The actor Martin Scorsese regrets only working with once: “The timing was always off”
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, mainstream American cinema began to look very different to how it did in decades past. As cinematic innovations and societal changes emerged, filmmakers began experimenting with new techniques and narratives. Often opting for more naturalistic settings so that movies didn’t simply feel as though they’d been filmed on a set, many movies from the New Hollywood era took inspiration from movements like the French New Wave and indie cinema. At the forefront was a group of filmmakers who completely transformed American cinema, including Martin Scorsese.
Inspired by a deep love of cinema, from French classics to the illuminating Technicolor of certain Powell and Pressburger movies, Scorsese began making films in the 1960s. After releasing his debut feature, Who’s That Knocking at My Door, the director made the Roger Corman-produced Boxcar Bertha. The films were just the beginning for Scorsese, however, who soon gained significant critical attention when he made Mean Streets, a dark meditation on religion, violence, and family.
The film introduced Scorsese to a wider audience, positioning his work for mainstream recognition by the time he released his next movie, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore. The film earned three Oscar nominations, with Ellen Burstyn taking home the award for ‘Best Actress’. Further success followed with Taxi Driver, a landmark film of the New Hollywood era, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Since then, Scorsese’s career has continued on an upward trajectory, earning him countless awards and widespread acclaim.
Due to his status as one of Hollywood’s most beloved filmmakers, many actors would jump at the opportunity to work with Scorsese. Yet, the director has his go-to favourites who he has collaborated with various times, such as Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio. Still, Scorsese has his regrets about not working with a certain actor enough, especially after their first collaboration with each other was very successful.
Talking to The Guardian, Scorsese admitted that he wished he’d worked with Ray Liotta again, having cast him as Henry Hill in 1990’s classic gangster movie Goodfellas. “We had many plans to work together again but the timing was always off, or the project wasn’t quite right. I regret that now. When I watched Ray as the divorce lawyer in Marriage Story – he’s genuinely scary in the role, which is precisely why he’s so funny – I remember feeling that I wanted to work with him again at this point in his life, to explore the gravity in his presence, so different from the young, sprightly actor he was when I met him.”
Unfortunately, other projects simply got in the way and the pair never worked together again. “I wish I’d had the chance to see him just once more, too – to tell him just how much the work we did together meant to me. But maybe he knew that. I hope so.”
Sadly, Liotta died in 2022 when he was just 67 due to a series of illnesses. Scorsese looks back on his work with Liotta fondly. He explained, “On Goodfellas, we were working improvisationally in most scenes, and many members of the team had known each other and worked together for years, including my mother and my father. Into that walked the new guy, Ray Liotta, and he never missed a beat. It felt like we’d worked together for years.”
