Whatever Happen To Macaulay Culkin

A couple of weeks ago I did a blog title “Whatever Happy To…”. That week I focused on my love for Rick Moranis, in the spotlight this week, Macaulay Culkin. Growing up, three of the biggest movies for me was probably Home Alone 1, 2 and definitely, Uncle Buck. Playing the lead wasn’t unfamiliar to an innocent young Culkin. Back then, only being three years younger than him I always thought, this kid is going to be huge when he’s older. So let’s see whatever happen to him.

Why I Miss Him

In the mid-1980’s, Macaulay Culkin had a few roles to get him experience in front of the camera. Roles you probably dont remember him from was probably, Cy Blue Black in Rocket Gibraltar and Billy Livingstone in See You in the Morning. In 1989 he landed a bigger role as Miles Russell in Uncle Buck. John Candy was at the height of his popularity  and with a young Macaulay Culkin on the rise, the mixture of both actors played out some of the funniest parts in the movie. The back and forth routine when Culkin was grilling Candy of his priorities in life is still classic. Giving the starting actor somewhat of an edge and smart ass feel for someone so young. In 1990, another John Hughes movie was released and with such an impressive response in Uncle Buck. Hughes had to hire Culkin as the lead in Home Alone. For a moderate budget, Home Alone went onto make half a billion dollars world wide. Making Macaulay Culkin the biggest actor that year. Later Culkin added roles in Only the Lonely, My Girl, The Good Son, Getting Even With Dad, and The Pagemaster. With a few sub-par roles in the early 90’s, he went back to what made him famous and reprised his role as Kevin McCallister in 1992’s Home Alone 2. His last big role in Hollywood was 1994’s Richie Rich. Culkin had a few small TV appearances as well in Frasier and Will & Grace. While I didn’t enjoy the later of his roles, I’ll always remember him as the quick one liner, smart kid from Uncle Buck and Home Alone.

So Where Is He ?

While essentially laying low for the majority of the late 90’s and 2000’s, he came back to play a reprising role in the successful TV series Kings. Also from 2005 to 2010, he would do numerous voice over work for Seth Greens Robot Chicken. He’s basically kept out of the limelight altogether. He’s said acting at such a young age has left him burned out, which has left him to do some small roles in England and taking on some smaller ones in New York.

Is This It For Maccaulay ?

Some actors go through drug or alcohol problems, some change professions, and some just burn out and retire. Even though he’s ran into some drug problems, a break up with his father and living essentially as a recluse, those certainly weren’t the demise of his career. Culkin stats that he had all the fame one kid could want, and just didn’t want it anymore. He made his money, he met a ton of famous people and has now decided to just be semi retired. He said he’s always stopped in New York City where he still lives and asked, “where have you been?!”, always stating that, he’s just enjoying life. I appear in one project a year and do whatever else I want the rest of the time. Maybe he’ll make a triumphant return to Hollywood, one day appearing in a Judd Apatow movie, or maybe alongside Jonah Hill, Jason Segel or many of the other young comedians today. I hope one day he’ll find his way back to the bigger roles that made him great.

I love the quote he said in 2007 saying, “Acting found me. I thought maybe I should try to find it again. We’ll see.”

Whatever Happen To Rick Moranis ?

I was a child of the 80’s and that was amazing for a few reasons. Since I wasn’t a teenager, I wasn’t exposed to the horrible music, but I was subjected to the amazing movies and television shows. How could I not fall in love with movies like Batman, Ninja Turtles, Uncle Buck or The Karate Kid. Then there was a little movie called, Ghostbusters. Undoubtedly one of the biggest comedies of all time and a timeless classic to us 80’s kids.

So when news hit for the better part of 2012 of a Ghostbusters 3, I started to ask my wife Alicia, “What the hell happen to Rick Moranis”. When she responded, “Who?”. I knew I had a question that needed answering.

Why I Miss Him

Rick Moranis got his start on the Canadian version of Saturday Night Live show called, SCTV. Rick fell into place perfectly with the comedy troop of John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Dave Thomas and Eugene Levy. The show aired from 1977 – 1983, and launced every character from that show to successful Hollywood careers. Rick’s most popular sketch was the McKenzie Brothers, which led to a 1983 movie called, Strange Brew. His break through movie role was nerdy neighbor Louis Tully in Ghostbusters. The quirky, happy go lucky accountant that eventually turns into a demon dog. From him telling everyone what his buddy makes a year owning and operating a small carpet cleaning business, or how great of a deal the Canadian smoked salmon was for the party, definitely gave the audience something to laugh about. His trade mark thick glasses and nerdy appearance would transfer over well to roles such on Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and Honey I Shrank the Kids (1989). In 1987 he landed probably his most popular role as Dark Helmet on Mel Brook’s Spaceballs. Later in 1989 he reprised his role as Louis Tully on Ghostbusters 2. Since then he’s remained pretty quite, only appearing beside John Goodman in 1994 The Flinstones, as Barney Rubble. His last appearance was voicing Rutt in Disney’s 2006 movie, Big Brother.

So Where Is He ?

In 1991, his wife Anne died of liver cancer, which left him to raise their two children. While juggling an acting career and being a single parent, it started to prove too difficult for him. A short break turned into a longer one, which eventually turned into his retirement from acting in 1997. He’s dabbled in voice over work, but he hasn’t acted in a live action movie since 1997.

Is This It For Rick ?

Whats funny about acting nowadays is that if an actor isn’t performing live, he’s either doing voice over work, producing, or dabbling in music. Which is exactly what he’s been doing. He hasn’t exactly retired per-say, but just focused on smaller en-devours like doing Big Brother 1 and 2, producing an animated cartoon featuring Bob & Doug McKenzie and in 2005, he released a comedic country music album entitled ‘’The Agoraphobic Cowboy.”Also from time to time, he’s written articles for Bloomberg.com, which you can find here.

I hope one day Rick gracious the big screen again and puts some much needed comedic touch back into todays movies.

Source – M.I.A