The Film That Lit My Fuse is a Deadline video series that aims to provide an antidote to headlines about industry uncertainty by swinging the conversation back to the creative ambitions, formative influences and inspirations of some of today’s great screen artists.
Every installment asks the same five questions. Today’s subject is Chris Columbus, the writer, director and producer of some of Hollywood’s biggest hits, and his credits really light up during the Christmas holidays. Columbus graduated NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and got his start writing the cult classics Goonies and Gremlins, the latter a dark celebration of the holiday. His career took off when John Hughes offered Columbus the directing assignment on Home Alone, and he followed with Home Alone 2, two huge hits. As director and producer, he has launched many more franchises,. He directed two Harry Potter films and produced a third, and produced the Night At The Museum films, and the Percy Jackson franchise through his 1492 banner, first of which he directed. His directing credits also include Mrs. Doubtfire, Nine Months, and the adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s stage musical Rent. Columbus most recently directed The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two, the Kurt Russell-Goldie Hawn Santa Claus team up that bowed last month on Netflix. Here, he discusses the formative influences and breaks that made possible one of the most successful directing/producing careers of his generation.