The Character Ray Liotta Was Originally Supposed To Play On The Sopranos

In an interview on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" (via YouTube), Ray Liotta revealed that "The Many Saints of Newark" was not his first brush with the universe of HBO's "The Sopranos," which ran from 1999 to 2007. The actor revealed that series creator David Chase had previously approached him to play Ralph "Ralphie" Cifaretto, a soldier for the DiMeo crime family. Liotta told host Seth Meyers how it happened, recalling, "I was in Virginia doing [the 2001 movie] 'Hannibal,' and [Chase] took a train out, and we had lunch, and they start telling me about the part. And I said, 'Nah, I'm not sure. I don't know. I'll let you know.'"

The Ralphie Cifaretto role eventually went to Joe Pantoliano, and the character was introduced in the Season 3 episode "Proshai, Livushka" (via IMDb). Ralphie was a key character in the show's third and fourth seasons until he met his demise at the hands of Tony Soprano in retaliation for a fire Tony suspected he started. Pantoliano took home a Primetime Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama in 2003 for his work (via the Emmys official site). Liotta concluded his story by joking about Pantoliano's win, remarking, "Joey Pants got it and won an Emmy. So I made the good move for him and the right move for me."

"The Many Saints of Newark" is currently in theaters and it is streaming on HBO Max until October 31.