Turns out that even Wet Bandits are susceptible to serious burns. In a newinterview with People magazine, Oscar-winning Goodfellas star Joe Pescishared details about some of the injuries he received during the making of theChristmastime classics, HomeAlone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. “Itwas a nice change of pace to do that particular type of slapstick comedy,” theactor said via email about the blockbuster sequel, which celebrates its 30thanniversary this year. “But the HomeAlone movies were a more physical typeof comedy, therefore, a little more demanding.”
Certainly, the cast and crew of Lost in New York — including returning starMacaulay Culkin and returning director, Chris Columbus — faced the demandingtask of ensuring that the second film would live up to the standards (and boxoffice grosses) of the previous installment. That meant that young KevinMcAllister’s rematch with bumbling burglars Harry (Pesci) and Marv (DanielStern) had to turn up the heat in terms of comedic stuntwork. In one memorablescene, Harry’s head is once again set on fire in a direct callback to thefirst HomeAlone. And Pesci says that scene left a mark on his skull.
“In addition to the expected bumps, bruises, and general pains that you wouldassociate with that particular type of physical humor, I did sustain seriousburns to the top of my head during the scene where Harry’s hat is set onfire,” Pesci told People , noting that he performed the stuntwork for theentirety of that scene. “I was fortunate enough to have professional stuntmendo the real heavy stunts,” he added.
Pesci’s bumbling burglar experiences a burning sensation on his head in HomeAlone 2: Lost in New York. (Photo: 20th Century Fox/YouTube)
When he wasn’t nursing a burned noggin, Pesci remembered having a great timeon set with his co-stars — although he deliberately avoided getting toofriendly with Culkin. “I intentionally limited my interactions with him topreserve the dynamic between his character, Kevin, and my character Harry,”the actor explained, while also calling the then-12-year-old star a “reallysweet kid.” And while sequels can sometimes feel like cash grabs, Pesci feltthat everyone involved was committed to making a great movie. “[ Lost in NewYork had] the same, if not more, energy and enthusiasm as the original.”
Story continues
Lost in New York was also the final bow for the original trio of Culkin,Stern and Pesci, even as the HomeAlone franchise continued on for fouradditional sequels and spin-offs — most recently 2021’s Home Sweet HomeAlone. Meanwhile, Pesci took an extended break from the big screen for muchof the 2000s, and only just returned for his first major movie role in MartinScorsese’s 2019 drama, The Irishman. He’s currently set to star oppositePete Davidson in the upcoming Peacock comedy, Bupkus.
Joe Pesci attends the George Lopez 14th Annual Celebrity Golf ClassicTournament in October 2021. (Photo: Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
Asked whether he’d consider making a grand return to the HomeAlone series,Pesci sounds like he’s not interested in getting another hot scalp treatment.
“While you never say never, I think that it would be difficult to replicatenot only the success but also the overall innocence of the originals,” theactor told People. “It’s a different time now; attitudes and priorities havechanged in 30 years.”
Here’s another sign of the changing times: 30 years ago, Donald Trump’ssurprise Lost in New York cameo made audiences laugh. But three decades —and one controversial presidential administration later — HomeAlone fans arenow finding ways to edit him out of the movie. Speaking with YahooEntertainment in 2020, Columbus said that Trump essentially forced his wayinto the film.
“We wanted to shoot in the Plaza Hotel,” the director said, referring to thefamous property that Trump owned at the time. “We got wind back that the onlyway we could get into the Plaza Hotel was if Donald Trump had a cameo in themovie. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?'” [The manager] said, ‘No, he wants acameo. He wants a line.’ So we devise this thing cause we needed to shoot inthe Plaza. My producers were like, ‘You can cut it. We’ll shoot it. And we’llcut it later where this is the only way we get in the Plaza.'”
“We previewed the movie for the first time in Chicago,” Columbus continued.”And when that moment came up, it [got] the loudest laughter and cheers. Thatwas literally a high point for the audience. I mean, no one had a crystalball. They couldn’t know what was going to happen today.”
HomeAlone and ** Home Alone 2: Lost in New York are bothstreaming on Disney+**