‘Home Alone 2’ director says Donald Trump cameo has ‘become this curse’

San Francisco filmmaker Chris Columbus said Donald Trump’s cameo in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” more than 30 years ago has been “an albatross for me” and “wishes it was gone.”

“I can’t cut it,” the San Francisco resident told the Chronicle in a recent interview. “If I cut it, I’ll probably be sent out of the country. I’ll be considered sort of not fit to live in the United States, so I’ll have to go back to Italy or something.”

Of course, Columbus — born and raised in the United States, with Italian ancestry — was sarcastically referring to the Trump administration’s mass deportations plans.

In the seven-second cameo in the 1992 box office hit, the future president gives star Macaulay Culkin directions in New York’s famed Plaza Hotel, which Trump, then known only as a flamboyant Manhattan real-estate tycoon, owned at the time.

Columbus’ original family comedy “Home Alone” (1990) starred Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a 10-year-old who fends off home invaders after his parents accidentally leave him alone at Christmas. The movie, which cost $18 million to make and was filmed in Chicago, was the filmmaker’s first big hit as a director, pulling in more than $475 million.

Before beginning work on the San Francisco-shot “Mrs. Doubtfire,” Columbus was tapped to direct the “Home Alone” sequel, which has Kevin parentless in the Big Apple. Columbus said Trump only agreed to let the production film at the Plaza if he could get some screen time.

“We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie.’ So we agreed to put him in the movie,” Columbus told Business Insider in 2020 in an article commemorating the film’s 30th anniversary.

Three years later, Trump apparently got wind of Columbus’ quote, and posted on Truth Social in 2023 that Columbus was “begging” him to appear in the film.

“I was very busy, and didn’t want to do it,” Trump wrote. “They were very nice, but above all, persistent. I agreed, and the rest is history! That little cameo took off like a rocket, and the movie was a big success, and still is, especially around Christmas time. People call me whenever it is aired. Now, however, 30 years later, Columbus (what was his real name?) put out a statement that I bullied myself into the movie. Nothing could be further from the truth. That cameo helped make the movie a success … Just another Hollywood guy from the past looking for a quick fix of Trump publicity for himself!”

Columbus didn’t immediately respond to Trump’s post at the time, but now tells the Chronicle he had intended to cut the cameo, and wishes he had.

“We screened the film in Chicago, and when that moment came onscreen the audience went crazy,” Columbus recalled. “They cheered and they cheered and they thought it was hilarious. I think I know a lot about comedy, but I don’t, obviously, because I never thought that was going to be considered hilarious.

“Years later, it’s become this curse. It’s become this thing that I wish it was not there. What’s going through this guy’s mind? He said I was lying. I’m not lying. He said I begged him to be in the movie, but there’s no world I would ever beg a non-actor to be in a movie. But we were desperate to get the Plaza Hotel.”

Columbus paused for a moment before continuing.

“But it’s there. It’s become an albatross for me. I just wish it was gone.”

Nevertheless, “Home Alone 2” was another smash hit, earning nearly $360 million against a $28 million budget.

Columbus would go on to have a rich and varied career as a director, including the first two Harry Potter films, and producer, including Robert Eggers’ 2024 remake of the vampire classic “Nosferatu.”