Home Alone director Chris Columbus has recalled “the most surreal, bizarre” encounter with Chevy Chase that left him unable to work with the actor.The filmmaker, who also directed the first two Harry Potter films,

Columbus realized there was a silver lining though. He recalled, “I quit ‘Christmas Vacation.’ The next weekend, I got another script from John — and it’s ‘Home Alone.’ ‘Home Alone,’ for me, was even more personal, a better script. And I thought, I can really do something with this, and I don’t have to deal with Chevy Chase.”

Jeremiah Chechik has attended plenty of screenings of his 1989 comedy directorial debut, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. But the upcoming shows in his hometown of Montreal will be unlike anything he’s seen before.