Many of Liotta's friends and colleagues opened up to ET on the red carpet at the 'Black Bird' premiere on Wednesday.
Gone but never forgotten. Ray Liotta's co-stars on his final completed project, Black Bird, are sharing their memories of the late actor.
ET's Will Marfuggi spoke with the stars of the new Apple TV+ drama series on the carpet at the show's premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday, and they opened up about their memories of the celebrated actor.
Taron Egerton, who stars in the series as a convicted criminal serving time in prison, recalled sharing scenes with Liotta, who plays his father.
The 32-year-old Welsh actor -- who also served as an executive producer on the series -- recalled Liotta's "passion" for the script and the on-screen relationship they shared in the show.
"I just kind of fell in love with him immediately," Egerton remembered. "We developed a very, very, very close connection, and I had a very special time filming those scenes. I'm very pleased with how they turned out."
The show, inspired by true events, tells the story of Jimmy Keene (played by Egerton), who is sentenced to 10 years in prison for various criminal activities, but then is given a fateful choice: Either he can stay in his minimum-security prison and serve the whole sentence or enter a maximum-security prison to befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Houser), in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Houser walked the red carpet wearing a T-shirt featuring Liotta's character from Field of Dreams, and reflected on how big a fan he was of Liotta's amazing body of work.
"So many great performances he left behind. Getting to meet him was super cool, he was really generous and funny," Houser shared. "Ray’s just one of those guys -- he just can’t not be Ray. He’s sort of funny without knowing he’s funny sometimes. It was a real joy to be in his presence that short time."
Greg Kinnear, who plays a criminal investigator in the series, recalled how he became a fan of Liotta's before his own career had even taken off.
"Way before I was an actor I saw a movie by Jonathan Demme, Something Wild, it became one of my favorite films," Kinnear shared with ET. "Ray Liotta was a force of nature in that movie, I’ve watched him my entire career. It was such a thrill that he was in this."
While Kinnear and Liotta didn't share any scenes in the project, he admitted that he made sure their paths crossed at least a few times to have the opportunity to meet him and get to chat.
"We had a lovely conversation, he gave me some advice on where to stay when I was doing a play in New York, he was just a lovely guy," he shared. "His legacy will live on through so many great performances. And I say that not because this is his last complete thing, but he just genuinely is gangbusters in this."
Sepideh Moafi, who stars as one of the agents who works with Egerton's character in going undercover in the maximum security prison, remembered meeting Liotta at a party ahead of production kicking off, and how he "seemed antithetical to anything I'd seen of his characters."
"He was shy, he was reserved. He seemed so sensitive," she reflected. "Honestly he was the sweetest man, he was the kind of person you wanted to have a drink with and I would watch him on set and he was so committed, he was so relentless."
Black Bird premieres July 8 on AppleTV+.
Liotta -- who was perhaps best known for portraying real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, among a slew of other celebrated roles -- died in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was filming Dangerous Waters, on May 26. He was 67.
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