Macaulay Culkin has cleared up a whole of rumours about iconic movie Home Alone 35 years after the film catapulted him to superstardom.
The 44-year-old actor, famous for portraying Kevin McAlister in the 1990 film and its 1992 sequel, Lost in New York, recently shared insights about the film’s script and his colleagues during a rare interview on the YouTube show, Hot Ones.
Despite long-standing fan theories, Macaulay clarified that he did not ad-lib the famous line, ‘You guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more?’ He did, however, share that another significant scene was a result of his own improvisation.
He explained: ‘At the grocery store, when asked, “Where are your parents? Why won’t you tell me?” I responded with, “Because you’re a stranger.” That one was my contribution; I did quite a few similar bits.’
In a different scene, Macaulay’s character finds a picture of his older brother’s not-too-flattering girlfriend and wittily remarks, ‘Buzz, your girlfriend: woof!’
For years, it was rumored that the photo was not of a young girl but a crew member’s son in disguise. The actor has now confirmed this longstanding claim to be true.
Macaulay Culkin, 44, has cleared up a whole of rumours about iconic movie Home Alone 35years after the film catapulted him to superstardom
The actor, who starred as Kevin McAlister in the 1990 classic and its 1992 follow-up Lost in New York, divulged details about the script and his fellow actors during a seldom-seen appearance on Hot Ones.
Host Sean Evans asked: ‘Is it true that the picture of Buzz’s girlfriend is actually a boy in makeup because [director] Chris Columbus thought it would be too cruel to rip on a little girl that way?’.
To which Macaulay replied: ‘As far as I know, yes, I mean, you’d have to ask Chris, but that’s what I was told. Apparently that was the gag.’
The actor, who was nine during filming, also revealed that his stunt double for the film was a 30-year-old man named Larry.
When the man asked Macaulay to guess his age the youngster pondered before guessing 13, leaving his counterpart in stitches.
However as filming got underway, the nine-year-old was left terrified for the safety of his ‘teenage’ pal.
Macaulay recalled: ‘He’s climbing the shelf, trying to reach the thing on top, and the whole shelf collapsed. It was vicious that first take, they do it again and there’s another take and just boom’.
‘They didn’t like the way everything fell. And they do it again, and they do it again, and they do it again and I’m going: “Please take it easy on Larry! He’s only 13 years old!”.
Elsewhere during the rare interview, Macaulay revealed one role he regretted skipping as he retired from acting in the mid-1990s.
Following years of speculation from fans, Macaulay denied he had improvised the now iconic line ‘You guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more?’
But said He said: ‘When I was at the grocery store, it’s like: “Where are your parents? Why won’t you tell me?” and I said: “Because you’re a stranger” that one was mine
It’s been claimed for decades that the picture was not of a young girl but actually a member of the crew’s son dressed up, which the actor has now confirmed is correct
The actor, who was nine during filming, also revealed that his stunt double for the film was a 30 year old man named Larry
He opened up about his hiatus before returning to acting for 2003 flick Party Monster.
Macaulay said: ‘You have to understand…at least then, I was retired for at least like six or seven years. I went to high school. I got married way too young. Things like that, you know.
‘I was actually pretty good at reading. I was kind of voraciously reading through the scripts, but there was a couple that slipped through.’
He then went on to reveal that it was 1998 Wes Anderson directed film Rushmore starring Jason Schwartzman, Olivia Williams, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson , Luke Wilson, Brian Cox, Connie Nielsen, and Sara Tanaka that he wishes he knew about before.
Macaulay explained: ‘I remember about two years later, clearing out the house and throwing out the old scripts and I saw the one that I didn’t read was Rushmore, I was like, “Oh dang.”‘
Elsewhere during the rare interview Macaulay revealed one role that he regretted skipping as he retired from acting in the mid-1990s
He then went on to reveal that it was 1998 Wes Anderson directed film Rushmore starring Olivia Williams and Jason Schwartzman
He had been considered for Schwarzman’s protagonist role playing Max Fischer as Macaulay admitted on the chat show that he ‘can’t imagine’ anyone else playing that character.
Macaulay said: ‘But at the same time I’m like, “Oh man, that would have been a ball and a biscuit.” I probably could have done that one.’
The former child star had a great run early in his career but paused his acting career in 1994 after playing the titular character of Richie Rich.
