Over the weekend, esteemed director David Fincher got in trouble for a pissy interview, in which he managed to diss both Orson Welles and Todd Phillips’ Joker. Now it’s time for another filmmaker to run his mouth, not caring whose toes he steps on: the director of Home Alone and Bicentennial Man. Chris Columbus has been yapping to journalists about his disdain for the former’s multiple reboots. He already talked smack about the pot parody version from Ryan Reynolds. Now he’s coming for the more family friendly one heading for Disney+.
“Nobody got in touch with me about it, and it’s a waste of time as far as I’m concerned,” Columbus told Insider. The Disney+ version, whose production went on pause during the outbreak of the pandemic, will star Jojo Rabbit’s Archie Yates as the latest latchkey kid who has to fend off robbers and the like when left home by his seriously crappy parents. But Columbus ain’t having it.
“What’s the point? I’m a firm believer that you don’t remake films that have had the longevity of Home Alone. You’re not going to create lightning in a bottle again. It’s just not going to happen. So why do it? It’s like doing a paint-by-numbers version of a Disney animated film — a live-action version of that. What’s the point? It’s been done. Do your own thing. Even if you fail miserably, at least you have come up with something original.”
Speaking of, Columbus is doing press because he directed the sequel to Netflix’s perhaps unexpected hit, 2018’s The Christmas Chronicles, starring Kurt Russell as an unusually dashing Kris Kringle. He did not direct the first. In addition to directing the first two Home Alones, he’s also helmed a lot of family fare: Mrs. Doubtfire, the first two Harry Potters, as well as stuff like the Rent movie. He also wrote Gremlins, so he can say whatever he wants forever.