Home Alone 2 Director Says Trump’s Cameo Is a ‘Curse’ and ‘Albatross’ – ryan

• Home Alone 2 director Chris Columbus explained in a new interview that he considered President Donald Trump’s cameo in the 1992 film a “curse” and “albatross”
• In 2023, Trump claimed that Columbus begged him to be part of the movie. Columbus said he would never want a “non-actor” to be in the film
• Columbus said that he wishes he could edit the cameo out now

Home Alone 2 director Chris Columbus is opening up about the film cameo he regrets — an appearance by President Donald Trump in the 1992 film.

Columbus, 66, who also helmed the first Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire and the first two Harry Potter films, among others, spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle in an interview published April 14 about the cameo. He called it “an albatross for me” and said he “wishes it was gone.”

In the movie, Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister gets lost in New York City. When he ends up at The Plaza Hotel, Trump, who owned the hotel at the time and was a larger-than-life figure in New York City real estate, appears in a small part.

Columbus told Business Insider in 2020 that Trump “did bully” his way into the movie, and only agreed to let the crew film there if they let him appear in the movie.

Trump, now 78, disputed that in a 2023 post on his Truth Social platform.

“I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it,” Trump wrote, per the Chronicle. “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!”

Columbus didn’t respond to Trump’s post at the time, but told the Chronicle he originally intended to cut the cameo, then changed his mind after a test screening. “We screened the film in Chicago, and when that moment came onscreen the audience went crazy,” Columbus said. “They cheered and they cheered and they thought it was hilarious. I think I know a lot about comedy, but I don’t, obviously, because I never thought that was going to be considered hilarious.”

“Years later, it’s become this curse. It’s become this thing that I wish it was not there,” he said. “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.”

“But it’s there. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone,” he said.

He also said that he “can’t cut it” now. “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,” he said, referencing the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans and his Italian heritage.

Other movies Trump made cameos in before his political career included Little Rascals, The Associate and Zoolander.

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In 2019, Trump tweeted, “The movie will never be the same! (just kidding),” after he learned his cameo was cut from Canadian broadcasts of Home Alone 2. But the cut was made in 2014 for time, before he became a politician.

In 2021, Culkin, 44, supported calls to cut Trump out of the Christmas classic. A fan tweeted, “Petition to digitally replace trump in ‘home alone 2’ with 40-year-old macaulay culkin.” Culkin responded, “Sold.”