In the nearly 35 years since Home Alone was released, the 1990 Christmas comedy has seen enduring popularity, with no small thanks due to the chemistry between then-child star Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister and Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, who played would-be robbers Harry and Marv.
However, Pesci's dedication to the role was so committed that in an effort to come off as menacing, he accidentally bit Culkin's finger in one scene, which resulted in an actual scar. Culkin has spoken about the chomp before, and in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, Stern was likewise asked about the incident.
"I totally forgot about that. Joe is—he's wonderful, I love him, I mean, he's a dear friend, but he's a scary dude, and you know, he was carrying it all," Stern recalled. "Because he was—we were trying 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 set up the drama of the thing."
"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,'" then 67-year-old continued. "Joe was like, 'Ah, sorry I did that.' But only time you might see Pesci break."
"Everybody had their own little thing we were doing, I was being my goofy guy, Joe was being the cartoon figure he was, a really fun comedy duo, and so we just had a blast," Stern added.
In a 2004 appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Culkin proudly showed off his scar from Pesci. "It's actually one of the scenes, you know they hang me up on the closet door or something, they said, 'I'm gonna bite each one of your fingers off one at a time," he explained. "And during rehearsal, he actually bit me, and it broke the skin and everything! I'm a little nine-year-old boy and he's going around biting [me]."
"Yes, I did, I got really mad at him," Culkin said, when asked if he was angry with Pesci. "I was like, 'I don't care how many Oscars you have or whatever—biting a nine-year-old! What the heck's wrong with you?!"
Well, at least Pesci felt bad enough about it that it snapped him out of character. And, for what it's worth, Culkin might have the coolest scar ever.
