Actor Ray Liotta recently sat down with the press in New York City before the opening of Hannibal and IGN FilmForce Correspondent Helen Keier was in attendance. Liotta discussed his role as Paul Krendler in Hannibal, working with Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore, and his upcoming films, Narc, John Q, Blow, Heartbreakers and Point of Origin.

Here's Helen's interview with Ray Liotta...

IGN FILMFORCE: You play a politically incorrect jerk so convincingly. How do you get ready to play [that role]? Do you just pick up the script and just go with it?

RAY LIOTTA: Yeah, pretty much. I mean, [Krendler] has a strong jealousy of Starling. He once put the moves on her, and she said no to it. And also what¿s in the book but really isn¿t in the movie, but I¿ we layered in, is the fact that he really wanted to catch Buffalo Bill, this character did, and he didn¿t, and he got a lot of the attention. At least this is what it says in the beginning of Hannibal, in the novel. So there is an animosity toward her to being with. And being a political climber, he has a benefactor in the Mason Verger character. So when he¿s asked by Mason Verger to do something, you know, he gets money, and also hopefully backing to help his political agenda later on so¿ And then you know, if he¿s not jerky, then when he gets his comeuppance at the end, you really don't care. So hopefully I'm jerky enough that you¿re kind of glad about it. But I don't think anybody deserves that demise.

IGN FILMFORCE: Speaking about the end, what was it like to film that?

LIOTTA: It was fun. At first, you read it, and you say, ¿Hmmm¿ How are they going to do this? How am I going to do this? How do we make it?¿ You know? Then you see it. They built this animatronic $70,000 exact likeness of me, you know, because they wanted to take off the piece [of the head], and reveal what¿s going on. So they figured the best place to start was [with] the medication you would get. It helped us have a little more fun with it, than what could have been if it were heavy-handed and this is what he was doing, and it was like a mad scientist. This way, the medication kind of made the guy goofy, so we were able to have some fun.

IGN FILMFORCE: Were you laughing it up between takes?

LIOTTA: Not laughing it up between, but you know, after we had done it a couple times, it was just so bizarre, it was just so out there. You know, Tony and I would look at each other and we would just like laugh at times. We saw the movie together about a month or so ago and that scene came up, we looked at each other after and said, ¿Wow¿ that¿s just nutty.¿

IGN FILMFORCE: You got a lot of laughs with that scene¿

LIOTTA: Yeah¿

IGN FILMFORCE: ¿and with the dishtowel over your head¿

LIOTTA: I think they had him scraping the leftovers into¿ (laughs)

IGN FILMFORCE: What's it like to tread that line ¿ is there sort of [a feeling] where you¿re like ¿I hope everyone gets this¿¿

LIOTTA: You know what? To me, I was in such good hands, and it was really their problem, you know? Luckily it¿s not all on me. It's Ridley, and the producers, and Tony. I'm sure they had doubts or no doubts. I don't know what transpired. ¿ From my point of view, there was no treading of anything¿ it was just like delving into it and to make it as believable as possible.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Sir Anthony Hopkins) has Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) over for dinner.

IGN FILMFORCE: Was oatmeal the brain double, or was that for the kid?

LIOTTA: For the kid.

IGN FILMFORCE: What was it for you?

LIOTTA: Chicken.

IGN FILMFORCE: Chicken. It tasted just like chicken. Will you ever look at chicken again the same way?

LIOTTA: Well, it was dark meat chicken. That I usually don't eat because it gets chewier, but it sort of worked for it, and I didn¿t realize [it]¿ I'm like, ¿Man, what are they giving me? This is really hard going down. It's gross.¿ So it was perfect. Then she said, ¿Would you rather have¿¿ and I'm like, ¿Awww¿ now you tell me.¿

IGN FILMFORCE: This is your first film with Sir Anthony. What's it like? Did you have an expectation of Anthony Hopkins and stepping on the set with him, and then is it different than what you expected?

LIOTTA: Well¿ yes and no. The first movies with¿ the first time I met him was actually at the screening of Silence of the Lambs, and he was very, very nice. It was almost like I was in a movie, because I had worked with Jonathan Demme, and [Anthony] had seen the movie I did, and he was very nice about it. So he was just really a nice guy, right off the bat. And I said ¿Man, I would like to just sit down and pick your brain one night,¿ and then¿

IGN FILMFORCE: So to speak¿ (laughs)

LIOTTA: (laughs) Aha... no pun intended. But it never worked out, and then this worked out, so it was great. It was a really good learning experience. I¿ve been fortunate. The past few movies I¿ve did¿ one that hasn¿t come out yet, one is with Anthony Hopkins, one is with Robert Duvall, and the other one is with Gene Hackman. So to watch¿ to be a fan of acting, and wanting to learn as much as I can, it was great watching them. It really was. And just the ease in which they do it.

IGN FILMFORCE: [And to hear Anthony talk], he seems almost blas¿ about this process. Maybe he¿s overdoing that a little to us, but he makes it seem as if he doesn't invest himself heavily until the camera starts rolling sometimes.

LIOTTA: Yeah¿ I could see that. I mean, he¿s reading books and magazines before [he shoots]. So, I'm not sure he would have said the same thing after Nixon, or when he was doing Nixon, or maybe with this particular part, it¿s something that¿s easier for him. I don't know. I can¿t speak for him.

IGN FILMFORCE: How¿s it working with Julianne Moore on Hannibal, and being so antagonistic toward her?

LIOTTA: It was fine. You know, she can hold her own. She doesn't take any gruff. I mean, just the fact that she decided to, you know, take on a part that somebody had won an Academy Award for, I think that speaks volumes of who she is to begin with. So, she played in Boogie Nights and Magnolia, and some of the movies she¿s done, she¿s just solid¿ solid¿ one of the best actresses out there. It was fun going at her, you know, because then she would come back with it, which made me just want to come back even harder. It was fun.

IGN FILMFORCE: You mentioned that you went after the part in Hannibal¿ Was it a very hotly contested role? Were there a lot of people interested in it?

LIOTTA: I don't know. I don't know. It was more [a matter of] really wanting to work with Ridley Scott. Then I realized¿ because I said ¿I¿d love to work with you one day¿ and he said ¿I might have something for you.¿ It was just happenstance; it was just perfect timing. It was just something, it just worked out. That¿s it.

IGN FILMFORCE: What's the goatee for?

LIOTTA: I did a movie called Narc.

IGN FILMFORCE: Narc?

LIOTTA: Yeah. It's about a bunch of cops. Uh¿ a good friend of mine, is a cop, he¿s a narcotics agent. He gets killed, and I want to figure out who did it. It's with Jason Patric.

IGN FILMFORCE: Where are you filming?

LIOTTA: In Toronto. Imagine that. (laughs)

IGN FILMFORCE: Did you have to have a beard?

LIOTTA: No, but I wanted to be fuller. I'm wearing pads and it¿s just a whole different look. It's just a guy who doesn't go by the system. I dunno¿ just something different.

IGN FILMFORCE: John Q was the film you did with [Robert] Duvall and Denzel [Washington]¿

LIOTTA: Right.

IGN FILMFORCE: Wasn¿t Anne Heche also in it?

LIOTTA: She's in it. That¿s right.

IGN FILMFORCE: What was the story? She just walked on the set after all that controversy and did her thing?

LIOTTA: Yup. She did her scenes. I don't like to get too involved in people¿s personal things when I work, so you know¿ She was on set when I was there, and she did what she had to do, and that was it. But I know she was traveling around with a bodyguard for some reason. No one seemed to be bothering her, but I think maybe she was getting a lot of attention or people wanting stories about the break-up, or you know, whatever.

IGN FILMFORCE: What's the storyline of John Q?

LIOTTA: He¿s an unemployed or sometimes-employed guy with no insurance. His son needs a heart, but he doesn't have the insurance. With the government the way it is, it costs a phenomenal amount of money that you don't have, there's waiting lists. He¿s just passionate about getting his son taken care of, so he feels that his only means of taking care of it is to take hostage an emergency room at the hospital. And so he¿s trading lives to get his son help. Robert Duvall is a hostage negotiator. I'm the chief of police. I think we should just put this guy down, I don't believe that¿s the way that you deal. That¿s not how things are settled. If he does it, if we give in, there¿ll be others. It's pretty down the middle stuff.

Ray Liotta, Anne Heche, and Robert Duvall in John Q.

IGN FILMFORCE: Who is the title character?

LIOTTA: Denzel Washington.

IGN FILMFORCE: What [part] do you play in Blow?

LIOTTA: I play Johnny Depp¿s dad. He ages from¿ my character goes from like ¿ mid-twenties to sixties, and [Johnny¿s character is] like five ¿til forty or fifty, however it works out numberwise, I forgot. And it¿s a true story, based on¿ a drug dealer in the Seventies. He was dealing pot, moved from Massachusetts to California, started dealing pot because late ¿60s, early ¿70s coke started becoming of the fashion; he got busted dealing pot. It's a true story¿ he met some guy from Colombia who had connections with Pablo Escobar from the Medellin [Drug] Cartel and Pablo picked him to be the guy¿ these two guys, to bring in all the coke, into America from Colombia. And at that time it wasn¿t as sophisticated, so he made like over $100 million, he put it in a bank in Panama, and then Noreiga took it. They nationalized the banks. So he was destitute again. And so but what happens is in the beginning of it you see his lifestyle. Rachel Griffiths plays my wife; Penelope Cruz plays his. And he¿s pretty much mirrored their existence. His dad was just a great guy, who knew what he was doing, what could he do? ¿I can¿t tell you to stop? Will you stop?¿ ¿No¿so I don't agree with it¿ but remember it¿s not all about money, there's more to it¿¿ His own mother had turned him in at one point, which later on his wife had done to him, and he really realizes what his dad said was true and you know¿ he¿s in jail, his dad is dying of cancer, and he doesn't get to see his dad again. And as sexy as it is in terms of the drug scene, and the music, and the whole thing, there's a really heartfelt connection between him and his dad. I really like it. It's a really good movie.

IGN FILMFORCE: Who directs it?

LIOTTA: Ted Demme¿ Jonathan Demme¿s nephew.

IGN FILMFORCE: The narration to [Blow]¿ did you feel it was similar to Goodfellas?

LIOTTA: Yeah, I thought it was very similar to Goodfellas. Same thing to Boogie Nights¿ well, did Boogie Nights have a voice over? It has that sort of feel to it. And they had it in at one point, and at another point they didn¿t have it in. I think to tell a story of that expanse, of that many years, it is a device that¿s useful. I think it stands on its own. I mean, Goodfellas is you know, what it is, this is¿ it¿s not a rip off. It's just a way of doing it, as much as Boogie Nights was too really, because that was very similar in feel, and color, and look, and the way they cut it.

IGN FILMFORCE: What's Johnny Depp like to work with?

LIOTTA: He was great. Just a goof ball. I mean that in the best sense of the word. He¿s just a fun [guy], but we had a blast.

IGN FILMFORCE: Did he really have a whoopee cushion on the set?

LIOTTA: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Man, yeah¿ We would definitely play that one every now and then.

IGN FILMFORCE: What is the Gene Hackman film?

LIOTTA: It's with Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt. It's called Heartbreakers; it¿s a comedy.

IGN FILMFORCE: What do you have coming up now?

LIOTTA: [An] HBO thing, Point of Origin.

IGN FILMFORCE: Looking back, on your choices, what governs what you pick? I mean, is there rhyme or reason to all of it, or¿

LIOTTA: At first, I tried to manipulate it a little. I knew, after Something Wild, in it I was a splashy bad guy, and I¿d read enough, I knew there was typecasting out there. I held out a long time to get Dominick and Eugene, and then Field of Dreams and Goodfellas just kind of fell into my lap. Then¿ I started getting a little too picky and choosy¿ and I figure well¿ after Goodfellas, next thing you know, they think I'm Italian, even though Henry [Hill] was an Irish guy, and I myself am adopted, so I'm not Italian. They¿re really quick to put you in a hole, so I figured playing a heart surgeon in a black comedy would be a good thing to do. It was, but Orion went bankrupt¿ so you know, the way you choose to do it is different each time. You know, Turbulence¿ you know what? The movies I was doing weren¿t becoming huge box office things, and that really gives you leverage in this business, and that seemed to have a commercial potential, [which] was the wrong reason to go into it. But that¿s what led me, just out of frustration, and also, sometimes after a while, you just have to pick the best of the lot. This is the profession I chose, and you really learn to save your money because you never know how it¿s going to go, but you still want to get out there and work, so¿ uh¿ Now after Blow just landed in my lap, which Ted Demme asked if I wanted to do, same thing with Cassavetes, and these things¿ I went after this one, so if I play four bad guys in a row, so be it. It's just the nature of the beast. It hasn¿t hurt De Niro or some of these other people, so¿

IGN FILMFORCE: I think Nixon probably was Hopkins¿ most challenging role. Which has been the biggest challenge for you so far?

LIOTTA: Probably Rat Pack, taking on Sinatra. That was uh¿ very intimidating. I didn¿t know that much about him. I'm not an imitator. You know, his¿ to do him, without going into caricature was harder than maybe what [the others had to do]¿ Sammy has a certain pattern, and Dean had a certain pattern, Frank was just so much more raw. I didn¿t think I look like him; I had to sing the songs. I mean, I'm really glad I did it, but at first, it was just terrifying for months. All I did was listen, watch, or read about Sinatra.

IGN FILMFORCE: You¿ve played your share of psychopathic characters yourself in certain films. How do you approach playing someone like the character in Unlawful Entry or Turbulence, or one of those films?

LIOTTA: (groaning) Well, Turbulence is a whole ¿nother story. Umm... that one got by me. I mean, I felt good with what I did. It is what it was, and whatever. It's just what you like as a human being, you know, I really, really liked¿ like in Unlawful Entry. That girl just did something to me that hit me on such a level that I would go to extremes to be a part of her life or to get rid of her husband. There was something, but I think the simpler and more direct that you do it, the scarier¿ and what made it even more scary is that it is a possibility that it could happen. You know, what if a cop did obsess on you? He does have the means¿ to do things. So it¿s really just approaching it like that. Not as a bad guy or here¿s a delicious laugh I could add here. It just comes from the story.

IGN FILMFORCE: What do you think you¿ve learned from Anthony, and maybe from Hackman and Duvall?

LIOTTA: That there is an ease to it, that you don't have to, you know¿ I asked them if they changed much, and they said (I think) in the earlier days, you hold on¿ you think if you¿ve got to be mad, you figure got to be mad all day, or bring it [up] the night before. You just start trusting yourself, and using your imagination, which is what this is, it¿s all imagination. It's there when you want it to be, but that takes time, and trust. And also too you get to see them; these icons as they are, but you also see them flubbing a line, not feeling happy with what they did, let me do it again¿ You just see human beings who are actors, as opposed to these¿ these icons. It was the same thing I remember when I did Goodfellas. You know, it was [Robert] De Niro and [Martin] Scorsese, and yet you see them as human beings, trying to figure things out, [for example, knowing what to do with a scene.] What we see the finished products, but man, these guys are¿ But there's a whole process to get there. So it was very enlightening just to see that, to be on the other side.

Liotta as Paul Krendler in Hannibal.

IGN FILMFORCE: What kind of roles might you still want to do, since you¿ve already played such a variety?

LIOTTA: There¿s one that I'm doing that¿s really interesting¿ did I say this? Because I¿ve been doing this [interviewing] for a while... I'm doing this HBO movie that¿s just fascinating [Point of Origin]. It's a true story based on a fire investigator who you realize through the movie that he¿s investigating his own fires. He was the arsonist. It's [a] true [story]. And then he wrote a book about it, and that¿s how he got caught, and this really happened. I think that¿s an interesting dynamic. I did a movie called A Rumor of Angels, where it¿s a really sweet movie. It's with Vanessa Redgrave and this little kid Trevor Morgan, who plays my son. You know, it¿s really about the story now. People think I'm a bad guy, what can I say? There¿s other movies to prove this hasn¿t [been the case]. I just think bad guys stand out in people¿s minds. But I'm just trying to go to work with the best people, and to start making movies that people see. (laughs)

IGN FILMFORCE: So who do you still want to work with then?

LIOTTA: Oh, man, you know¿ hundreds. I did this movie Narc, and he¿s a first timer¿ I would work with this guy in a heartbeat. He¿s just one of those guys who have it and you guys will soon see. I would love to work with someone like [Francis Ford] Coppola; I would love to work with someone like Tim Burton. Paul Thomas Anderson [is someone] I think is a really good director, [and] the guy who did uh¿ Three Kings is a really good [director]¿ there's a lot of people out there. Spike Jones seems to have an interesting vision of things.

IGN FILMFORCE: What's your take on the strike that [may] come up?

LIOTTA: I hope it doesn't happen. I think there's some valid issue from the actor¿s side [and] from the writer¿s side, ummm¿ I think there's enough pieces in the pie for everybody to be happy, but I guess, you know, the egos and the dynamics have to be worked out. I hope it doesn't happen, if it does¿ I think that¿s why everybody¿ I heard¿ well, I'm in Toronto now, and they¿re saying in the next few months, there's 40 or 50 movies to be done before June, so¿ That¿s a shame. We¿ll all have to go up to Toronto, [but] man, we live here. Gotta go up to Canada? It's a shame. There¿s a lot of people who lose work because of¿. their rate up there, which is great for producers and stuff, but you know¿ it¿s bad for¿ and now all of a sudden they¿re cracking down with us, saying you can only bring so many American actors. After that, you have to choose our people. Well, put up an acting school.

IGN FILMFORCE: In the production notes, you actually do mention you started out in soap operas. A lot of actors don't talk about that¿

LIOTTA: Yeah, I know.

IGN FILMFORCE: Do you think it made it easier for you later on, or¿

LIOTTA: Oh, it definitely helped. Definitely, because I never wanted to act, and when I did, it was in college and all I did were plays. The third day I was in New York I landed a commercial, within six months I was on a soap. Who am I at 22, to turn down an opportunity like that? My Dad being a depression era baby, said, ¿Don¿t look money in the hand.¿ So I just didn¿t see any reason [not to list it]. It was just a great experience. You get to act everyday. And then you know, it¿s a little easier if you have Ridley Scott, and Anthony Hopkins, and Julianne Moore, and a great script by Steve Zaillian, where you just say the words, and you¿re in good hands, to say, pass the coffee Mom, everyday, different ways. If you take your job serious, it could really be a great learning experience. I¿d never worked in front of cameras before, you know? You¿re on set; you work in front of cameras. There¿s a looseness that you learn; there's a naturalness that you automatically start getting. And this particular show, at the particular time I did it, had these great actors. They all came from Broadway, because the producer prided himself on going to them, dangling a contract and a bunch of cash, and saying I will guarantee you will make your curtain and be there before¿ I will structure it in such a way, and a lot of people did it. And there's a lot of big Broadway directors that were directing the soap too. It was a really wonderful working environment at that time.

IGN FILMFORCE: Why do you think there is a stigma, or is there a stigma in Hollywood against soap actors?

LIOTTA: I don't think they care one way or the other. The discipline is different, if you have a family, or a lifestyle, you know, maybe that¿s all you want to do, and there isn¿t such a melodramatic quality about soaps that it might, at the end of the scene they¿re looking at each other, [be] all heavy-handed. I didn¿t go that way. I really looked at it like it was an acting class, you know, an acting school, for three years. And¿ I got some recognition from it, offers for movies from of it, you know, movie of the weeks. I think you can make it work in your favor. The trap is that you¿re doing it every day, and you don't do your homework. If you don't do your homework, then you start sounding silly.