Columbus Chris is the director who gave the world Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter films

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

For each generation there are certain films, without which they cannot imagine the celebration of the New Year. For some, this is Carnival Night, for others, the Irony of Fate. And for some, this is a film about the adventures of the fearless tomboy Kevin McCallister, who was left alone at home for the holidays. The director of this world-famous film was the American Chris Columbus. And although before this project he had a modest directorial experience, he coped with his task with a bang, giving the world a masterpiece, without which it is now difficult to imagine the New Year.

Chris Columbus - namesake of Christopher Columbus

Interestingly, the name of Columbus in English spelling looks the same as the name of the famous navigator who discovered America, Christopher Columbus - Christopher Columbus. Perhaps that is why the future director prefers the abbreviated "Chris". In any case, Columbus was worthy of his famous namesake.

Born Columbus Chris in September 1958 inSpangler, located in Pennsylvania, in the family of miner Alex Columbus and factory worker Mary. Soon the family moved to live in Ohio, where Chris spent his childhood. As long as the director could remember himself, he was always fond of cinema, in particular horror (horror films), and dreamed of creating his own comics when he grew up. However, when the guy grew up a little, he saw the movie "The Godfather", and this picture inspired him to become a director. In order to succeed in his chosen field, Chris decided to study directing at the New York School of the Arts TISH.

Chris Columbus scripts

Even during his studies, Chris often made short films, and after that he became seriously interested in writing scripts. The first script that he managed to sell cost as much as five thousand dollars, and at that time it was a serious success. Unfortunately, this project did not find proper development and was soon closed, but Columbus Chris himself was inspired by this experience and continued to write.

In 1984, according to his script, the film "Fearless" was released. In the same year, Steven Spielberg's film "Gremlins" was released according to his other script.

Gremlins was originally written by Columbus as a parody of the late 1940s classic Christmas film It's A Wonderful Life, but Spielberg and the project's producers demanded certain scenes be cut from the film. The film was ultimately a huge success, grossing over $150 million on a budget of 11. A few years later, Chris collaborated with Charles Haas to createscenario for continuation - "Gremlins-2".

"Gremlins" was the first collaboration between Spielberg and Columbus, after the tremendous success of the project, this creative tandem created several more paintings. So, according to their joint script, the film about the search for treasures by teenagers "The Goonies" was released next year.

Spielberg also produced "Young Sherlock Holmes", written by Chris.

Director Chris Columbus

Three years after Gremlins, Chris is finally getting into the director's chair with The Babysitter, written by David Simkins, as his first film. Although the film did not reach the heights and box office of Gremlins, it was well received by the public and critics, and showcased the talent of Columbus, and also defined the film genre in which he was most successful in family cinema.

Columbus' next film as a director, Heartbreak Hotel, was based on his script. The film received lukewarm reviews. After this project, Columbus Chris did not work as a director for almost two years. During this hiatus, he wrote the screenplay for Little Nimo: Adventures in Dreamland.

In 1990, Columbus returns to his career as a director again and shoots a Christmas family comedy about an eight-year-old boy, accidentally forgotten at home by his parents for Christmas, who, on his own, has to not only take care of himself and overcome his childhood fears, but also protect his own. the house from robbers is the legendary "Home Alone", without which not a single Christmas can do today. This masterpiece and its sequel were written by John Hughes, who wrote the scripts for such famous family films as "Curly Sue", "Dennis the Tormentor", and epics about the adventures of the Griswold family.

In between the first and second Kevin McCallister movies, Columbus Chris wrote the script for the second Gremlins and also directed a John Candy movie from his script Only the Lonely Understand. In this picture, Chris deviated a little from the usual theme, showing the relationship between grown-up children and their parents who do not want to let their children go. Despite the fact that this film did not become as successful as many other films of Columbus of those years, many viewers appreciated and fell in love with it.

Up to the beginning of the 2000s, the director becomes incredibly in demand and actively shoots family comedies, developing his own unique directorial style, thanks to which, after watching the film, the audience could accurately guess that its creator is Chris Columbus. The filmography of the director during this period consists entirely of successful projects, most of which have long become classics. Among them is the story of a father who dreams of being with his children and for this pretends to be a housekeeper in "Mrs. Doubtfire" with Robin Williams. And about a father who is trying to get his son a fashionable toy for Christmas at any price - "A Gift for Christmas" with action movie hero Arnold Schwarzenegger. And about the stepmother, who is trying to improve relations with her husband's children from her first marriage, in "Stepmother" withJulia Roberts and Susan Sarandon. And, of course, about a couple of young people who suddenly found out that they would soon become parents, but turned out to be completely unprepared for this, in "Nine Months" written by Columbus himself. It is noteworthy that it was with this film that the career of Columbus as a producer began.

At the beginning of the 2000s, Columbus manages to become the director of the first film of the epic about the adventures of the Harry Potter boy sorcerer. Despite the fact that Chris was an American, he managed to convince the British writer JK Rowling to support his candidacy, thanks to which he bypassed even Steven Spielberg and other equally eminent applicants. In exchange, Columbus ensured that all the actors and most of the staff in his film were British. In addition, for filming, he had to move to England. But all these sacrifices were not in vain, because the film grossed almost a billion dollars at the box office. Thanks to this, Chris was entrusted with shooting the second part of it. In addition, he was offered to take the director's chair in the third part, but he refused, remaining only the producer of the project.

After the Harry Potter films, Columbus is focusing on his career as a producer.

Producer career

It's hard to say what inspired Columbus to become also a producer, perhaps the example of his colleague Steven Spielberg and his ilk, but since 1995 the director has been actively producing most of the box office films. If at first these were films that he himself shot, then after Chris works as a producer for other projects. Among his works as a producer are two Fantastic Four films, all three partsNights at the Museum, the first three Harry Potter films (Columbus only directed the first two) and other lesser-known projects.

In recent years, Chris has produced the self-directed film Pixels, The Witch (2015) and The Young Messiah (2016).

Chris Columbus is a prime example of a man who can succeed in whatever he tries his hand at. Thanks to his talent, the treasury of world cinema has been enriched with bright masterpieces, and I sincerely want to believe that this meter of cinema has several more projects in store with which he will be able to please his audience.