New York plays home to the majority of the greatest Christmas movies ever made. Elf, Miracle on 34th Street, It’s A Wonderful Life – all New York State Christmases. Another holiday favorite (and in my opinion, the greatest movie sequel of all time) set in NYC turns 30 this year: Home Alone 2: Lost In New York.

That movie takes series stakes bigger and better – Macaulay Culkin’s Kevin McCallister boards a different holiday flight from his loathsome family and ends up on the run from the Wet Bandits he helped put in prison in the first movie. Joe Pesci plays the hapless Harry, one half of the Wet Bandits, who is actively trying to find and murder this child. It’s a bonkers sequel.

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Pesci recently sat down with People Magazine to celebrate the three decades of Home Alone 2, and dropped some new information on the filming, including a fairly gruesome on-set injury.

Joe Suffered Serious Burns For Real While Filming The Movie

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20th Century Fox/Youtube
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Kevin pulls some pretty vicious pratfalls on the Wet Bandits throughout the movie that no mortal would withstand outside of cinema. (Brick thrown from 100 feet up, electrocution a la faucet, toilet full of kerosine, etc.) Most of the big falls and slips were done by Hollywood stuntmen, but one stunt Pesci did himself ended with medical care.

Pesci received serious burns to the top of his head when his hat was set on fire by an overhead booby trap involving a blowtorch. The actor told People that this was on top of, “The expected bumps, bruises, and general pains that you would associate with that particular type of physical humor.”

Joe Pesci Didn’t Talk To Macaulay Culkin On Set

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20th Century Fox/Disney
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Pesci said he avoided talking to the then-child-star to preserve their on-screen dynamic. Joe wanted to avoid the possibility of any of Kevin and Harry’s interactions in the film being even remotely friendly, so he limited their connections as much as possible. And don’t take that at any more than face value, Pesci is very complementary of Macauley. He told People, "I remember Macaulay as being a really sweet kid and, even at his age, very professional."

Don’t Count On Joe Coming Back For A Third Time

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Pesci says “never say never,” but thinks it would be difficult to match the tone, success, and innocence of the first two Home Alones today. It’s hard to imagine a Home Alone movie lasting more than 5 minutes with all the tech we have today. Imagine something like this:

It’s also admittedly pretty difficult to imagine Joe pulling off the same level of brutal physical stunts at 79 that he did 30 years ago. Once you pass 70, your blowtorch burn days should really be a thing of the past.

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York is available to stream on Disney+.

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