Home Sweet Home Alone is now streaming on Disney+, and this reimagining of the beloved holiday film franchise sees a married couple trying to steal back a valuable heirloom from a troublesome kid. You can check out our review by clicking here, but a few days ago, we sat down for a brilliant chat with stars Aisling Bea and Archie Yates about their roles as Carol and Max.
Playing mother and son in the movie, they're inevitably separated and we follow both their stories as Carol struggles to get home and Max finds himself fending off a couple of wannabe burglars.
In this light-hearted chat, the actors discuss the bond they formed on set, the possibility of shooting a sequel in the UK, and the craziness that ensues for both their characters in Home Sweet Home Alone. Aisling and Archie also reveal what they'd do if they found themselves home alone for the holidays and offer some fun advice for anyone else dealing with nightmare family members this Christmas.
They also joke about possibly joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Aisling claiming that Archie will be in Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder (we think she's kidding, but you never know).
Watch our full interview with the hilarious Home Sweet Home Alone stars below:
Hi guys!
Aisling: Where are you?
I’m over in England, but from Wales originally.
Aisling: Oh, because we’ve come to New York to talk to you in England, from England. This feels like a not exactly climate-friendly chat, to be honest.
It’s a little back to front, but thank goodness for technology so we can make it work.
Aisling: Thank God! [Laughs]
This is such a great film to be talking about, and I wanted to start by asking you both: when Max first finds he’s home alone, he starts having fun which is great to see, but if you both found yourself home alone over the holidays, what do you think the first thing you would do would be?
Archie: I would probably have the same reasoning as Max. Call the police, parents go to jail. If people rob the house, defend yourself by all means necessary. To pass the time, if you have food, electricity, and blankets and internet, you should be fine.
Aisling: I love that those are the modern things to survive. Please, the internet! As long as you have the internet, you will be able to survive in an apocalypse!
Archie: We’re running out of internet!
Aisling: I’m sure Macaulay Culkin, when he did the original films, was probably not like, ‘Do you think I could have survived without the internet?’ but this is the modern-day. That’s what kids need. Some might say the ability to start a fire, but we can YouTube how to start a fire.
You mentioned being over in New York, and the original Home Alone sequel took place there, but if this one got a sequel, how would you feel about maybe coming back to this side of the pond for a sequel in England or Ireland?
Aisling: Are you working for the film board or something? Is this a pitch? Tell us about the tax breaks, Josh! That’s all we want to know about [Laughs]. I think that would be fun. I mean, what’s nice about their characters and their family is they’ve recently moved to America and they don’t know many people or neighbours which is a great way of storywise, dealing with who you call when you don’t know your neighbours. That’d be loads of fun. Like, lost in London basically. Someone is looking for a cameo…
Well…
Archie: Ohh, and we could do the Tower of London.
Aisling: Trapped in the tower!
Archie: Yeah, off with his head. Hung, drawn, and quartered.
Archie, poor Rob and Ellie spend pretty much the whole movie just looking beaten up thanks to Max, but did you feel sorry for them walking around like that or was it just good fun for you?
Archie: No, I did not feel sorry for them. In fact, I quite enjoyed their suffering.
Aisling: [Laughs] He really did. That’s not even him being…one of his favourite things is the pain of others which is a beautiful quality, really, isn’t it? That’s your natural scheming.
Archie: I paid you to say that, didn’t I?
Aisling: Yes, a lot of money. I think that is the fun of the movies with the kid is seeing a silly adult get bashed over the head and seeing a kid defend himself with all of the toys you might have in the house. That ingenuity and creativity is a dream for a kid.
Archie: I threw all of my toys out of my pram strategically to inflict as much damage to the threats as possible.
Aisling: Metaphorically and literally.
Aisling, You don’t get to be involved in all the craziness in the house, but you get some great scenes both with the awkwardness on the plane and the fantasy sequence with you behind bars. I can imagine those were fun moments for you on set?
Aisling: I loved doing the plane sequence. We had this amazing actor. He’s a Canadian improviser, and we spent ages doing that scene because we just improvised for take after take. That, for me, if we’re looking for little moments of homages to the first movies, those moments with the mother and John Candy and Catherine O’Hara were some of my favourites to watch, so those moments of two characters or clowns so conflicted in what they’re looking for and annoying each other is really good fun to play.
The relationship between your two characters is such a big part of the film even though you’re separated and it does feel like they both get closer compared to when we first met them. For you two as actors, what was that like on set creating that dynamic and bond?
Aisling: I think we get on really well.
Archie: Yeah, we just naturally bonded.
Aisling: He’s kind of like an adult personality and I have a childish personality, so I think we both feel like we’re two fourteen-year-olds hanging out. It balances out.
Archie: I typically get on with everyone, to be honest, as long as they aren’t mean.
Aisling: You say that, but you do love inflicting pain on people [Laughs]. Look at that smile! We got on really well straight away which makes it so much easier because it wasn’t a short job. We were making it over the course of a year with the pandemic and everything, so to be able to touch back in…a lot of acting is waiting around, so to be able to have a good time was a massive deal. You want to believe that relationship and if you don’t really believe it when it’s at the heart of the movie with the panic to get home and him having to defend his family and home, that’s a big part of it and you want to believe it. Hopefully, people do.
Of course, Eternals, a big Marvel film came out over the weekend with some great English and Irish actors in it. Both of you, especially with you Archie mentioning during the press conference that you’d like to do some different types of films, are those Marvel movies of interest to you?
Aisling: Absolutely not. After this, we’re going straight to the theatre. We will refuse to do anything else.
Archie: I haven’t even heard about this film. I just want to go now.
Aisling: They can email all they like to be honest, Josh, but we’re only going to do repertory theatre from now on.
Archie: Shall we just go?
Aisling: Yeah, we don’t want to be teased with the opportunity. Without a doubt, we can do accents, but that’s not what this is about.
Archie: I nearly fell off my seat then.
Aisling: I’ve got to stop giving him alcohol. He’s getting drunk. The key is to stretch your face and no one realises you’re drinking on the job.
But Archie, you need to get on the phone to Taika because he’s got that Thor film and Star Wars that he’s working on. You need to be nagging him for the two of you to get a role.
Aisling: I have been, but he just doesn’t seem to be replying to any of the DMs. You’re going to be in the new Thor. What does he look like standing with a large fork? Isn’t that what he does?
Archie: It’s not a blooming fork, it’s a hammer!
Aisling: In Ireland, that’s how we eat our food. With hammers instead. We call them forks.
Archie: [Laughs] Like, Fork-Man?
Aisling: I’m going to be Fork-Man.
Archie: I was stabbed by a radioactive fork and now I have special fork powers!
Aisling: That’s my Marvel journey, so if they’re watching, get in touch [Laughs].
One final question: both your characters in this film seem to master dealing with nightmare family members, so if you were going to give advice to anyone going through the same sort of thing this Christmas, what would you say?
Archie: Enjoy Christmas with family. Don’t get separated or try your best not to.
Aisling: But what if you don’t like them?
Archie: If you don’t like them, just disown them I guess. I don’t know your family relationships…
Aisling: Yeah, I feel like we’re becoming your therapists now Josh, you know what I mean?
It’s appreciated!
Aisling: [Laughs] Hop on a plane and leave them behind. That’s one option as well.
Thanks so much for your time. This is a great family film and you’re both terrific.
Aisling: Say hello to everyone in England for us [Laughs].
I’ll be counting on my cameo in the sequel now too. You have promised it.
Aisling: You’re going to be the new Donald Trump. Like, when he rocked up in the second one, that’s going to be you [Laughs]. I think people enjoy being called that, don’t they?