Today, February 9, 2023, marks the 80th birthday of renowned Hollywood actor Joe Pesci. The American star is perhaps best known for playing Tommy DeVito in the iconic gangster movie Goodfellas, but it was in Home Alone that he became a household name. He played Harry Lyme (one of the Wet Bandits) in the picture, and subsequently went on to start an on-set “feud” with the movie’s main star, Macaulay Culkin.
Pesci previously explained how “nice” Culkin was on the set of Home Alone in 1990. The youngster was just ten-years-old at the time, but he was moments away from becoming a worldwide star.
“I remember Macaulay as being a really sweet kid,” Pesci said. “And, even at his age, very professional.” But, because of this, Pesci knew he had to do something drastic to make the movie as good as it could be. He said: “I intentionally limited my interactions with him to preserve the dynamic between his character, Kevin, and my character Harry.”
Considering Harry was breaking into Kevin’s house and trying to rob him, he wanted to make it seem like they were true nemeses.
One hilarious moment in Home Alone had Pesci’s character, Harry, involved his hat and hair getting set on fire. But this wild stunt actually went wrong, and the actor’s head really caught fire.
Pesci recalled: “In addition to the expected bumps, bruises, and general pains that you would associate with that particular type of physical humour, I did sustain serious burns to the top of my head during the scene where Harry’s hat is set on fire.”
The burns were serious, but manageable. He later praised the rest of the team for supporting him during the movie’s more involved scenes.
He said: “I was fortunate enough to have professional stuntmen do the real heavy stunts.”
Pesci also had high praise for Home Alone. “It was a nice change of pace to do that particular type of slapstick comedy,” he said.
He said they were “a more physical type of comedy, therefore, a little more demanding.”
On whether he would ever return to the series in the future, he confessed: “While you never say never, I think that it would be difficult to replicate not only the success but also the overall innocence of the originals. It’s a different time now; attitudes and priorities have changed in 30 years.”
SOURCE