The movie Jon Bernthal called the “crowning achievement” of his career
Jon Bernthal’s roster includes some of the greatest directors ever, such as Denis Villeneuve, who cast him as a bent cop in Sicario, Edgar Wright, who envisioned him as a brutish criminal for Baby Driver, Ava DuVernay, who showed us his more sensitive side in Origin, and Christopher Nolan, in whose upcoming epic The Odyssey, he will be playing the gruffest Spartan since Master Chief.
When it comes to the very best of the best, however, only one name occupies that spot in Bernthal’s mind. Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes, the star of The Punisher was asked to list his five favourite movies of all time, and alongside classics like The Silence of the Lambs, True Romance and one absolutely awful film you’d never guess in a million years, he also opted for another juggernaut that makes a lot of sense when you think about it: Goodfellas.
Martin Scorsese’s 1990 mobster opus crops up time and time again on lists of the best movies ever made, and Bernthal absolutely adores it. He recalled going to see it at the cinema “30 times” when it first came out, and his passion for the film hasn’t gone away. He also described Scorsese as his “favourite filmmaker”, so imagine how excited he must have been when he finally crossed paths with his idol over two decades later.
“The fact that I got the chance to work with him was sort of the mountain top, the kind of crowning achievement of my career,” he revealed, “I don’t mean that in sort of how I’m perceived by the world. I just mean in terms of experience. My brief time on that movie really changed the way that I work as an actor. He’s one of these guys that makes you feel that anything is possible.”
The film Bernthal is gushing over is The Wolf of Wall Street, where he played the role of Brad Bodnick, a drug pusher whom Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort recruits as part of his team of hard-selling, hard-partying stockbrokers.
It’s not the biggest part in the movie, especially when compared to the A-listers that dominate the cast, but it is an important one, equivalent to playing one of Henry Hill’s running buddies in Goodfellas, which Bernthal must have been absolutely thrilled with.
It’s easy to think that Scorsese is overrated, for his name comes up time and time again in lists of the ‘best ever’ or people’s favourites, which might make you wonder if he really is as good as everyone says he is. However, while your personal mileage with the man will, of course, vary, objectively speaking, it’s hard to call him anything but legendary, as few filmmakers can rival him in terms of sheer number of instantly recognisable titles.
In terms of longevity, he is almost untouchable, having been nominated for ‘Best Director’ at the Oscars in five consecutive decades, with his nod in 2023 for Killers of the Flower Moon making him the oldest nominee in the category’s history. Even as he gradually heads towards his 90th birthday, he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
It’s not every day you get to work with your literal hero, and Bernthal has more than earned this opportunity to brag.
