Macaulay Culkin Says Joe Pesci ‘Was Trying to Scare Me’ During ‘Home Alone’ Rehearsals and Ended Up Biting My Finger: ‘I Have a Scar’
by Zack Sharf · Variety‘Tis the season for viewings of “Home Alone,” and Macaulay Culkin knows it. The actor is currently touring around the country for what is billed as “A Nostalgic Night With Macaulay Culkin,” in which he hosts a screening of “Home Alone” followed by a Q&A. At a recent stop in Rosemont, Illinois (via The New York Times) Culkin revealed that his co-star Joe Pesci actually bit his finger while rehearsing a scene in which Pesci’s thief Harry threatens Culkin’s Kevin McCallister.
As reported by The Times: “‘He was trying to scare me,’ Culkin recounted. Thinking it would help the robber-victim dynamic, ‘he was like, I want to be menacing to this kid.’ Once, rehearsing a scene in which Pesci’s Harry is threatening to bite off Kevin’s fingers, he inadvertently took it too far and really chomped Culkin. ‘I have a scar,’ he said. But in the moment, he didn’t react much. ‘I saw his face — and I’ve never, ever seen Joe Pesci actually scared,’ Culkin recalled. ‘Because he’s like, I just bit a kid!'”
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A representative for Pesci declined to comment to Variety.
While Pesci tried to scare Culkin during the making of “Home Alone,” co-star Catherine O’Hara was anything but terrifying. The Emmy winner played the mother to Culkin’s Kevin and she has always remained a maternal figure in the actor’s life. Culkin said that he still calls O’Hara “mom” whenever they see each other and “she opens up her arms — she goes, ‘Son.'”
Culkin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last year and O’Hara gave a heartwarming speech about her co-star. The two reprised their characters in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.”
“‘Home Alone’ was, is and always will be a beloved global sensation … the reason families all over the world can’t let a year go by without watching and loving ‘Home Alone’ together is because of Macaulay Culkin,” O’Hara said. “I know you worked really hard, I know you did, but you made acting look like the most natural thing in the world to do.”
Head over to The New York Times’ website to read more about the “A Nostalgic Night With Macaulay Culkin” tour.