How old was Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone? Catherine O’Hara recalls ‘terrible’ line she struggled to say to child actor in Christmas classic

Alone at home star Catherine O’Hara once revealed how she struggled to say a film’s line to Macaulay Culkin while filming. In the film, she played Kate, the mother of 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 Alone at home follows Kevin McCallister, who is accidentally left at home by his family when they go on Christmas vacation to Paris. The story revolves around how he protects his house from a couple 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 filming.

In the film, Kevin’s mother (O’Hara) sends him to an attic as punishment and says she won’t 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 anyone 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 didn’t have a family.”

During her speech, Catherine O’Hara revealed she struggled to say the line that followed. She said:

“The scene where I had to drag him upstairs to sleep in the attic because he’d been misbehaving, he’s talking about the family and I’m like, ‘Well, you’d be pretty upset if you woke up tomorrow early and you had no family,’ and he says, ‘No, I wouldn’t.’ And I had to say: ‘Say that again – maybe it will happen.’

The 70-year-old continued:

“I can’t tell you how much it killed me – I couldn’t wrap my head around saying something so horrible to this beautiful child.”

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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 emotional speech, O’Hara spoke of Culkin for being able to adapt to the exponential rise to fame at such a young age.

“This handsome 10-year-old little boy was called a superstar, a money maker, one of the hottest leading young men in Hollywood by the world. How does anyone survive that. I think you have to possess a certain quality , a gift that dear John Hughes evidently recognized in you Macaulay, your sense of humor,” she said.

O’Hara went on to praise Macaulay Culkin, believing that he had brought that “sweet yet twisted yet completely relatable sense of humor” to everything he had done since the creation of Alone at home.

Talking about the film, the 70-year-old declared that Alone at home would forever be 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 an excellent script and a wonderful director,” she said.

She concluded her speech by acknowledging Culkin’s hard work, believing that he had “made acting seem like the most natural thing in the world to do.”

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Alone at home was 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.