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Like many other precious holiday favorites, Home Alone is a watchable classic that never grows tiresome during December. Each year, households worldwide gather around the television set to succumb to its joyous nostalgia. Released in 1990, the film follows Kevin McCallister. After his Paris-bound family accidentally leaves him behind, he spends Christmas by himself at home in Chicago. Despite its long-standing legacy, there are many hidden truths about Home Alone that would likely shock fans. With that, here are 10 facts about Home Alone that we bet you didn’t know.
10. More Than One Culkin
In one of Home Alone’s most memorable scenes, Kevin blatantly expresses disinterest in sharing a room with his bed-wetting cousin, Fuller. In the same scene, Fuller is seen consuming a considerable amount of Pepsi cans. As he takes a sip, Fuller gleefully smiles in Kevin’s direction.
In actuality, Macaulay’s younger brother, Kieran Culkin, plays Fuller. The Culkin brothers are certainly no strangers when it comes to acting, with two of the brothers starring in Home Alone together.
9. Buzz’s Girlfriend Was A Boy
One of the more interesting facts about Home Alone is during a memorable scene after Kevin realizes that his family is gone. Firstly, Kevin ransacks the room belonging to his older brother, Buzz. Upon discovering a photo of Buzz’s girlfriend, Kevin exclaims: “Woof!”
Director Chris Columbus expressed that he didn’t want to embarrass an actual girl, so instead chose to make a boy appear like a girl. The child in the photo is film art director Dan Webster’s son.
8. The Tarantula Was Real
Amongst the outrageous obstacles that Harry and Marv encounter, one moment, in particular, has stuck with Home Alone fans. Before the glory days of easily accessible CGI, actors were sometimes asked to do unthinkable scenes. As such, during the tarantula scene, the spider on actor Daniel Stern’s face is real.
According to Stern, he agreed to the difficult scene — so long as it was captured in just one take. Stern’s blood-curdling scream helped to deliver the scene’s credibility, after learning that spiders don’t have ears.
7. Angels With Filthy Souls Is Fake
The black and white gangster film within a film was notoriously famous after the releases of both Home Alone and Home Alone 2, respectively. However, diehard Home Alone fans are unaware that the movie is actually a fake.
Kevin first stumbles upon the movie when eating an ice cream sundae and awaiting his pizza. The film features a psychopathic main character who uses his Tommy Gun religiously. While the movie isn’t real, it’s a parody of Humphrey Bogart’s Angels With Dirty Faces.
6. Marv Steps On Candy
A gut-wrenching memorable scene in Home Alone happens when Marv attempts to sneak into the McCallister’s house. As Marv gingerly climbs through the window, he slams both of his feet down directly onto a bed of glass Christmas ornaments.
Furthermore, Marv actually did slam his feet down on those ornaments. Luckily for him, the ornaments were made out of candy glass. Even though the sound appeared to be actual glass, all Daniel Stern had to worry about was trying not to eat the sugar.
5. The (Accidental) Iconic Scream
Home Alone is responsible for several recognizable cinematic moments, one of which includes Macaulay’s legendary scream. During the scene, Kevin is grooming himself after a shower and adds some aftershave to his face. The burning sensation causes him to scream, though he does so while keeping his hands firmly on his cheeks.
However, Macaulay was actually supposed to remove his hands before performing the iconic scream. In forgetting to do so, it added an extra amusement to the scene, with Chris Columbus ultimately deciding to keep it in the movie.
4. Several Major Actors Were Considered
Before the iconic casting of Joe Pesci, several well-known actors were considered for the part of Harry Lyme. Among those actors, Robert De Niro and Danny DeVito were offered the role, but both turned it down.
Dudley Moore and Phil Collins were also considered for the role of Harry, as was Jon Lovitz. Christopher Lloyd was considered for the role of Marv, though Daniel Stern ended up wildly impressing Chris Columbus. As such, this remains one of the more interesting facts about Home Alone.
3. Joe Pesci Had a Potty Mouth
Touching on his Goodfellas roots, director Chris Columbus had to notify Pesci several times about his excessive swearing. Pesci often forgot that he was filming a family-friendly sort of movie, thus the outbursts for his character often involved profanities.
As such, Columbus suggested that Pesci replace his constant “f” bombs with the word “fridge” instead. This worked for Pesci, though his co-star in Stern managed to let the “s” word slip during filming. As such, this is one of the funniest Home Alone facts.
2. Joe Pesci Bit Macaulay Culkin
In the film’s closing climactic scene, The Wet Bandits finally get their hands on Kevin McCallister. During the encounter, Harry exclaims that he’s going to bite off Kevin’s fingers one by one. Furthermore, Harry proceeds to place Kevin’s fingers inside his mouth just before Kevin is saved by Old Man Marley.
During filming, Pesci actually avoided Macaulay as much as he could. Therefore, such an incident made it that much more shocking. Interestingly, Joe Pesci accidentally bit Macaulay Culkin on the finger. The bite was reportedly hard enough that Pesci left a scar on Macaulay’s finger. To add, the scar is still there to this day!
1. Macaulay’s Stunt Double Was An Adult
Diehard Home Alone fans know that Kevin involves himself in several risky situations. As such, putting Macaulay Culkin in actual danger would have been a terrible (and illegal) mistake. Therefore, a faithful stunt double performed Kevin’s daredevil tactics.
During the unforgettable zip-line scene, that isn’t actually Macaulay Culkin sliding down the rope. Instead, stunt double actor Larry Nicholas took the scary plunge. At the time, Nichols was 30 years old, though eerily resembled the 10-year-old Culkin. Despite their age differences, there was no difference in obvious height. Therefore, Nicholas provided the stunt during the memorable moment.