Daniel Stern recalls 'scary' Joe Pesci biting Macaulay Culkin in 'Home Alone'

Daniel Stern says Home Alone had more than its fair share of real-life scares — courtesy of Joe Pesci.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight in an interview published Saturday, December 21, the actor shared how his co-star left Macaulay Culkin with a permanent scar during a scene that got unexpectedly intense.

Pesci — who played Harry, the fiery half of the bumbling "Wet Bandits" — once bit Culkin's finger for real while filming a menacing scene. Stern admitted Pesci could be “a scary dude,” but affectionately described him as “a dear friend” who was fully committed to their characters' villainous roles.

“We were trying in the first movie to actually be scary to start with, and then you realise we’re idiots,” Stern explained.

The accidental bite happened during a scene where Harry threatens to chomp off Kevin’s fingers, and Pesci’s method acting left 10-year-old Culkin with an unforgettable souvenir.

“I have a scar,” Culkin revealed during a recent Q&A in Rosemont, Illinois. Recalling the moment, he said, “I saw his face, and I’ve never, ever seen Joe Pesci actually scared. Because he’s like, ‘I just bit a kid!’”

Stern also reflected on enduring his own on-set terror involving a tarantula crawling across his face. “I thought it would be a prop spider,” he joked. “The wrangler assured me, ‘He’s not going to bite you…’ So I let him crawl around on my face for about five minutes, just so we both got used to each other.”

However, it was all worth it for Stern because he “got to hit Joe Pesci with a crowbar, so that was fun too.”