Reality About ‘Home Alone’ You Probably Didn’t Know

Moviegoers frequently travel to the real-life settings of their favourite films, and some homes—like the McCallister residence in ‘Home Alone’—have become famous. Many people adore this holiday classic, which takes place in the opulent McCallister home. But the Winnetka, Illinois, home you can tour isn’t the whole picture. The movie’s interior shots were shot somewhere else, while the outside scenes were shot there. The production team replicated the interior of the house in a high school gymnasium because the genuine house was too small to fit the film crew and equipment. As a result, they were able to construct a precise duplicate of the McCallister residence, replete with enlarged areas for shooting.

This inventive solution was not exclusive to the McCallister residence. The same high school gym was used to film the house that appears in the basement scene as Kevin sets up his traps. The team was able to control a lot of water for the movie’s famous wet scenes because the basement was built in the shallow end of an empty swimming pool.

Image Courtesy: IMDb

Even though it is disappointing to discover that not all of the scenes in Home Alone were filmed in the actual house, the film’s enchanted moments are still present. Even though the interior was staged elsewhere, fans may still see the famous exterior sequences when they visit the actual McCallister mansion in Winnetka. Interestingly, the house from ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ is also misunderstood. 

Because of their similar looks, many people thought it was the same house as ‘Home Alone’, however, it is actually a different property in a different town. The touching recollections from these movies survive despite the delusions produced by cinematic magic.

–Farheen Ali