How Ray Liotta was cast in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Goodfellas’
When the news of the tragic and untimely death of the Hollywood hero Ray Liotta arrived, the entire cinematic world began a period of mourning, so far-reaching was the influence and impact of the legendary New Jersey-born actor. While his performances in the likes of Field of Dreams and Hannibal were celebrated, it was his effort in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 crime film Goodfellas that Liotta will be eternally associated with.
Portraying Italian-American criminal Henry Hill alongside the likes of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, Liotta gave a performance of genuine quality, detailing the rise and fall of Hill in the American underground crime world throughout the 1950s to the 1980s. Goodfellas remains one of Scorsese’s best works, largely due to Liotta’s wildly impressive effort.
In an interview with Empire, Liotta once detailed how he managed to get his most significant role. The actor’s agent had set up a meeting with Scorsese, who’d seen Liotta in Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild. Every actor in town wanted that part,” Liotta admitted. “I was nervous, but you didn’t have to read for him. We just sat and talked.”
Another of Liotta’s movies, Dominick and Eugene, had been at the Venice Film Festival at the same time as Scorsese had been with The Last Temptation of Christ. Liotta tried to use the opportunity to see if he was “still in the running” for Goodfellas, but ran into a few physical issues. “I wanted to make a connection,” he explained. “I was running towards him shouting, ‘Hey, Marty!’ and his bodyguards grabbed me and shoved me away. I was like, ‘No, no. I’m sorry, I just wanted to say hi to Marty.'”
Even though Liotta was denied access to his future director, the moment seemed to pay off as he noted, “He told me later that was the moment he decided to cast me. Because of how I reacted. He’d seen Something Wild and thought I might be too aggressive for Henry. Henry was kind of an errand boy, he was never a made guy; he’d never have got anywhere with an attitude like Ray Sinclair’s.”
Still, Liotta was not exactly the biggest name on the casting sheet for Goodfellas, especially up next to Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci, but thankfully, having such acclaimed stars already signed onto star in the film meant that Liotta, a somewhat smaller name, was able to join in the lead role.
“Well, Warners, as studios do, wanted the hottest name they could get,” Liotta said. “When Bob [De Niro] signed on, I guess they had their hook. They had Bob and Joe [Pesci] and Marty, the people who had done Raging Bull, so they had the freedom to cast me.”
