Charlie Day has opened up about working with late actor Ray Liotta and why delays in Fool’s Paradise‘s post-production work has shaped his “biggest regret”.
Speaking with Today‘s Willie Geist on Sunday Sitdown to discuss Fool’s Paradise – Day’s directorial debut – the Super Mario Bros. Movie star talked about working with the late Goodfellas actor.
Willie Geist, who has seen the film, told Day that the film features Liotta “at his best”. Day responded by saying “My biggest regret is that Ray is not going to get to see the audience see him. He has seen the film,” before adding that Liotta would often check-in on Day and the progress of the film during its post-production season.
“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 added: “And like you said, 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. He’s funny, he’s really funny in the movie without being too 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 said before going on to explain that Danny DeVito had originally been attached to the role but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.
“The fact that he said yes, the fact that he gave this performance and the fact that he kept coming back to help me improve the movie, I’m really grateful for the work he did,” Day concluded.
The film would mark one of Ray Liotta’s final roles, with the actor dying in his sleep in the Dominican Republic in May 2022, where he was shooting the film Dangerous Waters.
Fool’s Paradise is set for release in May this year.
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