Home Alone 2’s Fire Stunt Actually Hurt Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci suffered serious burns from doing his own stuntwork on a certain Home Alone 2 scene that involved his hat catching on fire again.
Home Alone vet Joe Pesci actually did his own stuntwork for a scene in Home Alone 2 and sustained serious burns from it. Pesci, along with Daniel Stern and Macaulay Culkin, starred in the first two classic Home Alone movies. Home Alone 2 movie takes place a year after the events of the first and sees Kevin McCallister (Culkin) alone in New York City as his family vacations in Florida. After the first two films, the cast and story of the Home Alone movies changed.
A scene in Home Alone 2 calls for the hat of Joe Pesci’s Harry to catch on fire, and during a conversation with People Magazine, Pesci reveals that he did the stunt himself and suffered serious burns while doing so. The actor said the movies were a more physical type of comedy and therefore, more demanding. See what Pesci had to say about the stunt and his injuries below:
“In addition to the expected bumps, bruises, and general pains that you would associate with that particular type of physical humor, I did sustain serious burns to the top of my head during the scene where Harry’s hat is set on fire. I was fortunate enough to have professional stuntmen do the real heavy stunts.”
Every Time Marv & Harry Should’ve Died In Home Alone
The Wet Bandits, Marv (Stern) and Harry, suffer several booby traps that might have held more severe punishments in real life. The first is the hot iron from the infamous basement of the first Home Alone. When Marv pulls a string, a hot iron’s sent flying down and lands on Marv’s face. It’s highly unlikely someone could have survived such a prank, but Marv only walks away with the imprint of the hot iron on his face. Marv also takes a hard tumble from the stairs after this prank, when he steps onto a nail and lands on the hard floor of the basement.
Harry also saw the same immunity from the life-threatening booby traps of Home Alone. This includes both instances Harry’s head caught fire, and, in the first film, when Harry gets shot in the face with a BB gun. Being struck with a paint can to the face was another booby trap that should have successfully done away with Harry and Marv, but the two seem to walk away without concussions even.
Pesci Isn’t The Only Home Alone Actor With Scars
In a Home Alone scene where Harry hands Kevin up on a door and threatens to bite off his fingers, Pesci actually bit Culkin during rehearsals. Culkin even claims to have scars from where Pesci bit him, as Pesci reportedly broke skin. The Home Alone films are holiday classics, so the effort Pesci made to really bring his character to life is admirable. Taking serious burns to the head, or even doing one’s own stuntwork, isn’t common in the industry, and that may be for good reason. Pesci’s stories bring admiration and nostalgia front and center as Home Alone 2 turns 30 years old.
