Black Bird Trailer Offers First Glimpses Of Ray Liotta's Posthumous Performance
News of longtime Hollywood star Ray Liotta's death became public on May 26. Since this was seemingly unexpected, at least by his peers in the film industry, a number of roles that were either planned or in-progress immediately became impacted. For instance, Liotta at one point expressed interest to Charlie Day about appearing on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." While this wasn't yet a sure thing, the idea is now, of course, relegated entirely to the realm of what-ifs.
Meanwhile, a number of films featuring Liotta were at various stages of production at the time of his death. For example, initial filming and reshoots on "El Tonto" — Day's directorial debut, which established the link between the two actors — both seem to have wrapped (via The Hollywood Reporter). His work on a number of other projects including "Dangerous Waters" and "April 29, 1992," however, will remain incomplete.
While Liotta's role in "El Tonto" can only be presumed to be finished, his work on an upcoming Apple TV+ miniseries titled "Black Bird" is confirmed to be a done deal (via Variety). Those interested in seeing Liotta in one of his final projects now have their first look at him in action after Apple released its first trailer for the show on June 8.
Liotta plays the father of an imprisoned football star in Black Bird
The first trailer for "Black Bird" opens on its protagonist James Keene (Taron Egerton) looking at his reflection in a prison mirror as voiceover from his father, nicknamed Big Jim and portrayed by Ray Liotta, shares regrets about the life he provided his son. The next shot reveals that this is being relayed through a prison phone directly to James. Their conversation then continues as voiceover once again, over shots of James prior to landing in prison amidst some of the vices that seem to have led him there.
"Dad, tell me there's a way out of this," James responds once Big Jim wraps up his short monologue. While there is, in fact, a way that James can lessen his sentence, Big Jim promises that it won't be easy.
FBI agent Lauren McCauley (Sepideh Moafi) then lets James know that he can expedite his prison stay if he can befriend and coax a confession out of alleged serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser).
Liotta is absent the rest of the trailer, so fans of the late actor will have to tune into "Black Bird" when it premieres to Apple TV+ on July 8 for more of the first in what will likely be a series of Liotta performances released posthumously.