Daniel Stern Says Playing Head of NASA Is Harder Than Home Alone's Marv
Joseph Russell
Published Mar 13, 2026
You can currently catch Home Alone alum Daniel Stern in the fourth season of For All Mankind on Apple TV+. The actor plays NASA administrator Eli Hobson, who is certainly a different type of character than Home Alone's Marv. ComicBook.com recently had the chance to chat with Stern, and he talked about the idea of playing Marv again and revealed the one question he's sick of answering from fans of the holiday classic. During the interview, Stern explained why playing a smart character like Eli is harder than playing a dope like Marv.
"Definitely more challenging," Stern said of playing a genius. "Man, when I got the scripts to For All Mankind, it's like, 'Oh my God, there's so much science.' I have to say scientific words. People's names are Russian names. How the heck do you even pronounce that? I panicked at each script because it was like, 'Oh crap, there is a lot of science and I'm supposed to know what I'm talking about.' So I don't know how I work as an actor, but I know I don't do a lot of research. But if I get the lines right, if I can understand what I'm saying, I can pretty much fake my way through anything."
Daniel Stern Almost Directed Ace Ventura:
During his interview with ComicBook.com, Stern was asked if he'd be interested in directing again after helming the 1993 film, Rookie of the Year, and he revealed he almost directed Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
"Good questions. I have pursued directing. The thing was when Rookie came out, I got a ton of offers to direct other films. But it was also the time when I was doing a sequel to Home Alone and then doing a sequel to City Slickers," Stern explained. "Just to be crass, I hit the cash cow for the one and only time in my life as an actor and it was like, 'I don't think I can jump out with my family. I got to sock some of this away.'"
He continued, "Then I was the original director of Ace Ventura, and I was on Varsity Blues and I had things, but then I got another job. So I've been trying to direct something and I've directed a bunch of television stuff that I did a show, Manhattan, that I directed. It was on a few years ago about the atomic bomb. I thought for one second about directing For All Mankind. No way. I wouldn't be able to pull it off. It's too big. It's too technical."
You can watch Stern on For All Mankind on Apple TV+.
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