Chris Columbus(I)

In the original script, Gremlins - Kleine Monster (1984) was meant to be a much darker horror film in which the mother was decapitated, the family dog was eaten, and the adorable Mogwai "Gizmo" actually turned into the infamous Gremlin "Stripe".

I was up on 140th Street in Harlem, in 1992. It was 3 in the morning, and I was walking back to get a cup of coffee. These two young kids came up to me and said to me, "What movie is this?" I said, "Home Alone 2," and they said, "What do you do?" And I said, "I'm the director." They said, "Oh, you're John Hughes!"