Originally, Warner Bros. Pictures wanted a well-known actor to portray Henry Hill, and Liotta didn't at all hold the name value the production studio was searching for. A long list of Hollywood legends were considered for the role, like Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Val Kilmer, and Tom Cruise.
The role in question was that of Irish-American gangster Jimmy Conway in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas. As per a Goodfellas deep-dive by ShortList, Pacino was offered the role but turned it down for fear of typecasting.
Al Pacino and John Malkovich were considered for the role of Conway, and Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Val Kilmer, and Tom Cruise were considered for the role of Hill. To prepare for the role, De Niro consulted with Pileggi, who had research material that had been discarded while writing the book.
Why was Henry Hill removed from witness protection?
To clear things up, Hill was arrested in Seattle in 1987 for cocaine trafficking. While the movie states that he was still protected under federal law until 1980 or so, the fact is that Hill and his family were kicked out of the Witness Protection Program in 1987 for his drug arrest in Seattle (via NBC News).
“We were thinking about just a few actors to play Henry Hill, and Ray was one of them. I had one concern. I knew that he could handle a role like the one he had in Something Wild, but here he would have to carry the whole picture.
Michael Franzese on Knowing Mafia Snitch Henry Hill, Played by Ray Liotta in 'Goodfellas' (Part 3)
Who is Joe Pesci based on in Goodfellas?
New York City, New York, U.S. DeSimone's career in the Lucchese family is explored in the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, and inspired the character of Tommy DeVito, portrayed by Joe Pesci, one of the main characters of the 1990 film Goodfellas.
In a new essay, the Oscar-winning director says he wishes he had collaborated with Liotta again after they teamed up on 1990's “Goodfellas," but the timing never felt right. “We had many plans to work together again but the timing was always off, or the project wasn't quite right.
Sorvino was particularly known for his roles as Lucchese crime family caporegime Paulie Cicero (based on real life gangster Paul Vario) in Martin Scorsese's 1990 gangster film Goodfellas and as NYPD Sergeant Phil Cerreta on the second and third seasons of the TV series Law & Order.
The infamous New York City gangster Jimmy Burke, the inspiration for Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas, always had a knack for getting away with things. As an Irish-American, Burke was never formally inducted into a Mafia family. He wasn't Italian, so he couldn't be a made man, but that proved to work in his favor.
In 1980, Henry is arrested again and Karen quickly flushes $60,000 worth of cocaine down the toilet so the FBI wouldn't find it, leaving them broke. After Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) plans to have her and Henry killed, they enroll in the witness protection program, with Henry serving as an informant.
Luckily for the crew behind Goodfellas, real gangsters reacted quite well to it, with Pileggi telling GQ in 2010 that they love it “because it's the real thing” and they knew the people featured in it, so it felt “like a home movie”.
Henry Hill, seen here in 1997, was played by Ray Liotta in 'Goodfellas. ' PUBLISHED: December 3, 2009 at 11:13 p.m. | UPDATED: January 11, 2019 at 8:39 a.m. Notorious Mob rat rat Henry Hill says his former lawyer isn't such a bad fella.
Who betrayed Tommy in Goodfellas? In the film it's left open to speculation, but in real life Paul Vario almost certainly betrayed Tommy DeSimone to John Gotti. Gotti almost certainly tortured Tommy for days, himself, before personally murdering him.
Casting. Michelle Pfeiffer was an almost unknown actress when she appeared in Scarface, and both star Al Pacino and director Brian De Palma initially argued against her casting. Pacino insisted on taking the lead role as Tony Montana, although Robert De Niro had been offered it and had turned it down.
Posting a portion of Al Pacino's audition tape for the role of Michael Corleone to his Instagram account, the director stated: “The interesting thing here, was a reason given to me against casting Pacino was not only was he too short, but also too 'scruffy'.”
Originally, Warner Bros. Pictures wanted a well-known actor to portray Henry Hill, and Liotta didn't at all hold the name value the production studio was searching for. A long list of Hollywood legends were considered for the role, like Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Val Kilmer, and Tom Cruise.
A year after Tommy's murder, Jimmy started to lose patience with Henry as he was involved in the drugs business in the worst way possible. Dealing in drugs was strongly discouraged within the mafia as it was long considered to be a dangerous business, even more than assassination, robbery, protection or armed dealing.
Goodfellas' Morrie Kessler was based on Martin Krugman, an associate of Jimmy Burke (Conway in Goodfellas) and Hill and who just like Morrie owned a wig shop and men's hair salon in Queens.
In 1990, Karen filed for divorce after 23 years of marriage. The divorce was finalized in 2002. After their divorce, Henry remarried and fathered another child. Karen Hill continues to use an alias to protect her identity, as do her two children, Gregg and Gina.
Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo (born June 4, 1944) is an American former mobster who was de facto boss of the New Jersey DeCavalcante crime family before becoming a government witness in 1999. Fictional mob boss Tony Soprano, the protagonist of the HBO series The Sopranos, is said to be based upon Palermo.
He played Genco Abbandando in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II, and Frankie Carbone (based on Angelo Sepe) in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.
The Lucchese crime family continues to operate today in New York City, with involvement in traditional rackets such as illegal gambling, labor racketeering and extortion.
Summary. Joe Pesci retired from acting in 1999 to focus on his music career but returned in 2010 for the film Love Ranch. Since his return, Pesci has had a limited number of acting projects, including a critically acclaimed performance in The Irishman that earned him an Oscar nomination.
Then, the two old friends, calling each other “Steve” and “Marty,” discussed how Scorsese built trust with and worked alongside members of the Osage nation; the fact that Robert De Niro loved the Osage language so much that he wanted the whole film to be performed in it; and the breakout performance of Killers lead ...
Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have plenty of mutual admiration. The actor, 80, and director, 81, enjoy a professional relationship and personal friendship that goes back five decades, and they both express their deep respect for each other in the new issue of PEOPLE.
