THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602240053
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 121 lines
NASTY OR NICE?
Although most of his fans remember the edgy intensity and piercing blue eyes more than they do the niceness, Ray Liotta's movie career has been a see-saw between the two extremes.
He was a psychotic cop stalking Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe in 1982's ``Unlawful Entry.'' He was friendly with the Mafia in 1990's ``GoodFellas.'' He was a vicious ex-con who threatened Melanie Griffith in the dark comedy ``Something Wild'' in 1986.
On the other hand, he was kind to his brain-damaged brother in 1988's ``Dominck and Eugene'' and was the likable baseball hero Shoeless Joe Jackson in ``Field of Dreams'' in 1989.
At last, Liotta has a role that embodies BOTH his extremes. In the new film ``Unforgettable,'' he plays plays an alcoholic coroner who may or may not have killed his former wife. The ambivalence drives the plot.
Director John Dahl, who gave us the film noir releases ``Red Rock West'' and ``The Last Seduction,'' sighs and attempts to explain why he chose Liotta for the role:
``At the beginning of the story, you really don't know if this character is a vicious killer or a tragic, misunderstood person. I think the strengths Ray has as an actor lent themselves particularly to this story. Ray actually scared the other actors on the set - at first.''
Ray, who has just turned 40 and is not particularly thrilled about it, is a bit bemused by the fact that movie fans mainly think of him as threatening.
``I've tried to establish a broad base,'' he said.
``I've only made 10 movies, but I've alternated between saints and sinners, you might say. Not all my characters, by any means, have been dark guys. It was much easier for me to identify with a child who needed a parent in `Corina, Corina' than it was to be running from the Mafia in `GoodFellas.' People on the street, though, recognize me more for `Unlawful Entry' and `GoodFellas' than anything else. A surprise, right now, is the video success of `Dominick and Eugene.' I played a kindly brother in that. It's apparently being watched, big time, on video, more so than it was in theaters. I get some kindly votes from that one.''
In ``Unforgettable,'' he is pleased that he gets to play both sides.
``It runs the gamut,'' he said. ``The real challenge was that it concerns a drug by which my character can go back, in the past, and be exposed to the memories of my dead wife. In effect, I get to play her death scene. Try that for an acting assignment. That drug is actually like the acting process itself - playing other people's memories.''
Liotta's co-star is Linda Fiorentino, who rose to stardom in Dahl's ``The Last Seduction'' with one of the best tough-girl roles in years. In this one, though, she has the relatively restrained role of a pioneering scientist who is experimenting with memory transfer. Fans at advance screenings seemed disappointed that no romance blossomed between the two characters.
``I suppose the script does tease the audience a bit, but get real,'' Liotta said. ``This guy is running from the police, accused of murder, and mourning the murder of his wife. He's going to stop to make out with Linda?''
Fiorentino has a reputation for talking tough with the press, but Liotta says he doesn't know that side of her.
``To me, Linda is a very serious actress who wants to get at her character. I don't know the diva side of her, if there is one.''
He chuckles at the misconception, too, people might have his director, John Dahl, who is associated, in moviegoers' minds, with the dark side of life.
``John is a very open, very smart, very easygoing personality. He doesn't have to prove anything. He even let me be involved with the writing, for some scenes. No one is a threat to him. He's that secure.''
Liotta spent the first six months of his life in a New Jersey orphanage before he was adopted by Alfred and Mary Liotta, who owned a chain of auto- supply stores. They took him and his younger, also adopted, sister on trips to Japan and Europe.
At the University of Miami, he remembers, ``I was sometimes identified as this rebellious James Dean type. I never could stay still. I'm a very impatient person, even today, but I've mellowed a great deal. I'm much quieter now. I think making movies has done that. You have to learn to wait.''
After getting interested in theater during college, he played Joey on the TV soap opera ``Another World'' for three years, beginning in 1979.
Breaking into movies was a long, slow, process. ``You have to prove yourself over and over again to casting directors,'' he said. ``Meanwhile, my family back home wanted to know if I was working. It's a little frustrating.''
Success came, though, with the role of the psycho ex-husband in ``Something Wild.'' He got a Golden Globe nomination and won several critics' awards for best supporting actor.
In private life, his year-long romance with former championship skier Heidi von Beltz is chronicled in her autobiography ``My Soul Purpose: Living, Learning and Healing,'' which is being published in March. She was paralyzed from the neck down after an accident while working as Farrah Fawcett's stunt double in ``The Cannonball Run.'' In her book, she explains that her relationship with Liotta ``changed the course of my recovery and my life.''
His current girlfriend of four years is Michelle Johnson, an actress and former wife of Chicago Cubs first baseman Mark Grace.
``I met her at a baseball game,'' he said, ``and our friendship grew slowly, very slowly. The good women for me are the women who don't mind me being in movies. This job is a very demanding one. You have to be away a great deal, and you have long hours. She understands. A lot of women wouldn't.''
On turning 40 this year, he said, ``I was a lot more satisfied with turning 30.''
He believes in carefully researching his roles. For ``Unlawful Entry,'' he spent several nights riding with police on their beats.
For ``Unforgettable,'' he spent time in the Los Angeles Coroner's Office, and the morgue.
``It's unbelievable. It numbs you,'' he said. ``There were bodies everywhere - in the hallway, in freezers. The facility I attended is 40 years old and pretty small. In one group, there would be bodies that had been unclaimed. In another, there would be babies. It is mind-boggling what people are capable of doing to each other.''
He felt the research was necessary ``for the pure technical ability to be able to play scenes as this guy. Make believe is not what an actor does. You have to re-create.''
He is determined to correct the public's perception of his intensity level.
``I was a pretty wild surgeon in `Article 99' and I was in a romance with `Corina, Corina,' but they still remember only those mean guys. I'd willingly do a `Dumb or Dumber' movie, but no one thinks of me for that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY MOVIES by CNB