Goodfellas Why Paul Sorvino Almost Quit Playing Paulie Cicero

Goodfellas: Why Paul Sorvino Almost Quit Playing Paulie Cicero

Goodfellas counted on the talent of Paul Sorvino as Paul Cicero, but he came very close to quitting just days before filming began.

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Goodfellas Why Paul Sorvino Almost Quit Playing Paulie Cicero

Goodfellas is widely considered one of the greatest movies in film history, and many elements from it have been praised over the years, as are the performances of the main cast – but it was almost different as Paul Sorvino almost dropped out before filming. Martin Scorsese has explored a variety of genres throughout his career as a filmmaker, earning him the respect and admiration of the audience, but he’s still best known for his gangster movies. His best work from that genre, and also one of his best in general, is Goodfellas, released in 1990 and based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi.

Goodfellas chronicles the life of Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), from his days as a teenager fascinated by the mafia presence in his Italian-American neighborhood and running errands for Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino) and his crew, to his full involvement with the Lucchese crime family and his decision to become an FBI informant years later. Goodfellas was very well-received by critics and won various awards, and the audience has praised the performances of the cast for years, but Henry’s crew could have been very different, as Sorvino almost dropped out.

Sorvino played Paul Cicero, the local caporegime and member of the Lucchese crime family in New York, which is one of the “Five Families” of the American Mafia. Cicero was the one who gave Henry his start in the mob, as he ran errands for the crew and slowly started to get involved in a couple of illegal activities. Paulie was a father figure to Henry in the mob, but their relationship began to deteriorate when they got out of jail and Henry started to traffic drugs, something Paul didn’t accept in his crew. Paulie’s rule was to stay away from the business of drugs, but Henry didn’t listen. Paul ended their association because of this, and he was imprisoned along with Jimmy Conway (Robert De Niro) and others after Henry testified against them. Paulie, then, was a very important character in Henry’s story, but Sorvino struggled to connect with the character, especially with the violent side of it.

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During a conversation at the 25th-anniversary reunion of Goodfellas at Tribeca Film Festival in 2015 (via Daily News), Sorvino revealed he was close to quitting just three days before production began, this as he was unsure if he could play a character as aggressive as Paul Cicero. Sorvino said that he called his agent so they would get him out of the project. Sorvino’s agent reportedly told him to think about it before making a final decision, and later, Sorvino was about to fix his tie in the mirror when he saw the expression he needed for the character right in front of him, and so he decided to continue with the project. Although Sorvino was no newcomer by the time Goodfellas happened, Scorsese’s project surely gave his career a boost, though he has failed to repeat that success. Among his most notable works post-Goodfellas are the movies Repo! The Genetic Opera and The Immigrant, as well as the TV shows Law & Order, That’s Life, Bad Blood, and Godfather of Harlem.

Paul Sorvino only needed that spontaneous realization that he had what was needed to play Paul Cicero in Goodfellas to really push him to do it, and fans of the movie can thank Paul and his agent for not letting him drop out of the project that easily. It’s strange to imagine what Goodfellas would have been like without Paul Sorvino, but that might be an interesting exercise to do the next time you watch the movie.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/goodfellas-movie-paulie-actor-paul-sorvino-quit-reason/

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