Turns out, one of the most iconic moments in cinematic history wasn’t meticulously planned—it was just Macaulay Culkin doing his thing and accidentally creating magic. Talk about stumbling into greatness!
Chris Columbus, the guy who directed Home Alone (not to be confused with that dude who “discovered” America), recently spilled some behind-the-scenes secrets on THR’s Awards Chatter podcast. The headline? The legendary aftershave scene where Kevin slaps his cheeks and screams like a banshee? Yup, that was a happy little oopsie.
The Script vs. The Chaos
Apparently, the script had instructions—but when do kids ever follow those? Chris explained, “Macaulay was supposed to dab on the aftershave, give himself a light cheek pat, and then let out a scream. Simple, right?” But nope. Instead, Macaulay planted his hands on his face like his cheeks were glued to his palms and just… left them there.
Why? Nobody knows. Maybe it was nerves, maybe he got lost in the sauce, or maybe he thought, “This’ll look great on a meme in 30 years.” Chris admits, “I gave him clear directions, but for reasons beyond human comprehension, he froze with his hands stuck to his face. And you know what? We couldn’t stop laughing.”
But here’s the twist: if the crew laughs on set, it usually means the joke won’t land in the movie. Hollywood logic is weird like that. Except this time, the test audience cracked up harder than Kevin’s booby traps cracking burglars’ skulls, so the scene stayed—and the rest is Home Alone history.
Credit Where Credit’s Due (Spoiler: Not Chris)
Chris, bless his humble soul, refuses to take credit for this moment of genius. “It was all Macaulay,” he confessed. “I can’t even pretend I directed that brilliance. He probably doesn’t remember why he did it, but he’s the real MVP here.”
So, the aftershave scream wasn’t choreographed perfection. It was Macaulay channeling pure, unfiltered, “Oops, did I do that?” energy. And honestly, isn’t that the spirit of Kevin McCallister in a nutshell?
Bonus Trivia: The McCallister Mansion Mystery
As a side note, Chris also addressed the burning question: How did Kevin’s parents afford that ridiculously big, fancy house? While Chris didn’t spill all the tea (tax evasion? pyramid scheme?), he teased enough to keep the conspiracy theories alive. Maybe that’s another story for another podcast.
The next time you slap on aftershave and scream for no reason, just remember—you’re paying homage to a cinematic accident-turned-masterpiece. Thanks, Macaulay.