1. John Hughes' publication is based connected a abbreviated communicative helium wrote for Lampoon called "Christmas '59." It is the past screenplay the precocious filmmaker wrote for the franchise, which was based connected his archetypal "Vacation '58" article. There's a tiny motion to the movie's origin: The statement connected the location movie reel that Clark finds successful the attic is labeled "Xmas '59."

2. The location utilized arsenic the Griswold family's neighbors Todd and Margo's location connected the Warner Bros. batch successful Burbank is the aforesaid 1 utilized for the Murdoch location successful Lethal Weapon.  

3. Chris Columbus was primitively acceptable to direct, but helium yet decided to walk connected the task aft gathering with Chevy Chase.  "It was fraught with symptom and hostility with Chevy Chase, but I needed the occupation desperately," Columbus told Insider. "At the clip I was surviving with my wife's parents. It took everything successful my powerfulness to person myself to resign from Christmas Vacation due to the fact that I couldn't marque the movie with Chevy Chase."

Fortunately for Columbus, helium was sent the script for Home Alone 2 weeks later. As helium said, "The remainder is history." 

4. Jeremiah Chechik would spell on to onshore the job, making his diagnostic directorial debut contempt having ne'er watched the archetypal 2 films successful the franchise. "I was tense astir accepting it, due to the fact that I didn't cognize astir Chevy and I wasn't definite if it was excessively commercial," helium admitted. "But I agreed to bash it and I had conscionable a fantastic clip doing it."

5. Chechik is really the man featured on the screen of the People magazine issue that Clark is speechmaking successful bed.

6. Per tradition, 2 caller actors were brought successful to play Clark and Ellen's exasperated children. Juliette Lewis took implicit the relation of Audrey, telling Rolling Stone, "The information that the Griswolds person a caller acceptable of kids each clip became the thing. Your agents couldn't explicate wherefore it was acceptable; it conscionable is. Of course, I grew up with the Vacation movie with the legendary Anthony Michael Hall. This was this immense breathtaking accidental and adjacent astatine 15, I knew it was a large deal."

7. Just earlier accumulation began, Lewis discovered her then-boyfriend was cheating connected her. "That archetypal travel to Colorado, I took my fellow and caught him successful our edifice country talking to different miss connected the phone," she revealed to Rolling Stone. "I didn't adjacent archer him that I heard him, I conscionable asked who helium was talking to. He lied and I said, 'Oh, by the way. You're leaving time morning.' I booked his formation and past helium left, and past I went to spell film."

8. Future Big Bang Theory star Johnny Galecki became the franchise's caller Rusty aft putting himself connected portion and sending it in. "They flew maine retired to Los Angeles; it was 1 of the archetypal times I was ever here," helium recalled. "I work with Chevy and Jeremiah—and that unsocial would person been capable for me. I could person been fixed my walking papers and sent location connected the adjacent formation and it inactive would person been a imagination travel true. Chevy told maine close determination successful the country that I had gotten the role."

9. Galecki admitted that helium nursed a crush connected his on-screen large sister. "Juliette was older than maine by a year, but she mightiness arsenic good been connected different planet," helium said. "I worshipped her. She was stone and rotation adjacent astatine 15 years old. She had antithetic stories astir what she had done the nighttime earlier and with whom. At that clip I was, and inactive am, successful awe of her."

10. The infamous squirrel jumping retired of the Christmas histrion was adjacent much chaotic down the scenes erstwhile the carnal they had been grooming for months to execute the stunts died connected the time they were acceptable to film. "I said, "Holy f--k, we're shooting that today!'" Chechik recalled. "And the carnal trainer turned and said, 'Ya know, they don't unrecorded that long.' We inactive had to sprout the scene, truthful we utilized an untrained squirrel. It was conscionable full chaos."

11. Chechik revealed that portion helium got on rather good with his starring man, the manager and Beverly D'Angelo "really fought similar hell" during filming. "But erstwhile we did the DVD commentary respective years ago, we had the top clip unneurotic ever," helium told Rolling Stone. "Who knows however this each works?

12. The celebrated crotch-grab Ellen makes erstwhile the constabulary raid their location was improvised by D'Angelo during conscionable 1 take, which ended up being the 1 utilized successful the last cut. 

13. Chase really broke his pinky digit portion filming Clark's tantrum aft his lights won't crook on. "It wounded truthful much," helium told WhoSay. 

14. A insignificant earthquake occurred portion filming the accomplishment country of Uncle Louis and Aunt Bethany and eagle-eyed fans tin spot the camera shaking slightly. (Fun fact: Mae Questel, who played Bethany, was the archetypal dependable for Betty Boop. Christmas Vacation was her last movie role.)

15. How did Chase retrieve Clark's iconic tirade aft learning he's not getting his Christmas bonus? All of his co-stars were wearing cue cards astir their necks.

"The rant was divided into sections truthful that helium could spell each the mode done from the opening to extremity without a accidental of forgetting his lines oregon flipping his lines. They were each close there," D'Angelo revealed to The Dinner Party Download. "So we didn't person the lines successful bid exactly, and if you ticker it you tin spot him. His eyes spell from quality to quality arsenic he's going connected successful the code due to the fact that we've got the lines there.

16. Concerned the country would offend audiences, the workplace wanted the feline electrocution chopped from the last version, with Chechik telling Rolling Stone, "They truly didn't privation to bash it." After calling Hughes, Chechik said the screenwriter "protected" him and backed the determination to support it in.

17. It's the lone sequel successful the National Lampoon's Vacation bid to person spawned its ain sequel: a direct-to-TV film, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure starring Randy Quaid, released successful 2003.

18. That ill-advised sequel, which has a paltry 12 percent standing connected Rotten Tomatoes, whitethorn person stemmed from a country that was yet chopped from Christmas Vacation.

"There's 1 country that didn't marque it to the movie and I truthful privation it had," Miriam Flynn, who played Eddie's wife, told Rolling Stone. "It's a country wherever Randy and I are successful the infamous centrifugal location and you get to spot what our lives are similar inside. That was a riot, but astatine the clip it had to beryllium cut."