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John Candy was paid a surprising amount for his role in Home Alone
Featured Image Credit: 20th Century Fox

John Candy was paid a surprising amount for his role in Home Alone

John Candy was paid a surprisingly low amount for his role in the first Home Alone film.

Callum Jones

Callum Jones

Home Alone is one of the biggest Christmas film franchises of all time, with the four films making mega money for its makers.

While Home Alone 3 and 4 were arguably not the best, the first two films starring Macaulay Culkin are all-time classics.

The original Home Alone written by John Hughes and directed by Christopher Colombus raked in a whopping $476.7 million (£390 million).

But before it went on to break box office records, the film was made with a budget of only $18 million (£14.8 million) - though that is a lot of money, in film terms, that is miniscule for a blockbuster title.

Home Alone went on to break box office records.
20th Century Fox/ AJ Pics / Alamy Stock Photo

So, obviously, with a small budget, that includes the salaries of the actors involved.

The main star Macaulay Culkin reportedly made $110,000 (£90,000) for the film, but this other actor made peanuts in comparison.

While John Candy played a significantly smaller role in Home Alone, his salary from the film is hard to believe.

Candy played Gus Polinski in the Christmas classic, playing a key role in helping Kevin's mum (played by Catherine O'Hara) getting home to her son that she left behind.

While Kevin's mum was venting at airport staff for not being able to secure her a flight home - which incidentally features the Elvis lookalike - Candy's character interrupts O'Hara's.

Kevin's mum eventually joins Gus and his band in a trunk that takes them back home to Kevin.

And for this little cameo, Candy was reportedly paid the small sum of $414 (£342), according to the Netflix show The Movies that Made Us.

John Candy salary for his Home Alone appearance is quite surprising.
20th Century Fox

In an interview with Insider in 2020, Christopher Colombus said that Candy was not happy with how much he was paid.

He said: "There was certainly a little resentment on John's part.

"It was a deal between him and John Hughes at the time.

"I never met John Candy before he came on the movie. I don't know if John ever got any kind of compensation from Fox.

"There were a couple times on set when he [Candy] would make a cutting remark about Fox and what he was paid."

Sadly, Candy died four years after his cameo on Home Alone from a heart attack after years of health problems - he was just 43.

Topics: Film and TV