During an appearance on SiriusXM’s “The Jess Cagle Show,” Taron Egerton opened up about his upcoming series Black Bird and what it was like working with the late Ray Liotta. Egerton plays Jimmy Keene, a convict who must befriend a serial killer to get time off his sentence. Liotta plays the father of Egerton’s character, James or Big Jim, a decorated cop who, behind closed doors, was a little shady.
Egerton then recited a story that he had previously put in an Instagram post. On the first day he arrived on set, he met Liotta, who didn’t talk to him. And while that might make it sound like that was Liotta being standoffish or dismissive, it wasn’t that. Instead, Egerton thought he was just there, harnessing energy for the scene.
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During the interview, Egerton stated that he felt like he grew as an actor doing the scene he did with Liotta. According to him, the Goodfellas star was a gentleman, brilliant, and, in Egerton’s opinion, the performance he gave in Black Bird was one of the best of his career. During the interview, Egerton described Liotta as a “hero” and “acting legend.”
Father and Son
According to Egerton, when he read the script, the thing that drew him to the role was the father-son relationship. According to him, it was the beating heart of the show. A lot of what motivates Jimmy is to be reunited with his father. And while Egerton wouldn’t want to speak about the real Jimmy Keene’s relationship with his father, in their story, there is this certain imperfect quality when they interact.
Something else that Edgerton said during the interview was that while Lehane wrote the character was written to be someone who would run into a burning building for their son, Liotta was the one who brought that energy in abundance. When Egerton watched the show a few weeks ago, he texted Liotta, and the two of them were excited to see one another again.
