Have you ever wanted to ask Chevy Chase what is was like filming “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”? Or why he left “Saturday Night Live” after only one season?
Well, you could get your chance. The legendary film and television star will host a special screening of one of his most beloved movies, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m., at The Hanover Theatre on 2 Southbridge St., Worcester.
“Christmas Vacation”was released 30 years ago and has become a massive family favorite during every holiday season since. Chase, who began his career as an original member of the “Saturday Night Live” Not Ready for Prime Time Players, will be available after the movie for an audience Q&A, reflecting on his career and sharing stories from the set of “Christmas Vacation.”
“‘Christmas Vacation’ loosely elicits feelings that are reminiscent of the crazy, wacky families we all inhabit,” Chase said during a phone interview. “It’s for everybody — parents, children, relatives … and especially squirrels.”
Esquire magazine ranked “Christmas Vacation” No. 2 on its list of the 40 Best Christmas Movies. The film was written by noted filmmaker John Hughes, who based the movie off of his original short story, “Christmas ’59,” for National Lampoon magazine. Before the release of the 2015 “Vacation” reboot, “Christmas Vacation” was the highest-grossing film of the “National Lampoon’s Vacation” series.
“Essentially, the premise of ‘Christmas Vacation’ is simple,” Chase said. “An everyday man wants to ensure that his family has the perfect, traditional holiday. But, unfortunately, that everyday man is Clark Griswold, so naturally things are bound to get idiotic.”
There’s a lot of fun facts from this modern holiday classic. For instance, it marks the final screen appearance of actress Mae Questel, who plays the kindly yet scatterbrained Aunt Bethany. Questel is best remembered for voicing cartoon star Betty Boop. And look carefully at the People magazine Clark tries to read with sticky tree-sap hands: Director Jeremiah S. Chechik is on the cover.
“The house we used for filming ‘Christmas Vacation’ was actually located on the Warner Brothers Studio movie lot,” Chase said. “This house was also used for the scene in ‘Lethal Weapon’ where Danny Glover’s character is sitting on a toilet and it suddenly explodes out of the house. I’m guessing those filmmakers forgot to remove that, because in ‘Christmas Vacation,’ when I’m trying to rig up the lights and fall down into the bush, I landed on the toilet head-first!”
Despite playing a man who isn’t afraid to go all-out for Christmas, Chase prefers to have a simple holiday with his family in real life.
“On Christmas, we keep it mellow,” he said. “It’s real tight and small — just me, my wife and our three daughters. We love getting the tree and decorating it, all together as a family. Yup, nothing too extravagant, just another Christmas with a Hollywood actor!”
For further details on Chevy Chase’s Q&A, visit https://thehanovertheatre.org/chevychase.
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