History Trivia / GoodFellas

* BillingDisplacement: Creator/RayLiotta is the lead, yet Robert De Niro gets top billing.

** Morrie's wig falling off wasn't actually scripted, and neither was Liotta [[{{Corpsing}} laughing in response]].

* WagTheDirector: Robert De Niro didn't like the [[StageMoney fake cash props]] and insisted on using real money when Jimmy is handing out cash. After every take, every dollar had to be returned and accounted for.

** Morrie's wig falling off wasn't actually scripted, and neither was Liotta [[{{Corpsing}} laughing in response]].
* WagTheDirector: Robert De Niro didn't like the [[StageMoney fake cash props]] and insisted on using real money when Jimmy is handing out cash. After every take, the every dollar had to be returned and accounted for.

** FBI agent Edward [=McDonald=] played {{as himself}}, basically recreating his exact interview with the Hills.

** Near the end of Henry and Karen's bedroom argument, Liotta accidentally stepped on Bracco's hand, making her reel back in pain. He briefly pauses in concern, but they stayed in character and worked it in.

* CastTheExpert: According to Nicholas Pileggi, some actual mobsters were hired as extras to lend authenticity to scenes. One of them, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Eppolito_and_Stephen_Caracappa Louis Eppolito]], was an NYPD detective and son of a Gambino family member who later turned out to have been [[DirtyCop doing hits for the mob while on the force]]. The mobsters gave fake Social Security numbers to Creator/WarnerBros and it is unknown how they received their paychecks. Meanwhile, FBI agent Edward [=McDonald=] played himself, basically recreating his exact interview with the Hills.

** Near the end of Henry and Karen's bedroom argument, Liotta accidentally stepped on Bracco's hand, making her reel back in pain. Liotta briefly paused in concern, but they stayed in character and worked it into the scene.

* EnforcedMethodActing: A number of scenes are partially ad-libbed with actors not told beforehand, which is especially the case in the "I'm funny how?" one. Pesci and Liotta were instructed to improvise, other actors didn't know what was going to happen so their surprised-to-panicked reactions and puzzled faces are genuine. The scene mirrors what happened to [[ActorSharedBackground Pesci in real life]]; he told a mobster in a restaurant that he was funny and the mobster got angry. Scorsese implemented it once he learned about it, as it wasn't in the book.

** For the scene where Sonny Bunz complains to Paulie, Creator/MartinScorsese secretly told Tony Darrow to improvise more lines for his character without telling Paul Sorvino. Sorvino's confused reaction was real.

** According to Debi Mazar, when her character trips after meeting Henry it was actually Mazar tripping over the camera dolly track. Scorsese liked it because it looked like she was overwhelmed by Henry and left it in the film.

* StarMakingRole: For Joe Pesci. The actor had a long line of critically acclaimed films to his name such as ''Film/RagingBull'' and ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica'', and a scene-stealing comedy turn''Film/LethalWeapon2''. But it was his performance as Tommy that left an indelible mark on audiences and took him from an actor with some recognition to a household name (on top of ''Film/HomeAlone1'' opening up two months later), also winning him the Oscar in the process. His amazingly short Oscar winner speech ("It's my privilege. Thank you.") also won him fans.

** Creator/MartinScorsese's mother, Catherine Scorsese, plays Tommy's mother. She and the cast ad-libbed the dinner scene. Scorsese's father, Charles Scorsese, plays Vinny the prisoner who puts too many onions in the tomato sauce and later [[spoiler:murders Tommy]].

* CreatorChosenCasting: Creator/MartinScorsese cast Creator/RayLiotta after seeing him in ''Film/SomethingWild'' and being impressed by his "explosive energy".

** Spanish: ''One of Us''

** When Creator/FrankVincent went to meet Scorsese about being cast in the film, Scorsese asked Vincent which character he wanted to play, and he said he wanted the role of Paulie. Scorsese then said "Don't play Paulie, play Billy Batts."

* DVDCommentary: In addition to a creator commentary, the Two-Disc Special Edition has a "Crook & Cop" commentary, which feature Henry Hill and Ed [=McDonald=] (the prosecutor who used Henry as a witness in mob cases and put him into witness protection and played himself in the film). The pair provide an insight into what the gangsters were like in real life.
* EnforcedMethodActing: A number of scenes are partially ad-libbed with actors not told beforehand, which is especially the case in the "I'm funny how?" one. Pesci and Liotta were instructed to improvise, other actors didn't know what was going to happen so their surprised-to-panicked reactions and puzzled faces are genuine. The scene mirrors what happened to [[ActorSharedBackground Pesci in real life]]; he told a mobster in a restaurant that he was funny and the mobster got angry. Scorsese implemented it once he learnt about it, as it wasn't in the book.

* OnSetInjury: Creator/MichaelImperioli was hospitalised while filming his death scene. He broke a glass in his hand and had to be rushed to the emergency room. When doctors saw what appeared to be a gunshot wound in his chest, they tried to treat it. When Imperioli told them what was really up, he was made to wait for three hours.

** Creator/LorraineBracco's two real life daughters played the part of Judy Hill at different ages. Margaux Guerard played Judy (aged 10) and Stella Keitel, played the part of Judy (aged 4 or 5).

** When Paulie confronts Henry after Henry's released from prison, Paul Sorvino improvised the slap to Creator/RayLiotta's face, hence Liotta's reaction.

** Creator/WarnerBros suggested Creator/TomCruise for Henry Hill and Music/{{Madonna}} for Karen. Creator/NicolasCage, Creator/ValKilmer, Creator/SeanPenn, Creator/AidanQuinn, Creator/CharlieSheen and Creator/JohnTravolta were also considered and Creator/AlecBaldwin auditioned.

* StarMakingRole: For Joe Pesci. The actor had a long line of critically acclaimed films to his name such as ''Film/RagingBull'' and ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica'', and a scene-stealing comedy turn''Film/LethalWeapon2''. But it was his performance as Tommy that left an indelible mark on audiences and took him from an actor with some recognition to a household name (on top of ''Film/HomeAlone'' opening up two months later), also winning him the Oscar in the process. His amazingly short Oscar winner speech ("It's my privilege. Thank you.") also won him fans.

* DVDCommentary: In addition to a creator commentary, the Two-Disc Special Edition has a "Crook & Cop" commentary, which feature Henry Hill (the ex-gangster whom the film is based on) and the prosecutor who used Henry as a witness in mob cases and put him into witness protection. The pair provide an insight into what the gangsters were like in real life.

* StarMakingRole: For Joe Pesci. The actor had a long line of critically acclaimed films to his name such as ''Film/RagingBull'' and ''Film/OnceUponATimeInAmerica'', and even had a couple of hits before ''Goodfellas'' with ''Film/HomeAlone'' and ''Film/LethalWeapon2''. But it was his performance as Tommy that left an indelible mark on audiences and took him from an actor with some recognition to a household name, also winning him the Oscar in the process. His amazingly short Oscar winner speech ("It's my privilege. Thank you.") also won him fans.

* EnforcedMethodActing: A number of scenes are partially ad-libbed with actors not told beforehand:
** Specially relevant in the "I'm funny how?" one; Pesci and Liotta were instructed to improvise, other actors didn't know what was going to happen so their surprised-to-panicked reactions and puzzled faces are genuine. The scene mirrors what happened to [[ActorSharedBackground Pesci in real life]]; he told a mobster in a restaurant that he was funny and the mobster got angry. Scorsese implemented it once he learnt about it, as it wasn't in the book.
** Scorsese also had all the actors involved in the kitchen scene (while [[spoiler: Billy Batts was still in the trunk]]) simply improvise their dialogue for that sequence. The final scene with [[spoiler: Spider]] was also ad-libbed, with the only scripted line being "Why don't you go fuck yourself?"

* QuoteSource:
** ProtectionRacket
** DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster
** RiseAndFallGangsterArc

* FakeNationality: The Jewish-American Karen Friedman Hill is portrayed by the Italian-American Creator/LorraineBracco.

* FakeNationality: The Jewish-American Karen Friedman Hill is portrayed by the Italian-American Creator/LorraineBracco

** Creator/WarnerBros suggested Creator/TomCruise for Henry Hill and Music/{{Madonna}} for Karen. Creator/ValKilmer, Creator/SeanPenn, Creator/AidanQuinn and Creator/CharlieSheen were also considered and Creator/AlecBaldwin auditioned.

* CastTheRunnerUp: When Creator/FrankVincent went to meet Creator/MartinScorsese about being cast in the film, Scorsese asked Vincent which character he wanted to play, and he said he wanted the role of Paulie. Scorsese then said "Don't play Paulie, play Billy Batts."