From playing Henry Hill in “Goodfellas” to Aldo “Hollywood Dick” Moltisanti in “The Many Saints of Newark” — the prequel movie to “The Sopranos,” which opens Friday in theaters and on HBO Max — Ray Liotta knows a thing or two about wiseguys.
But don’t let the thuggishness fool you: In real life, he’s more of a gentle fella.
“I don’t go around beating people up,” Liotta, 66, told The Post. “I’ve never been in a fight. I avoid it at all costs.”
Still, after starring in Martin Scorsese’s 1990 classic “Goodfellas” — considered one of the best mob movies of all time — Liotta is back with “Many Saints,” which traces the roots of Tony Soprano’s rise to power. Given that “Goodfellas” inspired “The Sopranos,” playing Hollywood Dick — the grandfather of Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) — is a kind of full-circle moment for the Union, NJ, native.
The role fulfills a long-standing desire that Liotta had to work with “Sopranos” creator David Chase, who also served as a writer and producer on “The Many Saints of Newark.” “David Chase is a special, intense talent,” he said.
In fact, Chase once pursued Liotta to play Ralphie Cifaretto on the mafia drama, but the actor passed on the role that ultimately went to Joe Pantoliano. This time, though, it was Liotta who was doing the pursuing.
“I flew myself out, and had lunch with David and Alan [Taylor, the director],” he said, “and by the end of it they asked if I would play Hollywood Dick.”
Although his “Goodfellas” co-stars Imperioli and Lorraine Bracco appeared in “The Sopranos,” Liotta didn’t really watch the game-changing HBO series. “I had seen bits and pieces of it when it first came out,” he said. “But at that time in my life … you’re out doing things. And then I was just like, ‘I don’t know if I wanna watch it.’ ”
Nor did Liotta feel the need to go back and binge “The Sopranos” to create Hollywood Dick. “[The series] didn’t inform my decisions whatsoever of what to do. It was all in the script,” he said. “Because I didn’t watch the series, I didn’t feel like I really missed a lot of the stuff because I didn’t know what they were talking about. This movie stands alone.”
Although he wasn’t a “Sopranos” fan, Liotta was intrigued by the idea of James Gandolfini’s 22-year-old son, Michael, playing a young Tony Soprano in “Many Saints.” “That’s gotta be a trip,” he said. “What is interesting is it wasn’t like a young version of exactly what James did. It wasn’t this big, hulking Tony Soprano that we know from the series. There was an innocence to [him].”
While Liotta wasn’t able to give Gandolfini any advice — “I barely saw him at all — I never worked on the days that he worked,” he said — he still hopes to bond with the young actor about his “totally” promising career and how he dealt with the trauma of his father’s 2013 death.
“I’d love to talk to him just one-on-one,” he said. “He was the one in Italy with his dad [when he suffered a fatal heart attack], and all of a sudden something like that happens when you’re 14 years old, that’s a really innocent age.”
For his part, Liotta — who was adopted from a Newark, NJ, orphanage before moving to Union — is enjoying a career renaissance at 66. He’ll also be playing new villain Gordon Evans in the third season of the Amazon Prime drama “Hanna,” which premieres in November. And he’s also wrapped the role of Big Jim in the upcoming Apple TV+ limited series “In With the Devil,” starring Taron Egerton.
“Yeah, I’m not complaining. But I worked for it,” he said. “I had to live through a period where things were down instead of up. I’ve definitely had an up-and-down career. But I’m extremely persistent and competitive where I just wanted to get to a certain place again.”
And he likes the fact that he can now bounce between TV and film in a way he couldn’t do in his early days. “If you were doing television [before], then maybe your career as somebody in movies was slipping,” said Liotta, who also co-starred with Jennifer Lopez in NBC’s Brooklyn cop drama “Shades of Blue” from 2016 to 2018. “It’s much more open, less snobbish.”
Whether on the big or small screen, Liotta is happy to “just keep playing pretend” well into his senior years: “I still feel extremely young, even if I am in my 60s.”