Short Biography

Raja Raymond Gosnell (born December 9, 1958 in Los Angeles, California) is an American film director and editor. Since taking the leap into directing in the mid-1990s, former film editor Raja Gosnell has earned himself a solid reputation behind the camera in recent years. As one of Hollywood’s busiest film editors throughout the 80’s and 90’s, Gosnell cut his teeth on such blockbusters as “Pretty Woman”, “Good Morning, Vietnam”, and “Mrs. Doubtfire” before making his directorial debut in 1997 with “Home Alone 3”. Once a cash cow franchise for 20th Century Fox, the highly popular “Home Alone” series started off promisingly in 1990, raking in a whopping $286 million in its initial release. The first sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost In New York”, (released in 1992) was also a hit, grossing over $175 million domestically. Nevertheless, ”Home Alone 2” proved to be somewhat of a disappointment – particularly for Fox, which had invested heavily in the project’s star, Macauley Culkin. In 1993, faced with diminishing returns and rising star salaries (not to mention Culkin’s looming puberty), the studio decided to pull the plug on any further sequels and shelved the franchise for the next five years. However, in 1997, 20th Century Fox – by then, starved for a hit – changed its mind and announced plans to resurrect the series with a new cast. To fill Macauley Culkin’s big shoes, child actor Alex D. Linz was tapped to play Alex Pruitt, the new protagonist of the movie. The studio reportedly approached director Chris Columbus (who had helmed the first two “Home Alone” films) to take the reins again, but Columbus passed. Instead, he recommended that the studio to take a chance on Gosnell, who had served as his editor on the previous two “Home Alone”s. Fox agreed. While Gosnell took care to adhere closely to the formula established in the previous two “Home Alone”s, audiences failed to respond. The film died a quick death at the box office after earning just $30 million – a mere fraction of the original’s take – and effectively killed off any plans for a “Home Alone 4”. Luckily, Gosnell survived the fiasco. His next film was the Drew Barrymore romantic comedy “Never Been Kissed”. (1999).

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