Oh, the holidays. It’s the best time of the year to reunite with family before ringing in the new year. One of the latest Christmas movies to come out this season is Disney+’s Home Sweet Home Alone, which takes the concept from the classic to the present times. Since Kevin McCallister’s big night of battle, there’s been a lot of developments in the world, such as VR, cell phones and, you know… the rise of Chrissy Teigen.
In Home Sweet Home Alone, Ally Maki plays one of the family members coming to stay with the MacKenzies (which includes Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney’s Pam and Jeff). She’s a Los Angeles mother who is all about the fur coats and high heels. When CinemaBlend spoke to the actress, she shared her influences for the funny role:
I’m actually an aunt in real life, so I’m always with my little babies as Auntie Ally, so it was fun to be able to bring in that element of knowing what it is like in real life to spoil your niece and nephew because I have a couple of nephews and a niece myself, so I brought a little bit of being a real-life aunt. Originally, we said a little bit of Chrissy Teigen because she’s from L.A. but she’s definitely got that warm heart and she’s big and vivacious and has that energy. So a little bit of those elements together.
Anyone else totally see this too? Ally Maki serves as one of many funny elements of Home Sweet Home Alone, as Mei, Hunter and their young son crash the MacKenzie family's Christmas by surprising them for the holidays as they also deal with the possibility of losing their house. Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney’s Pam and Jeff are desperate to keep their memories in the home they raised their children in and decide to invade the Mercer home, unaware that Archie Yates’ Max has been left home alone by accident.
Ally Maki is an established comedic actress, who has previously found roles in TV shows such as Wrecked, Dear White People and 10 Things I Hate About You. More recently, she worked with Disney to voice the role of Giggle McDimples in Toy Story 4.
Home Sweet Home Alone additionally features some fun and intentional homages to the original movie and cute moments for Archie Yates’ Max Mercer. Though Home Sweet Home Alone follows one of the most beloved holiday movies, it has received quite a bit of flack from fans and by critics. Ally Maki gushed during our interview about being a part of the franchise’s return, especially with Devin Retray coming back as Buzz McCallister. In her words:
The next day [after Devin Retray’s scene] I was on set and we were talking to our producers like ‘what was he like?’ and I got all the scoops when we were in the transpo van one day, I was certainly fangirling, asking questions like ‘what is he really like.’ It was so cool that he got to play with us for a bit and watching his scenes is so fulfilling too because it’s like yeah, that’s what Buzz would be in this day and age in 2021. I felt like it was a fulfilling cameo, at least for me.
The movie has Devin Retray all grown up and now serving as a police officer as the cycle continues. Check out Home Sweet Home Alone, now streaming on Disney+.
