It’s been over 30 years since the release of Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, and a lot has changed. The holiday classic, which is among the best movies streaming on Disney+, follows Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister as he’s once again left out of a family trip, this time in New York City. Kevin uses his father’s credit card to live a temporary life of luxury at the Plaza Hotel, where he runs into Donald Trump for the now-memorable scene filmed 15 years ahead of Trump’s ascension to the presidency. How that cameo came about has been a point of mild contention.
Years after Donald Trump first laid claim that he was begged to make a cameo in the film, and that it wasn’t his idea, the film’s director Chris Columbus spoke out about what actually went down in a recent interview with Vanity Fair. Columbus opened up about making a number of beloved Christmas movies over the years, and was asked about the billionaire’s unforgettable cameo in the Home Alone sequel, and whether the incumbent president had asked to be in the movie at the time.
Columbus confirmed that was not the case, but that it was in fact a stipulation for the production to film in the iconic Plaza Hotel, which Trump owned at the time. Columbus explained:
The only way we could film at the Plaza Hotel was if Trump showed up. . . So we gave him the cameo. I told my team, “Let’s cut this. ” We can cut it. »We ended up watching the movie in preview. In reality, Trump was just a Manhattan real estate celebrity. And it appears on the screen and everyone claps and applauds. So we keep it. And it stayed forever.
At the time, Trump enjoyed broader support as a cultural figure and through his real estate contributions to New York City, and no one had an explanation for why he should ask for his removal from the sequel to Home Alone as they did other years later. The tycoon’s ownership allowed which film productions could use it as a set. Replicating the Plaza in any other way would have been a major challenge for the film crew, as the hotel is one of the most iconic in New York and has a unique look. Choosing to shoot elsewhere would have completely replaced the character of the film, so pleasing Trump was the film’s ultimate productive interest.
Columbus noted that over the years, Trump had denied requesting a cameo in Home Alone 2, but the director claimed that was the case. When the 45th president publicly stated that the production had begged him to appear in the film, the filmmaker remained silent so as not to further aggravate the conflict. He said:
Trump said it was a lie, that he never asked to appear, that we begged him to be in the movie. Array Array Array I was about to answer, and my wife said, “You know what?Stay out of it. It’s like I’m not going to fight for Home Alone. There are much more important battles to be fought.
No matter who you decide to believe in this situation, the cameo remained in the film, cemented in the history of cinema. Trump has proudly made that impression in cameos in several other films, including Two Weeks Notice, Little Rascals and Zoolander. Trump’s regular appearances and media appearances made him a cultural figure far beyond what most New York real estate moguls were. Watching the films in hindsight makes their presence seem even greater, and it’s highly unlikely that such cameos won’t become genuine every time a replay occurs.
You can revisit Donald Trump’s cameo Home Alone 2 by streaming the movie now with a Disney subscription.
Writer, podcaster, CinemaBlend contributor, film and television enthusiast, enthusiastic person. Hoping to bring a storytelling hobby to CinemaBlend.
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