First Look At Ray Liotta In His Final TV Role Filmed Before Death

Apple TV+ has released its first look at upcoming series Black Bird, one of the final projects Ray Liotta filmed before his untimely death last month. Watch below:

In the six-part thriller, Liotta plays Big Jim Keene, whose son, Jimmy (Taron Egerton), is given the opportunity to have his 10-year prison sentence scrapped if he successfully befriends suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser).

Liotta featured heavily in the trailer and was seen speaking to Egerton’s Keene on the phone, telling him: “I never wanted this for you. I wanted a totally different life. A steady pay-check. Kids. A family.”

Black Bird is based on James Keene and Hillel Levin’s memoir In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.

Also starring Greg Kinnear and Sepideh Moafi, a description for the limited series reads: “Inspired by actual events, when high school football hero and decorated policeman's son Jimmy Keene (Egerton) is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison, he is given the choice of a lifetime — enter a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane and befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Hauser), or stay where he is and serve his full sentence with no possibility of parole.”

Liotta died on 26 May aged 67 while filming forthcoming movie Dangerous Waters in the Dominican Republic.

The actor's career spanned more than four decades, first taking off when Liotta took on the role of Ray Sinclair in 1986 film Something Wild.

His role in the film saw him nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes.

Liotta has become best known for playing the character of Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas, however he also starred in Field of Dreams and Cop Land.

In more recent years, Liotta took to the screen in Marriage Story (2019), No Sudden Move (2021) and The Many Saints of Newark (2021).

After news of Liotta's passing broke, Egerton took to social media to share a lengthy tribute to his co-star, writing in part: ““I stepped on the set of Black Bird in May of last year deeply excited that I would be working with Ray Liotta and even more excited that he would be playing my father.

“What ensued was a profound experience for me as an actor; I have never felt such an easy, warm connection with another performer. He was so generous. If I went one way he followed me. Always dancing. Always listening. Never self-generated.

"I am extraordinarily proud of my next project. It was hard work and I was blessed to have a number of incredible scene partners, but I will always be most proud of my scenes with Ray; the relationship we built felt real in some strange way. I will miss you.”