“Dangerous Waters ”director recalls Ray Liotta's 'powerful' final scene: 'It was super impressive to watch'
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The cast and crew of this year's mystery-thriller Dangerous Waters are sharing their admiration for their late cast member, Ray Liotta, who died at 67 of heart and respiratory issues last year.
John Barr, the writer and director of the recently released film, recalled the Goodfellas actor's performance in his final scene and how it completely blew him away.
"What he achieves in a six- or seven-minute span is just art," Barr told MovieWeb about Liotta. "The arc that he goes through, from innocent to terrifying, it's so powerful and it's a testament to how incredible he was as an actor."
Vincent Sandoval/Getty Images Ray Liotta
In order to capture the character's switch from good to evil, the director explained they filmed the scene multiple times. With every take, Liotta would shift his performance to become more and more formidable.
"The way that we played that scene was really interesting, because we talked about it a lot, and we basically played the scene in those various tones multiple times, like innocent throughout the whole take, and then just slowly, gradually got darker and darker to where it ended up," Barr said. "So, we could choose when we were editing where we wanted the turn to start to happen. I think he just was unafraid. He would just go darker and darker. It was super impressive to watch."
Dangerous Waters, which is one of Liotta's final films, follows a teenage girl named Rose (Odeya Rush), who discovers a terrifying secret about her mother's new boyfriend (Eric Dane) while joining them on a sailing trip.
Rush noted that, after Liotta's death, finishing the project as a way to honor the actor was "always on the front of our minds for everyone." When it came time to film that final scene, she said Liotta gave her lots to explore with his performance.
"We took an entire day to do that scene. And I think the scene just got better and better as it went on," she recalled. "I feel like everything he brought, I was just absorbing that and reacting to that."
Dane told the outlet that Liotta will be missed by the entire entertainment community. "Obviously the acting community will miss him, but I also think that the writing and directing communities will miss him," he said. "I think he was somebody that people enjoyed working with. He was a dynamic actor and a force on screen."
Dangerous Waters is now playing in theaters and On Demand now.
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