(photo from WireImage)
Can you picture Goodfellas starring Tom Cruise and Madonna as compared to Ray Liotta and Lorriane Bracco? Well if the producers would have gotten who they originally wanted in the roles it would have been a completely different movie. According to The
NY Post Irwin Winkler told GQ, “‘Tom Cruise was discussed. Marty [Scorsese, director] wanted Ray [Liotta]. Frankly I thought we could do a lot better,’ he said. But Ray’s determination eventually won them over, ‘My wife [and I] were having dinner one night in a restaurant and lo and behold, Ray Liotta came over to me. He said, ‘Look, I know you don’t really want me for it, but…’ And he sold me on the role right that evening. As for Madonna, producer Barbara de Fina remembers, ‘Madonna seemed to be in the mix. I remember that we went to see her in the play Speed-the-Plow. Marty said hello to her afterwards. Can you imagine? Tom Cruise and Madonna? But Marty can get a performance out of almost anyone.'” I have never seen Goodfellas and even I know they would be a bad choice for the roles. Almost as bad as if Bette Midler and Eddie Murphy were actually cast in Driving in Miss Daisy as the studio executives wanted.
BTW I wonder if Madonna and Cruise would have made the movie together, if they would have hooked up. It was around that time that Tom had finalized his divorce with Mimi Rogers and Madonna was on the outs with Warren Beatty. Could you imagine ToMadonna? They would have been the TomKat of their time.
