“Kevin alone in New York” is one of the Christmas classics. Image: German Film Institute DIF
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Why “Kevin alone in New York” almost failed because of Trump
Every year … “Kevin Home Alone” and “Kevin Alone in New York” come on TV. And “Die Hard” has also become a real Christmas classic. The films can be seen again in 2020. But even if you’ve looked at the strips countless times, you may not have noticed some details. We have compiled some interesting fun facts and observations about the popular Christmas films.
“Kevin Home Alone” and “Kevin Alone In New York”
Macauly Culkin in “Kevin Home Alone”. Bild: imago images / imago stock&people
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- In “Kevin Home Alone” Kevin (Macauly Culkin) is initially afraid of “Old Man Marley”, who in the end turns out to be a friendly, helpful, old man. However, if you look closely at the film, one thing becomes apparent: “Old Man Marley” only has a bleeding wound on his hand when he later meets Kevin in the church, there is only a plaster stuck there. And in the end, when his son visits him, the wound has suddenly healed completely. That was quick.
- This fact has surely not escaped you: Donald Trump has a guest appearance in “Kevin Alone in New York”. But did you also know that his appearance was a condition for filming? Because the legendary “Plaza Hotel” shown in the film belonged to the current US president who insisted on a cameo. Without his appearance, the makers would have had to look for another location.
- Another funny observation from the second “Kevin” part: crook Harry, who grabbed the red-hot doorknob in “Kevin Home Alone”, still has his “M” scar on his hand.
“Die Hard”
Bruce Willis plays the cop John McClane in Die Hard. Bild: imago images / United Archives / kpa Publicity
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- “Yippie Yah Yei, pig cheek!” is probably the quote that film fans immediately think of when they think of “Die hard”. Bruce Willis coined this statement in his role as police officer John McClane. But Bruce Willis almost didn’t play the main role at all. This was originally offered to Frank Sinatra, although he was 73 years old at the time. But also Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro, Charles Bronson, Nick Nolte, Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Don Johnson, Burt Reynolds and Richard Dean Anderson were up for debate.
- Actor Alan Rickman, who plays the villain Hans Gruber, falls to his death in the film. The special and especially nasty thing about the scene: The actor was released at “2” and not at “3”, as discussed earlier. The reason: Director John McTiernan Rickman wanted to cause a real shock – with success. Rickman was not very enthusiastic about this attempt at surprise. It’s good that the makers had made sure beforehand that it should be the last regular scene with him in front of the camera.
“Actually Love”
Hugh Grant was part of the Love Actually cast. Bild: Universal Pictures
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- A classic that shouldn’t be missing at Christmas time – and which also contains exciting details: “Really love”. Did you know that the airport scenes were really authentic? Real, undisguised encounters were filmed.
- Another funny fun fact: Actor Bill Nighy didn’t know that he was at the casting. He thought he was just helping with “reading the script aloud”. But then he was cast as rocker Billy Mack.
- Originally, 14 storylines were planned. But it did not get to that. In the end, some were cut out, like a same-sex love story and a love story with an African couple.
Christmas classics in the stream
If you feel like watching the films now, you can also stream them online regardless of the TV broadcast:
- Kevin Home Alone is available from Disney + and Amazon Prime
- “Die Hard” is available on Amazon Prime, Netflix and TVNow
- “Love Actually” is available from Amazon, Joyn, Netflix, TVNow and Sky
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