Veteran actor Joe Pesci committed to the bit a little too much when he accidentally bit Macaulay Culkin‘s finger while shooting the 1990 Christmastime classic Home Alone.
In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, star Daniel Stern — who portrays the goofier half to Pesci’s more determined robber — recalled what happened: “I totally forgot about that. Joe is … he’s wonderful, I love him, he’s a dear friend, but he’s a scary dude, and he was carrying it all. We were trying in the first movie to try to actually be scary to start with, and then you realize we’re idiots. But there was a fear factor that set up the drama of the thing.”
He continued, “Yeah, I think he did bite it as he was biting his finger, and then he bit it — like, ‘Oh crap, I didn’t really mean to.’ Joe was like, ‘Ah, sorry I did that.’ But only time you might see Pesci break.”
The lighthearted tidbit comes days after Culkin also shared his take on the behind-the-scenes story, as reported by the New York Times. “He was trying to scare me,” Culkin recounted of the Goodfellas Oscar winner. As Stern mentioned, Pesci leaned into the scare tactics that initially color the movie, with Culkin adding, “he was like, ‘I want to be menacing to this kid.’”
While rehearsing the scene in which Harry (Pesci) threatens to bite off Kevin’s (Culkin) fingers, he inadvertently chomped a little too far. “I have a scar,” he said. “I saw his face — and I’ve never, ever seen Joe Pesci actually scared because he’s like, I just bit a kid!” (Pesci declined to comment for the piece, per the Times.)
Written and produced by John Hughes, the irreverent and indelible holiday staple follows an 8-year-old who must defend his family’s sprawling Chicago home from two dim-witted robbers after his family members accidentally abandon him while en route to their Christmas vacation in Paris. (The real locale in Illinois was sold for over $5 million earlier this year after being listed as on the market for a week. Culkin joked, according to the Times, that he considered buying it “just for giggles.”)
When asked why it remains such a popular rewatch, nearly 35 years post release, Stern said, “There’s so much heart in it. It’s so funny. You know, I think we’re really funny … and it’s got a great holiday, Christmas-y feel to it. But I think the thing that really stands out is the kid getting us. Everybody wants that kid to win. It’s a kid-empowerment movie.”
