Dangerous Waters director John Barr and star Odeya Rush are recalling the late Ray Liotta‘s “powerful” final scene.
During an interview with MovieWeb, published online Tuesday, the filmmaker praised the Goodfellas star as an actor and detailed his final scene in one of his last movie roles, saying it “was super impressive to watch.”
Liotta died last year at the age of 67. His rep told The Hollywood Reporter at the time that he died in his sleep in his hotel room while in the Dominican Republic shooting the movie.
“What he achieves in a six- or seven-minute span is just art,” Barr said. “The arc that he goes through, from innocent to terrifying, it’s so powerful, and it’s a testament to how incredible he was as an actor.”
He continued, “The way that we played that scene was really interesting, because we talked about it a lot, and we basically played the scene in those various tones multiple times, like innocent throughout the whole take, and then just slowly, gradually got darker and darker to where it ended up. So, we could kind of choose when we were editing where we wanted the turn to start to happen. I think he just was unafraid. He would just go darker and darker.”
The thriller follows teen girl Rose, played by Rush, who uncovers the dark past of her mother’s new boyfriend (Eric Dane) while on a sailing trip.
The actress, who starred opposite Liotta’s The Captain in his final scene, said it was a “really special day” that she will always remember.
“We took an entire day to do that scene,” she recalled. “And I think the scene just got better and better as it went on. And I feel like everything he brought, I was just absorbing that and reacting to that. So yeah, that was a really special day, and I felt like I was there to react [to the] incredible work that he had done. It felt very real.”
Dangerous Waters is currently playing in theaters and On Demand.
