Macaulay Culkin turns 45 today

An early successful acting career does not necessarily end at the very start - Jodie Foster, nominated for an Oscar at the age of 14 for Scorsese's Taxi Driver, is an example. However, much more often it happens differently - at least for the simple reason that, growing up, a child star turns into an ordinary adult actor, of which there are thousands. And here there are many more examples than with Foster (Potteriana, The Lord of the Rings, Terminator 2, etc.)

However, the most striking example is probably still Macaulay Culkin, who at one time was even called one of the most famous children in the history of cinema. The reason is the same - although he took up most of the screen time in Home Alone and Home Alone 2, he was just a boy whose build was suitable for the film.

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Actually, Culkin had two problems. The first is his father, who became his agent and, after the success of Home Alone, continued to demand multimillion-dollar fees for his son. (Eventually, when Culkin Jr. grew up, he fired his father and has not communicated with him for over 30 years).

The second problem is Culkin himself, who, after success at such a young age, not only did not have a career, but also a sane life, which is proven by his suicide attempt due to a breakup with Mila Kunis. He was already 32 years old at the time, and this suggests that the boy, spoiled by fame and money in childhood, never learned to cope with life's difficulties as an adult.

Speaking of money. Macaulay Culkin, who received "only" $100,000 for his role in the 1990 film Home Alone, on the wave of his fantastic popularity signed a contract (or rather, his father signed a contract) for Home Alone 2 for $5 million, and for Richie Rich in 1994 for $7 million. Taking inflation into account, this would amount to $12 million today.

The Guinness Book of Records even named Culkin the highest-paid child actor. But this is not entirely true. In 1923, the parents of eight-year-old Jackie Coogan, who became famous after he became Charlie Chaplin's partner in the wonderful film "The Kid" at the age of six, signed a contract for his next work for $1.5 million. Today, taking inflation into account, this would be about $13.5 million.

But what he has in common with Coogan is that money also ruined the parents of the young millionaire actors. So, the adult Coogan even sued his stepfather, demanding that he return his fees. It was after this that special rules were adopted in Hollywood to protect the financial situation of child actors, so Culkin did not have to sue his father-manager.

And there was no need - because of his father, his film career simply ended, as he demanded more and more money for roles for Culkin, who by that time had already grown up, but did not acquire new talents.

Now information about Culkin's acting career, which does exist in some form, has to be searched for bit by bit on the Internet. In his personal life, one must assume, he is still happy - he is married to actress Brenda Song, who bore him two children.

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