Filmmaker Chris Columbus allegedly walked away from one of the biggest Christmas movies of all time because of Chevy Chase.
Columbus, who went on to direct 1990’s “Home Alone,” revealed Chase’s behavior before filming began turned him off from working on the 1989 holiday classic, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
“I was signed on… and then I met Chevy Chase. Even given my situation at the time, where I desperately needed to make a film, I realized I couldn’t work with the guy,” the director told Vanity Fair.
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Chevy Chase starred as Clark Griswold in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” (Warner Bros.)
Columbus recalled his first meeting with Chase and the “bizarre” thing the actor said to him.
“It was just the two of us,” Columbus explained. “He had to know I was directing the movie. I talked about how I saw the movie, how I wanted to make the movie. He didn’t say anything. I went through about a half hour of talking. He didn’t say a word. And then he stops and he says — and this makes no sense to any human being on the planet, but I’m telling you. I probably have never told this story.
“Forty minutes into the meeting, he says, ‘Wait a second. You’re the director?’ And I said, ‘Yeah… I’m directing the film.’ And he said to me the most surreal, bizarre thing. I still haven’t been able to make any sense out of it. He said, ‘Oh, I thought you were a drummer.’ I said, ‘Uhh, okay. Let’s start talking about the film again.’ After about 30 seconds, he said, ‘I got to go.’”
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Directors Chris Columbus, left, and John Hughes worked together on 1990’s “Home Alone.” (Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
Chase later went to “Christmas Vacation” writer John Hughes and requested the trio meet, according to Columbus.
“Then we had a dinner where John Hughes was present, and I was basically nonexistent,” Columbus admitted. “It was Chevy and Hughes, and they talked about everything except ‘Christmas Vacation.’ We spent two hours together, and I left the dinner and I thought, ‘There’s no way I can make a movie with this guy. First of all, he’s not engaged. He’s treating me like s—. I don’t need this. I’d rather not work again. I’d rather write.’”
Chevy Chase stands at the head of the table in a scene from the 1989 film “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” (Warner Bros./Getty Images)
Columbus noted he didn’t know why Chase acted that way.
“I guess that sense of humor was funny in the early ’70s,” he told the outlet. “It’s so surreal…Who says anything like that to anybody? It makes no sense. So to tell that story almost makes no sense, but it actually happened. I thought, This was how we’re going to work together? I’m going to be on set and he’s not listening.”
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Columbus exited “Christmas Vacation,” but another opportunity with Hughes was just around the corner.
Macaulay Culkin as 10-year-old Kevin McCallister and Donald Trump as himself, owner of the Plaza Hotel, in “Home Alone 2.” (Getty Images)
“I quit ‘Christmas Vacation.’ The next weekend, I got another script from John — and it’s ‘Home Alone,’” he recalled. “‘Home Alone,’ for me, was even more personal, a better script. And I thought, I can really do something with this, and I don’t have to deal with Chevy Chase. That was it. John and I started to work together, and we had the same sensibility.”
Fox News Digital reached out to a representative for Chase.
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“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. (Warner Bros./Getty Images)
Chase and Beverly D’Angelo starred as Clark and Ellen Griswold in the classic family film series that began with an innocent, cross-country drive to Walley World theme park in “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
The 1983 film, directed by Harold Ramis and written by John Hughes, also starred Anthony Michael Hall, Dana Barron, Randy Quaid and John Candy. Christie Brinkley played the role of “The Girl in the Ferrari.”
The Griswolds headed abroad for the second movie, 1985’s “National Lampoon’s European Vacation,” and returned to Chicago for the ultimate holiday tradition, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
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Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this report.
