Reports of Chevy Chase being difficult to work with are not exactly unfounded, which presumably accounts for why he hasn't been a box office staple for decades. But apparently, his aloof demeanor and disrespectful attitude cost National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation its first director, famed filmmaker Chris Columbus.
Columbus opened up about what would have been for the very first time in a recent Vanity Fair profile. At the time, the 66-year-old was at a low point in his career, when screenwriter John Hughes, who had the same agent, sent him the script for the holiday comedy.
"I was signed on … and then I met Chevy Chase," he said. "Even given my situation at the time, where I desperately needed to make a film, I realized I couldn’t work with the guy."
After agreeing to direct, Columbus went to Chicago to begin initial work on the film, but things quickly fell apart after meeting with Chase twice. He said that during the first meeting, it was just the two of them and that he talked about his vision for the movie for about a half hour, to dead silence from Chase. When the Saturday Night Live alum finally spoke, Columbus describes what happened next as making "no sense to any human being on the planet."
"Forty minutes into the meeting, he says, 'Wait a second. You’re the director?' And I said, 'Yeah … I’m directing the film.'" he recalled. "And he said to me the most surreal, bizarre thing. 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, okay. Let’s start talking about the film again.' After about 30 seconds, he said, 'I got to go.'"
It has since pointed out that Chase may have been making a "joking reference" to the jazz percussionist also named Chris Columbus, but given the context, that seems neither here nor there.
"He went off and met with John Hughes and said we needed to meet again. Then we had a dinner where John Hughes was present, and I was basically nonexistent," Columbus continued. "It was Chevy and Hughes, and they talked about everything except 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.' First of all, he’s not engaged. He’s treating me like s--t. I don’t need this. I’d rather not work again. I’d rather write."
At that point, Columbus said he called Hughes and said: "I can’t do this. John, I need this job desperately, but I know I will not make a good movie with this guy and I will let you down."
For his part, Hughes told Columbus that he completely understood the decision to walk away, and it ended up being fate on both of their parts. The next weekend, Columbus said that Hughes sent him the script for Home Alone—one of the biggest films of both of their careers—and the rest is history. And as for Christmas Vacation ... well, at least Columbus got a good story out of it.
