“He’s treating me like s—.
I don’t need this.
I’d rather not work again,” the filmmaker recalled thinking after meeting with the comedy star.
Chevy Chase in ‘National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation’.Credit:Everett
“I was signed on…and then I met Chevy Chase.
“My first meeting with him, I sat down with him.
It was just the two of us.
Director Chris Columbus.Sean Zanni/Getty
He had to know I was directing the movie.
I talked about how I saw the movie, how I wanted to make the movie.
He didnt say anything,” Columbus said.
Macaulay Culkin in ‘Home Alone’.Everett Collection
“Forty minutes into the meeting, he says, ‘Wait a second.
Youre the director?’
And I said, ‘Yeah…Im directing the film.’
And he said to me the most surreal, bizarre thing.
I still havent been able to make any sense out of it.
He said, ‘Oh, I thought you were a drummer.'”
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Vanity Fairlater noted that it’s been suggested Chase was jokingly referencing a jazz drummer also named Chris Columbus.
Either way, Columbus obviously wasn’t in on the joke.
“I guess that sense of humor was funny in the early 70s,” he proclaimed.
“Who says anything like that to anybody?
It makes no sense.”
“I was basically nonexistent.
It was Chevy and Hughes, and they talked about everything exceptChristmas Vacation,” he lamented.
First of all, hes not engaged.
Hes treating me like s—.
I dont need this.
Id rather not work again.
Id rather write.”
Luckily, Hughes had another festive script to send Columbus’ way:Home Alone.
Representatives for Chase did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
I am who I am.
And I like… who I am.
I don’t care.
And it’s part of me that I don’t care.
And I’ve thought about that a lot.
And I don’t know what to tell you, man.
I just don’t care."
Both films have endured as Christmas classics.
