Martin Scorsese ‘devastated’ by Ray Liotta’s death as Goodfellas director pays tribute to ‘uniquely gifted’ actor

The director labored with Liotta on Goodfellas (Image: AP/Warner Bros)

Martin Scorsese has been left ‘shocked and devastated’ by Ray Liotta’s demise.

The Many Saints of Newark actor died in his sleep on the age of 67 on Thursday (Might 26), and his Goodfellas director has paid tribute to the ‘adventurous and brave’ star as he recalled their time working collectively on the 1990 traditional gangster movie.

Martin instructed Folks in an announcement: ‘I’m completely shocked and devastated by the sudden, surprising demise of Ray Liotta. He was so uniquely gifted, so adventurous, so brave as an actor.

‘Taking part in Henry Hill in Goodfellas was a tall order, as a result of the character had so many alternative sides, so many sophisticated layers, and Ray was in virtually each scene of a protracted, powerful shoot.

‘He completely amazed me, and I’ll at all times be happy with the work we did collectively on that image. My coronary heart goes out to his family members, and it aches for his loss, means too early.’

Fellow Goodfellas actors Robert De Niro and Paul Sorvino additionally paid tribute to Liotta.

Scorsese described Liotta as ‘so brave as an actor’ (Image: Allstar/Warner Bros. / Barry Wetcher)

Robert mentioned: ‘I used to be very saddened to be taught of Ray’s passing. He's means too younger to have left us.’

Paul added: ‘Ray was a terrific actor and a “goodfella” in one of the best sense of the phrase. He was nice to work with and a superb pal. I’m actually going to overlook him.’

Alessandro Nivola thinks it's ‘a disgrace’ that Liotta – who was filming Harmful Waters within the Dominican Republic on the time of his demise – handed away at a time when he was experiencing a ‘actual renaissance’ in his profession.

He instructed The Hollywood Reporter of his Many Saints of Newark co-star: ‘Aside from simply feeling unhappy he’s not right here anymore, I really feel it's a disgrace that he died when he was all of the sudden having an actual renaissance, the chance to supply so many nice performances once more.

‘One in every of my huge takeaways from expertise on Many Saints was simply how excited he was to be there — and the way very critical he was in his preparation…

‘He’s a really troublesome man to explain in a number of phrases as a result of he contained multitudes. And what made him so thrilling as an actor to observe was he was very unpredictable. I simply needed to be on my toes as a result of I didn’t know which route he was going to go.

‘He was by no means boring and positively had a humorousness. He was very demanding of himself and of different folks. He had very excessive requirements about performing, about his craft…

‘He liked the movie. He received lots of appreciation for his work, and rightly so. And I’ve even observed on social media as we speak, that individuals have mentioned, “What an awesome efficiency to exit on.” ‘