How old was Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone? Catherine O'Hara recalls "horrific" line she struggled to say to child actor in Christmas classic
Home Alone star Catherine O'Hara once revealed how she struggled to say a film's line to Macaulay Culkin while shooting. In the film, she played Kate, the mother of the eight-year-old protagonist Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin.
The 1990 Christmas blockbuster became the second-highest-grossing film of that year and continues to be celebrated as a timeless holiday favorite. Directed by Chris Columbus, the Home Alone follows Kevin McCallister who is accidentally left at home by his family when they go on a Christmas vacation to Paris. The story revolves around how he protects his house from a pair of robbers.
Meanwhile, Macaulay Culkin was 10 years old while shooting for the film. On December 1, 2023, he reunited with Catherine O'Hara at a ceremony to unveil his new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. While talking about the film at the ceremony, O'Hara shared her experiences during the filming.
For the unversed, in the film, Kevin's mother (O'Hara) sends him to an attic as punishment, saying that she doesn't want to see him “for the rest of the night.” To this, Kevin says:
“I don’t want to see you again for the rest of my life, and I don’t want to see anybody else, either.”
O'Hara's character responds by saying:
“I hope you don’t mean that – you’d feel pretty sad if you woke up tomorrow morning and you didn’t have a family.”
During her speech, Catherine O'Hara revealed that she struggled to say the line that followed. She said:
“The scene where I had to drag him upstairs to sleep in the attic ‘cause he’d misbehaved, he’s mouthing off about the family and I say, ‘Well, you’d be pretty sad if you woke up tomorrow morning and you had no family,’ and he says, ‘No, I wouldn’t.’ And I was supposed to say, ‘Then say it again - maybe it’ll happen.’
The 70-year-old continued:
“I can’t tell you how much that killed me – I could not wrap my head around saying something so horrific to this beautiful child.”
Catherine O'Hara raved about Macaulay Culkin for "surviving" fame at a young age
Macaulay Culkin's 2023 reunion with Catherine O'Hara was an emotional affair for both and moved Culkin to tears. In an emotionally surcharged speech, O'Hara talked about Culkin for being able to adapt to the exponential rise in fame at such a young age.
“This beautiful 10-year-old little boy was called a superstar, a moneymaker, one of the hottest leading young men in Hollywood by the world over. How does anyone survive that. I believe you’d have to possess a certain quality, a gift, that dear John Hughes obviously recognized in you Macaulay, your sense of humour," she said.
O'Hara continued lavishing praise on Macaulay Culkin, opining that he had brought the "sweet yet twisted, yet totally relatable sense of humor" to everything he had done since the making of Home Alone.
Talking about the film, the 70-year-old declared that Home Alone would be forever loved by people and be considered a "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. Yes, he had a most excellent script and a wonderful director," she said.
She ended her speech by acknowledging Culkin's hard work and opining that he had "made acting look like the most natural thing in the world to do."
Home Alone went on to get nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards that year and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2023.
