The cast of Apple TV+ drama series "Black Bird" joined us to discuss working with Ray Liotta — the legendary late actor.
Five things you need to know:
- “Black Bird” is adapted from the 2010 true crime memoir novel, “In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption," by James Keene and Hillel Levin.
- The limited series follows a former football star-turned-drug dealer sentenced to 10 years in prison. He must elicit a confession from a suspected serial killer.
- Award-winning actor Taron Egerton — best known for his role as Elton John in 2019’s "Rocketman" — leads the series, playing Ray Liotta’s son. The true-crime prison drama also stars Paul Walter Hauser as a suspected serial killer, Greg Kinnear as a detective on the case and Sepideh Maofi as an FBI agent.
- Award-winning writer Dennis Lehane developed and executive produced the six-part series. Lehane wrote the role of James “Big Jim” Keene specifically for Ray Liotta: “I wanted Ray because I’ve just been a huge fan since his first film, 'Something Wild.' I wanted to show a part of him that I hadn’t seen in a while, so I wrote the part of Big Jim who’s loveable, kind of a screw-up, who would run into a burning building if his son was in there without a look-back.”
- Ray Liotta passed away suddenly in May at the age of 67. The beloved actor died in his sleep in his Dominican Republic hotel while shooting the movie, “Dangerous Waters.” Liotta was best known for his roles in “Goodfellas” and “Field of Dreams.”