Chris Columbus on Nosferatu, Chevy Chase Fight That Led to Home Alone

Chris Columbusthe guest in this episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Prices Chat podcast, was behind some of the most beloved and successful family films of all time. He wrote, among other things, the 1984s Gremlins and the 1985s The Gooniesand he directed the 1990s Alone at home and the 1992s Home Alone 2: Lost in New York — both Christmas classics — as well as the 1993s Mrs. Doubtfire and the 2001s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the 2002s Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Which makes it all the more surprising and interesting that now, at the age of 66, he has produced — with Eleanor Columbushis daughter and partner in Maiden Voyage Productions, an incubator for young filmmakers — Robert Eggers‘ scary new horror movie Nosferatulike stars Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgårdand which Focus publishes on Christmas Day.

During a conversation at the LA offices The Hollywood ReporterColumbus reflected on how a child from an Ohio family ended up working in his mid-twenties for Steven Spielberg. He revealed how a disastrous meeting with Chevy Chase made him quit as director of National Lampoons’ Christmas Vacation – and for a film that is now considered an even greater Christmas classic, Alone at home. He discussed how his stock had plummeted a decade after the film became the highest-grossing comedy film of all time, and he had to convince Warner Bros. JK Rowling to hire him to manage Harry Potter film, of which the three main roles he then cast. And he explained why, after the first two Potters films, he began to focus more on producing and ultimately championing young up-and-coming filmmakers like Eggers, whose previous film, 2015’s The witch and 2019 The lighthousehe served as executive producer.

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