Whats involved in handling an actor as young as Macaulay Culkin?
The key is to get the real kid and not the actor kid who has a dialogue coach and parents reading him lines. The first couple of takes they’re acting. The third take they’re kids. We really found that as a little kid, Mack’s terrific. When he’s jumping on the bed, he’s not Kevin, he’s Mack. He was having a great time in that scene. When we said, ‘Okay, you have to stop now.’ He said, ‘Why?’ Chris (director Columbus) worked with him so well. He’s sort of like a kid too. Why are children’s movies suddenly so popular? Because they’re familiar. I’ve seen Home Alone in urban areas, blue-collar areas, and rich suburbs and when Mack is told to hang up the phone and he says ‘Make me,’ everybody goes (in a knowing drone) ‘Ohhhh….’ They all get it. People forget how smart kids really are. When I design these characters, I just try to make them as realistic as I can. When Catherine O’Hara sends Mack upstairs, that dialogue is word for word me and my kids, and me and my parents: ‘You always get
