Charlie Day wishes Ray Liotta were still alive to see their upcoming film, Fool’s Paradise, hit theaters.
“My biggest regret is that Ray is not going to get to see the audience see him,” Day shared during a new interview with Willie Geist for Sunday TODAY. The Goodfellas legend, 67, died in his sleep while visiting the Dominican Republic in May 2022, as reported by Yahoo Entertainment.
Day, who rose to stardom in the FX comedy series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, went on to explain that Liotta would frequently reach out to him after production to find out when the film, directed by Day and also starring Jason Sudeikis and Jason Bateman, would finally head to theaters.
“Ray would text me every three months like, ‘Hey, man, what’s going on with that movie we did? When is it getting out?’ And I would say, ‘Ray, I’m so sorry. I’m stuck back doing It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I have to deliver this season and as soon as I wrap, I’m going to get back into the editing room, so everything’s on hold,'” Day said, noting that Liotta luckily was able to see the film during the post-production period, and frequently offered to help with re-shoots and other edits. The film is now set to arrive in theaters on May 12.
Charlie Day spoke about the passing of actor Ray Liotta, who appears in his upcoming film. (Photo: VALERIE MACON / AFP)
Day, who also appears in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, went on to praise Liotta’s performance in the comedy, in which he plays a powerful Hollywood producer. Liotta even pitched jokes that ultimately ended up in the script.
“He delivers a performance that is, in my mind. I won’t say it’s Goodfellas good, but it’s Ray Liotta good. It’s up to his standards of what he can do well,” Day told Geist, calling Liotta’s comedic chops funny “without being over the top.” “He was just a really driven, committed, serious-about-his-craft guy, and I feel lucky he’s in the movie.”
Day isn’t the only director to praise Liotta’s recent work. Back in February, actor-turned-filmmaker Elizabeth Banks spoke about working with Liotta on Cocaine Bear, sharing with Yahoo Entertainment that she was “just so grateful that he blessed this movie that he trusted me as a director.”
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Liotta died last May. (Photo: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
“I’m a female director. I wanted to make a big [movie that] has a lot of action and CGI, and it’s a very muscular, masculine kind of a project. And I’ve been told by people in Hollywood, ‘I don’t know if you can direct those things because I don’t know if male actors will follow you.’ And I say to that, ‘When Henry Hill [Liotta’s Goodfellas character] follows you, you can make anything you want.’ So that was the gift that Ray gave to me. He gave me the confidence to know that I can direct anybody doing anything,” Banks shared.
Soon after his death, Liotta’s fiancée Jacy Nittolo shared on social media about the shock of his sudden loss.
“No words to properly describe what one goes through with this type of unexpected loss,” she wrote, captioning a series of photos of the duo along with their family. “I miss him every second of every day. Each day my hint of some light is being with our children — Dax, Karsen, Chazz, Jade & Joey.”
Liotta received a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame nine months after his death.
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