One of the most memorable moments of the holiday classic "Home Alone" is the sudden and surprise appearance of John Candy.
What you may not know, however, is that Candy's role as Gus Polinski, the "Polka King of the Midwest," was done as a favor by Candy for the movie's producer John Hughes, and he was only paid $414 for his appearance in the film.
Part of the deal struck between Candy and Hughes was that Candy be allowed to improvise all of his dialogue, so every word spoken by Candy in "Home Alone" was complete improv.
Director Chris Columbus told Insider, "None of that stuff was in the script. The funeral-parlor story, that was all improvised at 4:30 in the morning. We could barely keep a straight face on set just listening to John."
Columbus told the outlet that the legendary comic harbored some bitterness about it.
"There was certainly a little resentment on John's part," Columbus remarked to the outlet. "It was a deal between him and John Hughes at the time. I never met John Candy before he came on the movie. I don't know if John ever got any kind of compensation from Fox."
Candy would even remark about it during the film's production, the director said.
"There were a couple times on set when he would make a cutting remark about Fox and what he was paid," Columbus said.
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