Old Enough to Stay Home Alone: Macaulay Culkin Is 30

Almost 20 years ago, in July 1991, the then 11-year-old Macaulay Culkin was featured in Interview, where he discussed Home Alone-themed topics and gave the world an idea of what to expect from My Girl, which was released later that year. A teenage marriage, an arrest, and a turn as Michael Alig later, and—whether you want to hear it or not—the boy known best as Kevin McCallister is 30 today. Below, the child actor sheds some light on what went into filming the scene posted above.

KAREN JAEHNE: With so many brothers and sisters, are you ever home alone?

MACAULAY CULKIN: I’ve been left home to watch them when Mom and Dad go shopping.

JAEHNE: But absolutely alone? Solo?

CULKIN: A couple of times I’ve been home alone. Wow! Great! Blast the music! All alone! Blast the TV! Blast everything! Bye-bye, speakers!

JAEHNE:  Your parents don’t let you play stuff really loud?

CULKIN: Nah, not really.

JAEHNE: Are they strict?

CULKIN: Yeah…well, no…sometimes. I guess they gotta be.

JAEHNE: If you were given your own sitcom and you could make up a family for it what would it look like?

CULKIN: Oh wow, you know what’s wrong with all these families on TV? All these kids say stuff no kid would say. Stuff grown-ups want them to say. Man, I’d make a really realistic family. Where kids get spankings. On TV parents say, “Oh, you shouldn’t do that ever again. Now you can have ice cream.” Forget it.

JAEHNE: You’ve been doing a lot of things lately that wouldn’t seem too real to a lot of kids. What’s your upcoming movie My Girl about?

CULKIN: It’s about a couple of kids who grow up sort of and don’t know what’s happening, you know?

JAEHNE: What’s happening where?

CULKIN: You know. First kiss and stuff.

JAEHNE: Did you have to kiss in the movie?

CULKIN: Yes. Yeeeccchhk. Double yeeeccchhhk.

JAEHNE: You mean you didn’t want to?

CULKIN: Yeeeccchhhk. It was like, fifteen takes. All angles. Yeeecchhhkkk.