It’s been at the top of everyone’s Christmas watch list for over 30 years now, but one star of Home Alone has admitted that she’s only ever watched the movie once – and not even all the way through.
Kristin Minter played the role of Heather McCallister in the 1990 festive film alongside Macaulay Culkin, Catherine O’Hara and Joe Pesci, but despite the blockbuster’s massive success, she said she doesn’t make a point of watching it in December like everyone else.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the 58-year-old actress revealed that the first ever time she watched the beginning of Home Alone at a screening, she felt ‘quite sick’ and ‘burst into tears’ and has never felt the need to tune in again.
In fact, Minter first realized she didn’t like seeing herself on screen when she invited the kids from the cast of Home Alone to come to her room and watch television one evening after a day of filming.
Home Alone is one of the most-loved Christmas films and stars a young Macaulay Culkin
Kristin Minter played the role of Heather McCallister in the film when she was 22-years-old
Actress Kristin, now 58, spoke exclusively to DailyMail.com about her role in the movie
‘We watched movies in my room and ate pizza,’ she recalled. ‘I had a recurring part on TV show The Outsiders, which aired while we were filming and I remember I invited everyone to my room and I had never seen myself on TV or anything yet, and all of a sudden I started getting really sick and I had to cancel because I needed to watch it by myself.
‘I think I do get quite sick. I’ve actually only seen Home Alone – and I wouldn’t even say I saw it all the way through – once, at a screening. I remember I went to go and see Goodfellas, which came out right before I went to the screening of Home Alone.’
Pesci took on the role of Tommy DeVito in the Martin Scorsese crime drama, which was released in September 1990, but also played the part of Harry Lyme in Home Alone – a burglar who meets his match in Culkin’s Kevin McCallister.
Minter and Pesci share a very brief scene at the beginning of the film when his character poses as a police officer and asks Heather: ‘Do your parents live here?’ to which she replies: ‘My parents live in Paris, sorry.’
Referring to the first time she watched Goodfellas, Minter continued: ‘I remember seeing Joe Pesci’s face and because I had met Joe Pesci, I’m now clocking the size of his face in real life and then the size of his face on the screen and I started getting sick during Goodfellas!
‘I actually had to walk out of the theatre and get some air and stuff and then I remember with Home Alone it was the first screening I’d ever been to of something I was in and as soon as I saw my face, I burst into tears. And I’ve just never sat down and watched it again. I’ve seen bits and pieces, but I hate hearing my voice.’
Minter continued: ‘Unless it’s something that’s not me at all, like when I play a drug addict… I play a lot of bad guys and I’m really quite fine watching things that are absolutely not me and the worse they make me look, the easier it is for me to watch! Like if I’m trying to be attractive on camera, it’s just… I’m just not my type!’
Minter is seen several times in the first 20 minutes of the movie as the McCallister family prepare for a trip to France in the huge mansion where Macaulay’s character Kevin lives with his parents Kate (O’Hara) and Peter, who is played by John Heard.
Heather was on of the older cousins in the film who was preparing for a Christmas vacation to France
Heather was the one responsible for doing the headcount before the McCallister headed off to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport
Macaulay’s character Kevin McCallister was accidentally left Home Alone by his family
When the family accidentally sleep in, it’s a mad rush for them to make it to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on time – and Heather is the one in charge of doing a headcount of all the children before they set off.
She mistakes the McCallister’s neighbor, Mitch Murphy, as Kevin and therefore the group jet off to Europe without the youngster – who wakes up a short while later and discovers that he’s home all alone.
Minter revealed that many fans of the film, whom she interacts with on Cameo, believe that it’s actually Mitch Murphy’s fault what happened to Kevin, and said: ‘I didn’t even know who Mitch Murphy was! I had to look it up and then I realized he’s the kid in the van. So, personally I think it was Mitch Murphy’s parents fault!’
In fact, Minter insisted that Heather was the only person who wasn’t mean to Kevin during the scene when the family are in the kitchen eating pizza and chaos descends after Kevin pushes his big brother Buzz (Devin Ratray) into the dining table.
‘I thought his family was a little mean to him. I’m the only character who’s not mean to him!’ she claimed before admitting it was a ‘very long day eating pizza’ when they filmed the memorable kitchen scene.
When asked what she thought about Culkin, now 43, recently getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Minter replied: ‘I am so happy for him. He deserves that star so much. That little kid carried the movie and it was not easy, and I have a lot of respect for Macaulay Culkin. It had to have been a bit of a hard time for him.’
Culkin’s former co-star and onscreen mom, O’Hara, was present at his Walk of Fame ceremony and tenderly touched his face as she made a heartfelt speech about the actor – 33 years on from their first meeting.
‘Home Alone was, is and always will be a beloved global sensation… the reason families all over the world can’t let a year go by without watching and loving Home Alone together is because of Macaulay Culkin,’ the 69-year-old actress said.
Cathrine O’Hara played the role of Kevin’s mother, Kate McCallister, in the hit film
O’Hara gave a heartfelt speech at the ceremony for Culkin’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 1
Branding Culkin’s performance ‘perfect’ she added: ‘I know you worked really hard, I know you did, but you made acting look like the most natural thing in the world to do.’
She said Culkin brought his ‘sweet and twisted, yet totally relatable sense of humor to every project he does’, saying: ‘It’s a sign of intelligence in a child and a key to survival at any age.
‘Macaulay, congratulations. You so deserve your star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And thank you for including me, your fake mom who left you home alone not once but twice, to share in this happy occasion. I’m so proud of you.’