Now streaming on Disney+ is Home Sweet Home Alone, a new sequel/reboot to the classic 90’s Christmas movie, Home Alone. The new movie flips the original’s concept, with the child left at home, Max Mercer (Archie Yates), playing the villain, and the heroes are the couple that he stole from, Jeff (Rob Delaney) and Pam McKenzie (Ellie Kemper), who only break-in to his home to retrieve their own property. In addition to Yates, Delaney, and Kemper the film also features Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live), Pete Holmes (The Secret Life of Pets 2), Chris Parnell (30 Rock), Jim Rash (Community), and Devin Ratray reprising his role as Buzz McCallister from the original Home Alone.
We Live Entertainment recently had a chance to attend the virtual press conference for Home Sweet Home Alone, along with several other members of the press, and had a chance to hear what Archie Yates and Rob Delaney had to say about the new movie.
Young actor Archie Yates begins the press conference by talking about his love for the original Home Alone, and what it means to him to join the franchise. “I did take a lot of inspiration from the original Home Alone movies,” Yates explained. “I mean, I religiously watched them every year at Christmas, so it was pretty easy for me to relate. But then again, Max Mercer is supposed to be a completely different character from Kevin McAllister. So, while I did want it to be the classic character, I also wanted it to be more original and a bit different because that’s what this film is all about. It’s the same universe, but it’s a completely different story.”
Rob Delaney explained the “twist” in the film further and revealed who the true villain of the new film is. “For me, there is a villain in the film, he’s played by Archie Yates and his character is named Max Mercer,” he explained. “Because we’re trying to get back our stuff that we need to save our family, but the whole time we were filming I was like, ‘Max is the enemy.’ But when I watched the final film I did feel sympathetic towards Max. So certainly, in watching it, I think there are no antagonists but in filming it, I was like, ‘Max is my enemy and he must come to harm.’
Much of Delaney’s role calls for his character to suffer from Max’s various traps, and the actor discussed the physical demands of making this movie. “The stunts and the things that happen to our characters are truly horrible,” he said. “Max, by definition, what he does to us is torture. What he does to us is prohibited under the Geneva Convention. So, in terms of the film Home Alone, we really wanted to have that real danger be a part of what we were doing. It was easy to do because you’ve got projectiles headed at your skull at hundreds of miles an hour falling from great heights, actual fire, and ice. So, just making sure that the real peril was a part of this story was important to us.”
“We started stunt training well before we started shooting,” Delaney continued. “We were really required to do most of the stunts in the film. Professional stunt people did them as well and if we did a bad job, they edited them in. But they really put us through the paces, which frankly, was shocking to me because I thought that I would just have to dip in for a humorous rejoinder now and then. But they’re like, ‘No, we’re going to require you to be in the entire film and doing the stunts,’ which was scary, educational, and really very fun.”
Finally, Yates who made his acting debut in the critically acclaimed Jojo Rabbit, discussed what he hopes to do next in his career. “All the stuff that I’ve been in has been comedy, and comedy is one of my favorite genres. It’s what I typically watch. But as much as I do love comedy and being part of hilarious family films, I do realize that as I get older I can do so much more things in my acting career. That’s why as of now, I’m trying to start exploring different genres like drama, and maybe some horror.”
