You have to wonder which 2025 movies could possibly become the next Home Alone-style staple in pop culture. Over 30 years have passed, and yet the holiday classic remains as entertaining and enigmatic as when it debuted; which probably explains why it’s also considered one of the best ‘90s movies, on top of being a seasonal favorite.
That enigma continues to be debated, especially when it comes to the professions of the McAllister parents. This time, it's star Catherine O’Hara who has contributed some more fuel for the speculative fire, as she's now shared her own theory on the matter.
Inspired by how director Chris Columbus claimed that she was a fashion designer, O’Hara politely disagreed. However, she did explain those mannequins we saw in the Macaulay Culkin starring vehicle. Here's what the SCTV vet had to say, during her recent sit down with EW:
I hate to disagree with anything Chris Columbus says, but I do with that, 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.
It’s a twist enticing enough to get Disney+ subscription holders to watch Home Alone all over again. And as you'd expect, we have that same Columbus interview that talked about Peter McCallister’s potential job to thank for this new line of questioning.
However, Catherine O’Hara isn’t just disagreeing with Chris Columbus’ outlook on McAllister family lore. Kate’s supposed profession is also specified in the Home Alone novelization by author Todd Strasser, through this passage describing her:
With her dark wavy hair, black business suit, and glittering jewelry, she looked like a character from Dynasty. But then, she was a clothes designer and worked in the fashion business.
It’s far from an open and shut case though, as the most widely circulated copy of writer John Hughes’ script, dating back to early 1990, doesn’t seem to specify. So for the moment, our theories on Kate's chosen vocation are as valid as theories on Catherine O'Hara's The Last of Us character.
Who would have thought that a question like what Kevin McAllister’s parents do for a living would inspire Star Wars-style lore hunting? Perhaps that’s just another sign of how much those first two Home Alone pictures really are bonafide classics; especially when the first ends on a note like the one shown below:
To be quite honest, the big reason that audiences still even ask this question is because everyone wants to know how a house of 15 people could afford this holiday to begin with. A giant house, with a lavish pizza banquet the night before a trip to France, will inspire such thoughts - even without converting that hypothetical amount into current value.
No matter what the answer turns out to be, it’ll never change that feeling when Catherine O’Hara embraces her on-screen son, warming all of our hearts in the process. And yes, that’s even if that crazy Kate McAllister theory about how she got there happens to be true.
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