Random Behind-The-Scenes Stories From The Making Of 'Goodfellas' (15 items)

(#12) Ray Liotta Listened To Interview Tapes To Embody Henry Hill

Co-writer Nicholas Pileggi provided Ray Liotta with hours of audio he’d recorded interviewing the real-life Henry Hill during his research for the book Wiseguys. Liotta recalled Hill was “eating potato chips the whole time… it (was) just a horrible noise.” Liotta also noted how casual Hill was about what he'd done, remembering lines like, “Oh, yeah, and then this one got whacked.”

Years later, Liotta and Hill finally met at a bowling alley. Looking back on the event, Liotta recalled, “The first thing [Hill] said was thanks for not making me look like a sh*tbag... I said, 'Did you see the movie?'"
(#5) De Niro Used Real Money In The Casino Scene

According to prop master Robert J. Griffon Jr., Robert De Niro was the only person on the set allowed to use real money while filming, as he didn’t like the feeling of fake money in his hands.

For Griffon, that meant entrusting a sizable amount of his own funds to the production:

[De Niro] had like $5,000 cash in his pocket. I went to the bank and took out a couple thousand dollars of my own, but you had to keep track of it. Like the scene in the casino, he's throwing $50 and $20 bills around. And as soon as they cut, we're trying to get them all back: ‘Everybody freeze!’
(#13) 'Goodfellas' Did Not Screen Well

Initial screenings of Goodfellas did not go well. Executive Producer Barbara De Fina recalled:

The previews were scary... the audience would get angry. The audience wanted to go back to having fun. The movie was taking them someplace they weren't sure they wanted to go... At one point, we wound up hiding in a bowling alley because the audience was so angry. One guy wrote F*CK YOU all over the comment card.

Despite the initial blowback, creators knew Goodfellas was something special. According to former chairman of Warner Bros. Bob Daly, “We all were a little depressed [after the preview]. But we also knew that it was a good movie.”
(#6) Ray Liotta’s Anger Wasn't Always An Act

Ray Liotta admitted the scene where he assaults Bruce (Mark Evan Jacobs) was fueled by authentic anger, as his mother was losing her fight with cancer during the production:

You're dealing with real anger. My mom had cancer... There was a lot of anger about her being sick... I was wound up. I might have gotten a phone call about my mom [before that scene]. That guy was nervous.

According to Jacobs:

Ray was boiling with rage. He stayed away from me, across the street, and he kept that going for take after take. We tried to keep the anger controlled, but one take got a little too close and I got hit.
(#4) Scorsese Chose The Music For 'Goodfellas' Years Before Filming Began

Christopher Brooks - the music editor for Goodfellas - recalled, “Marty once told me that he knew what all of the songs were going to be three years before he shot the film. There was no music supervisor. Marty is the music supervisor.”

In the film, Scorsese uses nostalgic ‘50s and ‘60s doo-wop songs to ground Henry Hill’s childhood days spent working for the Mafia in a recognizable historical period. As Hill becomes entrenched in mounting mob activities and substance abuse in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, songs like “Layla” by Eric Clapton and “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones jar viewers out of youthful innocence and into the unforgiving world of adulthood.

Scorsese explained his inspiration for the soundtrack, saying:

When I talk about recreating the spirit of that world, the music is as important as the dialogue and the behavior. From 1947 on, music scored what was happening in the streets, the back rooms. And it affected, sometimes, the behavior of the people, because this music was playing in the streets. Jukeboxes were brought out during the summer. Windows were open, and you could hear what everybody else was listening to. It expresses the excitement of the time. Simply, it's the way I saw life. The way I experienced life.
(#11) 'Goodfellas' Lost Best Picture To 'Dances With Wolves'

While the film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Director, Goodfellas only took home one win. Joe Pesci secured Best Supporting Actor for his role as Tommy DeVito.

At the 63rd Oscars, Pesci gave one of the shortest acceptance speeches in history. He later explained, “I really didn’t think I was going to win.”