Macaulay Culkin: what films influenced the actor's career (19 photos)

Many viewers know Macaulay Culkin from the first two parts of the cult film "Home Alone". As a child, Culkin was very popular, and many directors wanted to see the young man in their films, but then something went wrong and the actor's career was cut short.





Brief biography

Macaulay Culkin was born on August 26, 1980, to a former Broadway actor and a former traffic controller. At the time of his birth, he was the third child in the family, but far from the last, because after his birth, his parents did not stop there, and eventually the number of children in their family grew to seven, although they lived in a small apartment in New York.

At the time of Macaulay's birth, his mother worked as a telephone operator, and his father was a kister (church caretaker) in the Catholic Church, so there was no reason to count on special wealth. But it was because of this that the future star of the film "Home Alone" went to study at a Catholic school.



But five years later, Macaulay transferred to a special professional school with an emphasis on acting, which served as an impetus for his future career. Although, of course, it is worth noting that Macaulay Culkin had demonstrated acting skills before that. At the age of 4, he played a cameo role as a boy in a Halloween costume in the TV movie "In the Midnight Hour." Of course, this could not be called a success, since Culkin was not visible there, and he was not listed in the credits. But it played a big role in his development, since the cunning father realized that something could come out of his third child.

Beginning of a career

In 1988, Macaulay Culkin played much more noticeable roles in the movie "Rocket to Gibraltar" and in the TV series "The Equalizer." However, these films did not affect the actor's career.





Rocket to Gibraltar

The first success in his career can be called one of the leading roles in the film by John Hughes "Uncle Buck" (1989) with John Candy in the leading role. It was this film that opened the way for the young Culkin.

The film turned out to be very successful, and with a budget of 15 million dollars, it collected about 80 million at the box office, not to mention the profit from sales of videotapes.



Uncle Buck

But the most important thing is that it was during the filming of the movie "Uncle Buck" that John Hughes had the idea to make a movie about a boy who accidentally stayed home alone when his parents with his brothers and sisters flew to Paris. And Hughes decided that Macaulay Culkin should play the main role in the future film.

Success

John Hughes himself could not take part as a director of the movie "Home Alone" (1990), but he wrote the script for the film, and also became the producer of the film. Chris Columbus, who at that time was known as the screenwriter of the film "Gremlins", as well as the director of the film "Heartbreak Hotel", sat in the director's chair.



Home Alone

And despite the fact that John Hughes wrote the script specifically for Culkin, auditions were still announced for the role of Kevin. But no one was able to show themselves better at the auditions than Macaulay Culkin, so he was approved for the main role. By the way, he received 40 thousand dollars for his role in this film.

Macaulay's father (Kit Culkin) realized that his son was a gold mine, so he, acting as his agent, set the condition that another of his children would have to play in the film. The choice fell on Kieran Culkin, who played Kevin's cousin named Fuller with a weak bladder.



Kieran Culkin in the film "Home Alone"

The film "Home Alone" was a stunning success. With a budget of 18 million dollars, the film collected 476.7 million at the box office. Naturally, such a thing could not be put on the back burner, and filmmakers decided that they could not stop there.



Home Alone (1990)

Moreover, for this film Macaulay received the award for "Best Young Actor", and was also nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor in a Comedy Film or Musical.

Chris Columbus also liked the boy, and while talks about a sequel to the film "Home Alone" were just underway, he immediately signed Culkin for a role in the film "Only the Lonely Will Understand" (1991). Of course, the success of this film was not as loud as that of the film "Home Alone", but it earned its 25 million. And this does not include sales of videotapes.

As a result of these successes, the boy became of interest, and in the same 1991, to the delight of his cunning dad, he was signed to the film "My Daughter", which also showed itself very well at the box office, collecting almost 60 million dollars with a budget of 15 million.



My Daughter

The career of the young actor was incredibly soaring, and then the filming of the film "Home Alone 2" began, the success of which no one doubted either, because many viewers were waiting for the continuation of the cult film. Moreover, if for the first part of the film Culkin received only 40 thousand dollars, then for the film "Home Alone 2" his fee was already 4.5 million dollars, which was a record amount for a child actor.

The budget of the film grew to 20 million dollars (a quarter of which went to Culkin himself), and the film itself collected 359 million in the worldwide box office. And this does not include sales of videotapes. Yes, of course, the success was less than that of the original (possibly due to the secondary plot), but still the amount was huge, which once again only consolidated Macaulay's success. And his brother Kieran returned to the role of Fuller, which again greatly pleased their father.



Home Alone 2

But in 1993, Culkin was signed to a rather unusual film for him, because this time he starred not in a family comedy, but in a real thriller "The Good Son", where he played the 12-year-old brother of the main character played by Elijah Wood. But the most important thing is that his character was a real juvenile maniac.

On a personal note, I really liked the film. It is very heavy and tense, but incredibly interesting, and when watching it, you just don't want to stop. Culkin really managed to play the role of a "crazy" teenager with manic tendencies perfectly.



The Good Son

And, of course, the film was not as successful as the Home Alone duology, but nevertheless it collected $60.7 million worldwide with a budget of $17 million, making the film another successful project in Culkin's career.

Failures

It would seem that the star boy's career was on the rise. Directors and producers fought to get Culkin into their films, but in 1994 something went wrong.

In 1994, the film "Equal with Father" was released, for which Culkin received a record-breaking 8 million dollars, which is why the film's budget stretched to 30 million. However, the box office receipts were not at all pleasing, because the film earned only 18.8 million dollars. This was the first failure in Culkin's career, but not the last.



Equal with Father

In the same 1994, a cartoon with elements of the film "Page Master" was released, where Culkin played the main role, and also voiced his animated version. The film was a complete failure at the box office, collecting only 13.6 million dollars with a budget of 27 million. Moreover, Culkin was nominated for a "Golden Raspberry" for this role, but he did not receive this "award" in the end, fortunately for him.



Page Master

This greatly shook Culkin's career, but did not kill it yet. 13-year-old Culkin wanted to take a break from filming, but his greedy father, already accustomed to millions, did not want to miss the opportunity to "milk" his son. All this resulted in Macaulay's parents quarreling with each other more and more often.

As a result, in the same 1994, the last film from Culkin's childhood was released - "Richie Rich", directed by Donald Petrie based on the comics of the same name. Filming this film caused particular difficulties, because Macaulay at the age of 13 was a very tall young man, which is why they had to look for taller adult actors specifically for him, so that he would still look like a child against their background.



Richie Rich

And despite the fact that Macaulay's fee for this film was 8 million dollars, his greedy father could no longer stop and wanted to earn even more. He set the conditions that Macaulay would star in this film if they took another of his children into the film. And if in the film "Home Alone" they took Kieran Culkin in addition, then in the film "Richie Rich" they shoved his next brother Rory, who played Richie in his early childhood.



Rory Culkin in the film "Richie Rich"

In the end, the film "Richie Rich" earned $76 million at the box office with a budget of $40 million, which is not such a good result. But due to the fact that the film studio received 75% of the box office receipts, and also due to the fact that the film also sold well on video cassettes, the film turned out to be commercially successful, despite the negative reviews from critics.

It is also worth noting that Culkin was again nominated for a Golden Raspberry for this role.

But Macaulay himself was completely exhausted from filming, which did not suit his money-hungry father, who was already completely hooked on his son's high fees. As a result, their quarrels with Macaulay's mother escalated into a real feud, which is why their marriage broke up in 1995.

But that wasn't all, because Macaulay's parents were in for a long court battle over custody of their children. Whoever won the case would get access to Macaulay's trust fund, which at that time was worth about $20 million. As a result, in 1997, the court was concluded in favor of the actor's mother.



Kieran and Macaulay Culkin with their parents

Macaulay himself completely stopped communicating with his father. In some interviews, he directly stated that his father was a bad guy, and the only thing he was grateful to him for was that he showed him what he shouldn't be.

Career Death

After the film "Richie Rich", Macaulay decided to take a break from filmmaking, which lasted for as long as 9 years. In 2003, Macaulay Culkin returned to filmmaking, starring in the film "Party Mania". But there was no trace left of his former success. With a budget of 5 million dollars, the film earned less than 750 thousand. The adult Culkin turned out to be of no use to anyone.



Party Mania

Moreover, by that time he was heavily addicted to illegal substances, because of which he was no longer perceived as an actor. In 2004, bags of illegal substances were found in his car, for which he was brought to court. As a result, Culkin received three years, but suspended. However, Culkin himself denied his addiction to illegal substances, adding that he never did it for fun.



Macaulay Culkin in the hard times of his life

The subsequent films in which Culkin starred were of no use to anyone and were released directly on video cassettes. You probably haven't even heard of such films as "Saved" (2004), "Foster Hall" (2005) or "The Wrong Ferrari" (2011).

In 2012, Culkin founded the parody rock band "Pizza Underground". But people didn't really appreciate Culkin as a musician, and the band was disbanded in 2016.



Of course, Macaulay tried to return to more cinema, but he didn't succeed very well. The only small upswing in his career was his participation in the film "American Horror Story: Double Feature" (2021), but this did not in any way affect the actor's return influenced, and for the last 4 years he has not acted anywhere.



American Horror Story: Double Feature

Although, personally, I would not be surprised if the filmmakers want to make another sequel to Home Alone, including an adult Kevin, since his brother Buzz already appeared in the last part as a reference. But I think that if this film does come out, it is unlikely to fill theaters.