’ll have to go back to Italy or something.” … In the seven-second cameo in the 1992 box office hit, the future president gives star Macaulay Culkin directions in New York’s famed Plaza Hotel, which Trump, then known only as a flamboyant Manhattan real-estate tycoon, owned at the time.
Trump demanded the cameo for use of the Plaza: Before beginning work on the San Francisco-shot “Mrs. Doubtfire,” Columbus was tapped to direct the “Home Alone” sequel, which has Kevin parentless in the Big Apple. Columbus said Trump only agreed to let the production film at the Plaza if he could get some screen time. “We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie.’ So we agreed to put him in the movie,” Columbus told Business Insider in 2020 in an article commemorating the film’s 30th anniversary.
Hollywood reject has bigly tantrum in 2023: “I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it,” Trump wrote. “They were very nice, but above all, persistent. I agreed, and the rest is history! That little cameo took off like a rocket, and the movie was a big success, and still is, especially around Christmas time. People call me whenever it is aired. Now, however, 30 years later, Columbus (what was his real name?) put out a statement that I bullied myself into the movie. Nothing could be further from the truth. That cameo helped make the movie a success … Just another Hollywood guy from the past looking for a quick fix of Trump publicity for himself!”
A Trump albatross around the neck: Columbus didn’t immediately respond to Trump’s post at the time, but now tells the Chronicle he had intended to cut the cameo, and wishes he had. … “Years later, it’s become this curse. It’s become this thing that I wish it was not there. What’s going through this guy’s mind? He said I was lying. I’m not lying. He said I begged him to be in the movie, but there’s no world I would ever beg a non-actor to be in a movie. But we were desperate to get the Plaza Hotel.” Columbus paused for a moment before continuing. “But it’s there. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone.”
Quelle surprise, Trump’s tactics haven’t changed in (at least) 30 years: bullying and leveraging assets like a mob boss to get what he wants. As an NYC resident myself, I find it infuriating that there was ever a time that the Plaza was under his domain. It’s madness — if anyone has the authority to grant access to that storied hotel, it should be Eloise, duh! (Although she is notoriously elusive; every time I drop in to say hi the front desk staff informs me I’ve just missed her, and then shows me the mary janes she left behind. But I digress…) I guess what’s truly unsettling at this juncture of America is that Columbus’s comments on being thrown out of the country can’t completely be written off as a joke. We know Trump is that vindictive. Personally, I think the moment to snip Trump has passed. If not before the movie was released in 1992, then I’d say 2016 was the latest where it would have an impact. Also, I loudly guffawed at the part of the rant where Trump asked what Columbus’s real name was. I don’t know, maybe something like Drumpf?
Photo note by CB: Chris Columbus is shown with his daughter Eleanor at the Nosferatu premiere in London on December 4, 2024. Credit: IMAGO/Steve Vas/Avalon. Other photos credit: MAGO/Raimund_Mueller_muellerraimund1@/Avalon and via YouTube/Home Alone 2