Catherine O'Hara Disagrees with “Home Alone ”Director About What the McCallisters Did to Afford That House

Late last year, Home Alone director Chris Columbus weighed in on a question that had perplexed viewers of the iconic 1990 film for decades: just what did the McCallisters do for work in order to afford that house? But actress Catherine O'Hara, who played matriarch Kate McCallister, disagrees with the director about her character's occupation.

The famous Winnetka, Ill., mansion featured in the film Home Alone (which sold just before Christmas for $5.5 million) has been the subject of speculation since the movie debuted. Viewers have long wondered how Kevin's parents afforded the house and a massive family trip to Paris around the holidays, with no explanation of what they did for work.

Speaking on Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast on Dec. 24, Columbus said of O'Hara's character, "I do remember we thought she was an extremely successful fashion designer, which was probably one of the reasons they ended up in Paris."

"Because we used fashion mannequins in the basement, I do remember having a conversation," Columbus, 66, added.

Related: Home Alone Director Reveals How the McCallister Family Afforded That Amazing House

But O'Hara, 70, says she viewed the mannequins in the basement as more of an indicator that her character was trying her hand at a hobby, and not an actual profession.

"I hate to disagree with anything Chris Columbus says, but I do with that," the actress says in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, "because I look at those mannequins as she's successful at something, but she also has all these kids and wants to be a great homemaker ... At one point, she thought, 'I’m gonna make all their clothes,' and that lasted about a week."

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Speaking to PEOPLE in 2024, O'Hara said of the Home Alone house: “I thought the house was pretty amazing. Oh Lord, yeah.”

At the time, however, the actress said she she hadn't given much thought to the McAllisters' income. “I was aware of how beautiful it was, but no, I never thought of their money. That's not where my head was when I was doing [the movie]. Of course, they all went to Paris, didn't they?” she said.

Related: Home Alone's Catherine O'Hara Thinks the McCallisters Inherited Their Wealth — or Had Their Own Church (Exclusive)

“I guess Peter had his own religion,” she joked of her on-screen husband, played by the late John Heard. “Church of the McCallisters.”

Late last year, the film's star himself, Macaulay Culkin, admitted that he's eyed the house in the past.

"I had half a mind to buy it — just for giggles," the actor admitted in December while speaking at a screening of the movie at the Rosemont Theater outside Chicago, the New York Times reported.

But Culkin never planned to move into the property himself — instead musing that he would turn it into a “movie fun house” where people could reenact scenes like those in the film.

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