The moment Ray Liotta first met Henry Hill
Among the most beloved actors of his generation, Ray Liotta appeared in many memorable projects throughout his career, but nothing would compare to the unimaginable impact of Goodfellas. Martin Scorsese’s 1990 gangster epic set the tone for the rest of the decade, creating one of the most entertaining entries to the genre. To this day, Goodfellas is routinely cited as one of the greatest cinematic achievements of the great American auteur.
Liotta delivered the performance of a lifetime as Henry Hill, a gangster who rises through the ranks of organised crime while pursuing his childhood dream of being a criminal. Interestingly, Liotta’s character is actually based on the real, eponymous mobster who was a notable figure within the Lucchese crime family. Following his arrest, Hill turned into an informant for the FBI, and his testimonies facilitated the arrests of many of his notorious colleagues.
During a conversation with Empire, Liotta revealed that he was interested in meeting Hill during the initial stages of the production process. According to the actor, it was Scorsese who told him that meeting Hill was unnecessary for the role. Even though the director asked Liotta to only follow the script, he was insistent on doing his own research and met up with writer Nick Pileggi to learn more about Henry’s life and mannerisms.
While recalling the details of his preparation for the role, Liotta shared: “I asked him if I could meet with Henry, and he said, ‘No, let’s stick with the script’. But I met with Nick Pileggi (author of Wiseguy, on which GoodFellas was based). I went to his apartment and asked him a thousand questions, and he had all these tapes of Henry talking. I studied and studied those.”
Those tapes proved to be pivotal for Liotta’s research because he learnt how casual these gruesome crimes were for Hill. The actor only got the chance to meet the mobster after the release of Goodfellas. In the same interview, Liotta revealed that he got a call from Hill, who wanted to discuss the movie with the actor who played him.
Liotta recalled: “I got a call saying he wanted to meet me, so I met him at a bowling alley in the Valley. He was there with his brother, this huge, scary-looking guy. They both sat with their backs to the wall; I guess he could’ve got whacked any time. We joked around, and he said, ‘Thanks for not making me a scumbag.’ I was like (under his breath), ‘Did you see the movie?'”
The actor added: “He seemed a little defeated. He didn’t have that swagger he has in the movie. And by then, he was into drugs and partying hard. I saw him years later at a photo shoot. They wanted actors who had played real people. They shot me and Henry in an alleyway with a Cadillac. And he was just looped, reeking of booze, kind of a loud, rowdy drunk. I saw him one more time after that. I was going to a restaurant in Venice with a friend, and I hear this voice, ‘Ray! Ray!’ and it was Henry, slumped against a tree, just fucked up. He tried to talk, but I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. That was the last time I saw him.”
