Ray Liotta
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ahalpert
Major Contributor
Sad to hear. I AC'd on a movie he was in (Pawn). I remember him fighting the producers to change a scene he didn't like right up until they shot his lines. (He lost that fight but he was totally right.) He also fought with the swarm of producers about limiting their post-take chit-chat ("Will the bald committee shut up for a minute?!") in order to keep the shoot day on schedule so the actors would get to do more takes. He was a very strong personality and it really showed me how actors who make it are proactive in guiding their projects to success. And when the fans came around, he turned on the charm like a light bulb.
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Liam Hall
Veteran
That's great to hear. Loved Ray.
Ray had some acting credits by then - a few yeas on Another World among them - but his breakthrough role was as a psycho ex in Jonathan Demme's "Something Wild". That movie came out in 1986, just as a I got a job working the video section of a large electronics store in Wisconsin. I never saw the film but a lot of customers asked about it and I remember the various posters and the videotape box covers. After that. "The Field of Dreams" was a Kevin Costner vehicle but Ray had a juicy part and the film itself was a huge hit.
But "Goodfellas", which was robbed in the Best Picture category, was a seminal film. I had to have seen it dozens of times. It was brilliant in all aspects - acting, writing, directing, cinematography, soundtrack. It wasn't just a perfect film, it was a great film. And Liotta was its star. (OK, De Niro and Pesci stole a few scenes too, as did Tony Powers who just had to "get the papers, get the papers"). Maybe I have an excessive fascination with the topic but, to me, "Goodfellas" was even better than "Godfather", a more traditional Hollywood film.
And it was far superior to "Dances with Wolves", a very good film but not on the same level.
But "Goodfellas", which was robbed in the Best Picture category, was a seminal film. I had to have seen it dozens of times. It was brilliant in all aspects - acting, writing, directing, cinematography, soundtrack. It wasn't just a perfect film, it was a great film. And Liotta was its star. (OK, De Niro and Pesci stole a few scenes too, as did Tony Powers who just had to "get the papers, get the papers"). Maybe I have an excessive fascination with the topic but, to me, "Goodfellas" was even better than "Godfather", a more traditional Hollywood film.
And it was far superior to "Dances with Wolves", a very good film but not on the same level.
Charlie Ross
Member
I hope people will at some time view his 1988 film "Dominick and Eugene" co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis and an amazing Tom Hulce. I had to re-read the plot just now but it's the original feelings it gave me that stuck forever.