The iconic scream was improvised

Culkin’s hands-on-face scream is perhaps the most iconic still from the entire movie, but it very nearly didn’t happen.

In the scene, Kevin applies cologne to his face after showering, only to cry out in pain and grasp his cheeks, but this was not in the script at all.

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, director Chris Columbus revealed that the scream was entirely improvised by Macaulay.

He said: “On the first take, he slapped his face and kept his hands glued to his face as if he had just put superglue on his face, and his hands stayed completely still as he screamed like the Edvard Munch painting. That's why he was such an interesting kid, no one else would have done that."