Why Ray Liotta turned down the chance to work with Martin Scorsese again
Like many filmmakers, Martin Scorsese has assembled a group of regular collaborators who end up working with him on numerous projects over the course of decades.
Stars Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio are the two most recognisable from an on-camera perspective, with editor Thelma Schoonmaker the most notable away from the bright lights of being on set. Joe Pesci, Victor Argo, and Harry Northup appeared in at least four Scorsese movies, too, but Ray Liotta only worked on one feature.
To be fair, Goodfellas on its own has proven more than capable of ensuring the two were always inextricably linked in the annals of cinema history, but their one-and-done partnership wasn’t from a lack of trying. In fact, Scorsese initially sought Liotta for the role of Sean Dignam in The Departed, which would eventually go to Mark Wahlberg.
Of course, Wahlberg ended up landing an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ and created one of the crime thriller’s most memorable dynamics with his double-act opposite Alec Baldwin’s George Ellerby, so it would have no doubt been a markedly different performance with Liotta on board.
When asked by The Guardian why he hadn’t worked with Scorsese again, Liotta remained entirely unsure: “I don’t know, you’d have to ask him,” he said. “But I’d love to.” However, he did shed further light on the matter, naming The Departed as the one that got away.
Speaking to Business Insider, Liotta reflected on the immediate dissolution of what could have been a fruitful partnership: “I guess I wasn’t their cup of tea because I have never really done a movie for him since,” before confirming “there was something in The Departed that could have happened.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be: “But I had a movie I was already committed to, so I couldn’t get out of it.”
Not that Liotta let it bother him, offering that “the parts were just never right”. He added: “I have seen every movie that he’s done, and I can’t say, ‘Oh, fuck, I should have been doing that.’ Like, Wolf of Wall Street – who am I going to play?” Tragically, Scorsese was left to lament the fact he never had the chance to re-team with the actor following his death in May 2022.
In an essay for The Guardian penned in tribute, Scorsese confirmed he’d always wanted to make that second movie: “We had many plans to work together again, but the timing was always off, or the project wasn’t quite right,” which he admitted filled him with “regret”. They may have only shared one movie together, but doing so in one of the greatest ever made is a fitting way of going about it.
