Daniel Stern says Joe Pesci really bit Macaulay Culkin’s finger during Home Alone

Alone at home is an undeniable Christmas classic, but it’s also a pretty light, fun movie. Of course, just because it plays like a comedy doesn’t mean Joe Pesci, who played one half of the wet bandits who terrorize Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin while he’s home alone, didn’t take his job very seriously.

Daniel Stern played Marv, the other half of these Wet Bandits, and in a recent interview with Entertainment tonighthe particularly recalled a scene where Pesci actually bit Culkin’s character when his character Harry was trying to be scary.

“I completely forgot about it,” Stern said. “Joe is … he’s wonderful, I love him, he’s a dear friend, but he’s a scary guy and he carried it all. Because he was—we tried in the first movie to actually be scary to start with, and then you realize we’re idiots. But there was a fear factor that put the drama behind the case.”

Pesci, who had already won an Oscar when he took on the role, almost immediately apologized for over-committing the scene.” Yeah, I think he bit it while biting his finger, and then he bit it — like : ‘Oh shit, I didn’t really mean that,'” Stern explained. “Joe said, ‘Ahh, sorry I did.’ But (it’s the) only time you might see Pesci break.”

Culkin was the first to revisit this incident, saying in a Q&A at the Rosemont Theater that he still carries a scar from the incident.

“I have a scar” Culkin said. “I saw his face — and I’ve never, ever seen Joe Pesci actually scared … because he’s like, ‘I just bit a kid!'”