Taron Egerton is currently hitting the press circuit hard to promote his latest project, the miniseries, Black Bird, set to begin streaming on Apple TV Plus next week. In his most recent interview, an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Rocketman actor shared a bit of commentary offered by his Black Bird co-star, the late great actor Ray Liotta, on the subject of doing promotional appearances.
Black Bird tells the story, based on true events, of convicted drug dealer Jimmy Keene, who has a chance to get out of his ten-year sentence if he can coax a confession out of serial killer Larry Hall. Egerton stars as Keene and Liotta plays the character’s father. Egerton was excited to get a chance to work with the legendary Goodfellas star.
“Obviously he was something of a hero to me, and when I read this script, it’s got a very touching and really dysfunctional relationship at the heart of it. It’s the relationship between my character and his father, and it was so exciting when Ray agreed to do it,” Egerton told Kimmel Live guest host Chelsea Handler.
Egerton also revealed that Liotta offered him some very choice words after he began “moaning about something I had to do as an actor because that’s what we do, actors, we moan.” After describing an onerous bit of publicity he had to perform in support of the miniseries, Liotta became silent. According to Egerton.
“I was telling him about it, he’s kind of listening quietly, not really looking at me and then he sort of leaned, I finished and he really didn’t say anything. I thought, God, you know he’s, he doesn’t agree with me, he’s made a judgment about me because of that. And he just leaned over and went, ‘F… you. Pay me.’”
The line, for those who need a refresher viewing of Goodfellas, the Martin Scorsese gangster film that brought Liotta to worldwide fame, was uttered by his character repeatedly in a scene describing how the mob’s protection rackets worked. It was a great shout-out for any fan and particularly great for Egerton to hear after describing his promotional responsibilities.
Also, words to live by. Liotta will be missed.
Black Bird will premiere on Apple TV Plus on July 8.