“Home Alone” director quits “Christmas Vacation” after awkward encounter with Chevy Chase

Filmmaker Chris Columbus walked away from arguably one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time. Chevy Chase.

Columbus, who went on to direct 1990’s Home Alone , exposed Chase’s behavior before filming began and dissuaded him from working on the 1989 holiday classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation .

“I signed the contract … and then I met Chevy Chase. Even considering my situation at the time, I felt a need to make a film, I realized that I could not work with this guy,” the director said. Vanity Fair.

CHRISTIE BRINKLEY CREATES ‘THE GIRL IN THE RED FERRARI’ MOMENT FROM ‘NATIONAL LAMPOON’S HOLIDAY’

Chevy Chase starred as Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. (Warner Bros.)

Columbus recalled his first meeting with Chase and the “weird” words the actor said to him.

“It was just the two of us,” Columbus explained. “He had to know I was directing the movie. I talked about how I saw the movie, how I wanted to make the movie. He didn’t say anything. I talked for about half an hour. He didn’t say. One word and he stops and says – and it doesn’t make sense to anyone on the planet, but I tell you I have never told this story.

“Forty minutes into the meeting he says wait a second. Are you the director?” I said, “Yes… I’m directing the film.” He said the most surreal, weird thing to me that I still can’t make sense of. I said, ‘Uhh, okay, let’s talk about the movie again.’ After about 30 seconds, he said, “I have to go.”

CHEVY CHASE, CHRISTIE BRINKLEY AND BEVERLY D’ANGELO BENEFIT FROM ‘NATIONAL LAMPOON’S HOLIDAY’ REVIEW

Directors Chris Columbus, left, and John Hughes worked together on 1990’s Home Alone. (Collection of Ron Galella via Ron Galella, Ltd./Getty Images)

Chase then went to “Christmas Vacation” writer John Hughes and asked the trio to meet, according to Columbus.

“Then we had a dinner with John Hughes and I wasn’t there at all,” Columbus said. “It was Chevy and Hughes, and they were talking about everything but ‘Christmas Vacation.’ We spent two hours together and I came out of dinner thinking I can’t do a movie with this guy, I don’t need him. I’d like to do better.'”

Chevy Chase stands at a table in a scene from the 1989 film National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. (Warner Bros./Getty Images)

Columbus stated that he did not know why Chase acted like this.

“I think that sense of humor was funny in the early ’70s,” he said. “It’s so surreal… Who says something like that to someone? It doesn’t make sense. It almost makes no sense to tell this story, but it actually happened. I thought, how are we going to work together? I’m going to be on set and he’s not listening.” .

LIKE YOU READ? CLICK HERE FOR ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Columbus left “Christmas Vacation,” but another opportunity with Hughes was around the corner.

Macaulay Culkin as 10-year-old Kevin McCallister and Plaza Hotel owner Donald Trump himself in Home Alone 2. (Getty Images)

“I missed Christmas Vacation.” The next weekend, I got another script from John — and it’s ‘Home Alone,'” he recalled. “‘Home Alone’ was a much more personal, better script for me. And I thought I could actually do something with it and not have to deal with Chevy Chase. That was it. John and I started. to work together and we had the same sensibility.”

Fox News Digital reached out to a Chase representative.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation was directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik. (Warner Bros./Getty Images)

Chase and Beverly D’Angelo starred in National Lampoon’s Vacation as Clark and Ellen Griswold in the classic family film series that begins with an innocent, cross-country trip to Wally World theme park.

He also starred in the 1983 film directed by Harold Ramis and written by John Hughes. Anthony Michael HallDana Barron, Randy Quaid and John Candy. Christie Brinkley played the role of “The Girl in the Ferrari”.

The Griswolds went overseas for their second film, National Lampoon’s Europe Vacation in 1985, and returned to Chicago for the ultimate holiday tradition. “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this report.