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Ray Liottaonce received an unexpected message fromFrank Sinatra’s daughters.
During a recent appearance onJay Leno’s Garage, the 66-year-old actor recalled receiving a horse head in the mail after playing the legendary singer in the 1998 filmThe Rat Pack.
Of course, as anyGodfatherfan will know, the horse head came with an unspoken warning: “You’re toast.”
Liotta explained to Leno that Sinatra’s daughters, Tina and Nancy, had previously asked him to act in a miniseries about the famous group of singers. He’d turned them down at the time, because “I just felt too uncomfortable,” he said.
So, when he took the role later inThe Rat Pack, the women sent him the warning.
“Obviously, it wasn’t a real one, but it was a horse’s head,” Liotta said. “And, you know, a horse’s head means you’re toast.”
He continued, “It turned out that his daughters sent it and said, ‘Oh, you could do this one, but you couldn’t do the one that we wanted you to?’ "
Nancy and Tina never followed through with their miniseries, though they were involved with the 2015 documentarySinatra: All or Nothing at All.
Liotta had gained somewhat of a reputation for turning down a different iconic role around the same time — Tony Soprano in HBO’s hit mob seriesThe Sopranos. However, the actor debunked those rumors in September, explaining that he had been approached about appearing in the series, but not for the lead role.
Instead, he saidSopranoscreator David Chase “once talked” to him about playing the smaller role of Ralph Cifaretto.
“No! I don’t know where that story came from,” Liotta toldThe Guardianabout the rumorhe was in line to play Tony. “David once talked to me about playing Ralphie. But never Tony.”
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“I didn’t want to do another mafia thing, and I was shootingHannibal,” he told the outlet, referencing the 2001Silence of the Lambssequel he starred in. “It just didn’t feel right at the time.”
In spite of saying no toThe Sopranosover 20 years ago, Liotta is finally finding himself in that universe, thanks to a role in the upcoming Tony Soprano origin storyThe Many Saints of Newark.
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In fact, the star aggressively pursued a role in the project this time around, even paying for his own flight to New York to talk with Chase about the role.
“I’m really not sure what made me so determined,” he reflected. “But I was and luckily it all worked out.”
Perhaps it’s becauseThe Many Saints of Newarkis set in the New Jersey city during the 1960s where and when Liotta himself was raised.
source: people.com
