Jojo Rabbit (2019) actor Archie Yates has been tapped for the leading role in Disney‘s upcoming Home Alone reboot.
The casting decision was reported on Tuesday by Variety, which also wrote that Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney would serve as the child actor’s co-stars.
Though the Dan Mazer-directed comedy has been labelled a “reboot,” it will only carry similarities to the classic 1990s comedy film franchise, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The script, written by Saturday Night Live writers Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell, reveals that Yates will not be portraying Macaulay Culkin‘s iconic Kevin McCallister character, but a similar one in the same vein.
Rather than starring as Yates’ character’s parents, or a bumbling duo of burglars — like Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern twice did — Kemper, 39, and Delaney, 42, will play a local married couple who, to make some money and keep possession of their home, must square off with the child, who has stolen a family heirloom.
The original Home Alone film (1990) saw a young Culkin accidentally left at home by his parents while they, along with the rest of the McCallister family, travel abroad to Paris, France for a Christmas vacation.
While he awaits his family’s return, Kevin is left with his wit, one-liner humour and impressive adaptability to defend his home from Pesci and Stern’s characters, Harry and Marv.
The film was a blockbuster hit and pulled in more than US$476.7 million worldwide. Its success led to the 1992 sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which sees a slightly older Kevin accidentally board a plane to New York City and live a lavish lifestyle as he tries to escape the clutches of the vengeful robbers.
Kemper is best known for her roles in the U.S. remake of The Office as well as Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt series, while Delaney is most recognized from Amazon’s Catastrophe series and Deadpool 2 (2018).
Yates is relatively new to the film industry. His breakthrough performance was in a co-starring role in Taika Waititi‘s Jojo Rabbit, in which he played the main character’s best friend, Yorki.
Though the film has no official release date, it will be released through Disney’s newly launched streaming service, Disney+, in partnership with Twentieth Century Fox.
Filming for the currently untitled Home Alone reboot is set to commence in Canada in early 2020.
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