The great director remembers the actor’s astonishing performance in his gangster classic – and the day the distraught star had to play a euphoric scene right after receiving tragic news
Photograph: Warner Bros./Barry Wetcher/AllstarPhotograph: Warner Bros./Barry Wetcher/Allstare had some problems trying to get Goodfellas made. It came at a low moment in my career and the studios were not exactly eager to work with me. And it was a big production, with locations all over New York and many speaking parts. We also needed to find just the right actor to play the lead, Henry Hill. The part required a rare combination of qualities. He needed to be dangerous.
Two very interesting things happened. My producer, Irwin Winkler, did not see Ray in the role. He didn’t think he had enough charm to counterbalance all the violence and the excess. One night, while Irwin was having dinner in a Santa Monica restaurant with his wife Margo and his friend Richard Zanuck, Ray politely approached him and asked for a couple of minutes of his time. They walked into a quiet corner, they talked, and right then and there Ray persuaded Irwin.
‘Everyone came together in an emotional bond around Ray’ … Liotta with Joe Pesci in the classic film.I will never forget the day we shot the scene where Henry, Tommy and Jimmy bring their tribute money from the Air France heist to Paulie, played by Paul Sorvino. When they were setting up, I got word that Ray had just gotten a call with bad news. I went right to his trailer and found him completely distraught. His mother was dying.
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