Todd Gilchrist editor On Feb. 24, Ray Liotta is set to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, just shy of a year since his death at the age of 67.
The honor comes the same week as the release of “Cocaine Bear,” the sensational based-on-a-true-story film directed by Elizabeth Banks in which he plays a character she describes as “a gangster … but he’s also an unfit grandpa as well.” That characterization also encapsulates the breadth of his accomplishments on both film and TV as an actor, which range from mobsters and tough guys to loving fathers — and plenty in between.
Ahead of the ceremony, Banks tells Variety that she cast Liotta after remembering her experiences working with him on the 2011 film “The Details.” “He really left an impression on me,” she says. “I love the opportunity that I get to give actors to show other sides of themselves or to have a little more fun maybe than people are used to seeing.
I knew Ray had a little twinkle in his eye and a little mischievousness about him that we could use to great effect in ‘Cocaine Bear’.” It’s that mischievousness that first made him a star, beginning with Jonathan Demme’s “Something Wild,” where he played Ray, the volatile ex-husband of Melanie Griffith’s character Audrey.
Read more on variety.com