Home Alone icon reveals his surprising new life after rejecting anniversary invite

Home Alone icon reveals his surprising new life after rejecting anniversary invite Tori Brazier Published December 3, 2025 10:49am Updated December 3, 2025 10:50am Share this article via whatsappShare this article via xCopy the link to this article.Link is copiedShare this article via facebook Comment now Comments The original Home Alone film turned 35 this year (Picture: Moviestore/Shutterstock)

One of Home Alone’s original stars has been keeping himself busy with all different kinds of work after declining to join the cast for any reunion around the upcoming anniversary.

A staple of the festive season, Home Alone was released in 1990 and cemented Macaulay Culkin’s reputation as one of the most successful child actors of all time.

He played eight-year-old troublemaker Kevin, mistakenly left home alone by his family over Christmas and forced to defend his house against a pair of burglars.

And this story chimes slightly in real life with actor Daniel Stern, who played one half of the ‘Wet Bandits’ (i.e. the burglars), Marv, opposite Joe Pesci as Harry in the first two films.

Stern, 68, quit the Hollywood life years ago, and while he still occasionally acts – most recently appearing in Apple TV show For All Mankind from 2023 to 2024 – he moved to a farm in Centura County, California.

Here, he and his wife now tend to cattle and citrus trees, and he also works as a sculptor.

Daniel Stern (R) played burglar Marv opposite Joe Pesci’s Harry (Picture: Moviestore/Rex/Shutterstock) Stern has revealed he won’t be putting any appearances in at anniversary celebrations though (Picture: Getty)

When discussing why he won’t be appearing at any 35th anniversary celebrations, Stern told People Magazine, with a laugh: ‘I don’t leave my farm. It’s no offence to the movie. I’m just … a phone call, Zoom call, I’m in. but… I’m a bit of a homebody.’

And while the actor is delighted by the movie’s success in general, he does struggle when the attention is focused on him.

‘I love knowing that everybody loves it but, like, actual people come at me and say, “We love it”. It’s a little overwhelming sometimes,’ he revealed.

Stern previously revealed that he had only seen Home Alone once properly – at the movie’s premiere in 1990.

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‘I’ve seen clips. I’ve seen it pop up. Or they have highlights when you turn on the TV, I turn on the TV and there I am falling on the toys or something,’ he said to People Magazine in 2024. ‘But yeah, I mean, what, am I going to hunker down and watch me?

‘I love the movie. It’s tremendous. I know the script inside and out.’

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He explained that once he has shot a film, he considers them, creatively, as ‘done’ and needs ‘to go to the next one’.

Director Chris Columbus has also shed light on why he thinks the iconic movie, which also starred Catherine O’Hara, should be left alone and not rebooted, after Disney Plus dropped a new take on the classic in 2021 with Home Sweet Home Alone.

Home Alone was a huge success, catapulting Macaulay Culkin (L) to fame and spawning multiple sequels (Picture: Moviestore/Rex/Shutterstock)

The Thursday Murder Club and Harry Potter filmmaker told Entertainment Tonight: ‘I think Home Alone really exists not as this timepiece, but it was very special moment. You can’t really recapture that.

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‘I think it’s a mistake to try to go back and recapture something we did 35 years ago. I think it should be left alone.’

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which reunited the original cast and was once again directed by Columbus arrived in 1992, while ever-diminishing sequels followed from separate teams with Home Alone 3 (1997), Home Alone 4 (2002) and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012).

Acclaimed filmmaker John Hughes penned the first three films.

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