“Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin is verifying a long-running fan rumor about the children’s holiday classic.
In between eating spicy wings alongside “Hot Ones” host Sean Evans, Culkin, 44, confirmed that his stunt double in the 1990 movie was a “very short” 30-year-old man named Larry Nicholas. The notoriously elusive child star visited Evans’ show on the Thursday, Aug. 7, episode to participate in a now time-honored celebrity tradition: Stars eat increasingly hot wings while answering personal questions.
“Is it true that your stunt double was a very short 30-year-old man?” Evans, 39, asked.
“Yeah, his name was Larry, and I saw him in the wardrobe department for the first time,” Culkin replied. “I get changed and I walk out and there’s this guy, Larry, dressed exactly like me ’cause we’re both trying on the same outfit.”
Culkin said he greeted Nicholas, who asked how old he thought he was.
“I go, ‘That’s a loaded question.’ I know he’s much older than me ’cause I was 9. So it was loaded,” the actor said. “I go, ’13’?”
Needless to say, the guess was wrong, but Culkin said there was no bad blood. “He thought that was funny,” the actor added. The movie, which has since become a holiday season staple with its slapstick comedy, launched Culkin into a singular kind of fame. Followed two years later by a much-beloved sequel, the film franchise featured major stars like Joe Pesci, Catherine O’Hara and even President Donald Trump.
Culkin, who has since returned to the screen on the HBO show “The Righteous Gemstones,” told Evans that he later grew protective of Nicholas.
He recalled a scene they tried to shoot in which Nicholas was being crushed by a shelf. “It was a vicious first take,” he said. “They didn’t like the way everything felt, and they do it again … And I’m going, ‘Please take it easy on Larry. He’s only 13 years old.'”
Culkin went on to confirm another rumor that Pesci, who played a burglar in the film, kept his distance while they were shooting to ensure the child star would remain authentically afraid of him.
“That’s what I heard,” Culkin said. “I can see why he was kind of like, ‘Oh, I want to scare the kid.'”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Macaulay Culkin ‘Home Alone’ stunt double was Larry Nicholas
