Director Chris Columbus claims he quit working on “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” after he met with the film’s leading actor, Chevy Chase.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the filmmaker, 66, recalled two “bizarre” meetings he allegedly had with Chase, 81, that made him realize he “couldn’t work” with him.
“I was signed on…and then I met Chevy Chase,” Columbus recalled, while discussing the the hit 1989 holiday movie. “Even given my situation at the time, where I desperately needed to make a film, I realized I couldn’t work with the guy.”
Columbus then allegedly called John Hughes — who wrote “Christmas Vacation” — and broke the news to him that he and Chase weren’t compatible.
“I was one of the many who couldn’t work with him. And I called John and I said, ‘This is really hard for me, but I can’t do this movie with Chevy Chase,’” he continued.
When Chase and the “Gremlins” writer first met, the “Caddyshack” star couldn’t seem to remember that Columbus was the one directing the film.
“My first meeting with him, I sat down with him. It was just the two of us. He had to know I was directing the movie,” Columbus alleged. “I talked about how I saw the movie, how I wanted to make the movie. He didn’t say anything,”
The filmmaker further claimed that he spoke to Chase about the movie for a “half hour” and that he didn’t “say a word” to him.
“Forty minutes into the meeting, he says, ‘Wait a second. You’re the director?’ And I said, ‘Yeah…I’m directing the film.’ And he said to me the most surreal, bizarre thing,” he went on.
“I still haven’t been able to make any sense out of it. He said, ‘Oh, I thought you were a drummer.’ I said, ‘Uhh, OK. Let’s start talking about the film again.’ After about 30 seconds, he said, ‘I got to go.’”
During their second meeting, when Hughes was also allegedly present, Columbus said he was “basically nonexistent” to Chase.
He claimed that Chase and the late film producer “talked about everything except” for “Christmas Vacation.”
“We spent two hours together, and I left the dinner and I thought, ‘There’s no way I can make a movie with this guy,’” Columbus recalled to Vanity Fair.
“First of all, he’s not engaged [in the conversation]. He’s treating me like s—t. I don’t need this. I’d rather not work again. I’d rather write.”
Per the outlet, Hughes told Columbus that he “completely” understood why he needed to step away from the project and sent him the script for “Home Alone” instead.
The 1990 Christmas film — which stars Macaulay and Kieran Culkin — was “even more personal” to Columbus, who thought it was a “better script” with the added bonus of not having to work with Chase. The movie went on to become one of the most successful holiday classics of all time.
Page Six has reached out to Chase’s rep for comment.
