“It became GoodFellas, it was called Wise Guys at the time”: When Martin Scorsese revealed he almost passed on GoodFellas

GoodFellas is one of the well-known gangster films in Hollywood. Directed by Martin Scorsese, who has had his brush with this genre multiple times, the film was based on the 1985 non-fiction book called Wiseguy, which was penned by Nicholas Pileggi. Scorsese and Pileggi wrote the film script, and it was produced by Irwin Winkler. Here's the official synopsis:

"The story of Henry Hill and his life in the mafia, covering his relationship with his wife Karen and his mob partners Jimmy Conway and Tommy DeVito.

In a 2023 video, Scorsese recalled,

"It became GoodFellas, it was called Wise Guys at the time."

When Martin Scorsese revealed GoodFellas was initially called Wise Guys

Back in September 2023, Martin Scorsese spoke to GQ Magazine, where he broke down some of his iconic films, including GoodFellas. In the video, he revealed that the 1990 gangster film was earlier called Wise Guys (which is the name of the book it's based on). He started out by saying that the film happened 18 years after Mean Streets, and he did not want to do another gangster film.

"There is no main character, I mean, Ray Liotta is a wonderful actor, but he's like Virgil taking Dante through the underworld. The real character in the movie is the underworld."

He added that he almost passed on the film.

"After doing the film The Last Temptation of Christ, when I got back, I owed Warner Bros Goodfellas, or It became GoodFellas, it was called Wise Guys at the time. I didn't really almost didn't wanna make it. It was Michael Powell, the director of the Red Shoes....who read the script and insisted that I make it."

More about GoodFellas

GoodFellas tells the story of Henry Hill, who starts from the bottom and becomes a mafia boss. The storyline also showcases his eventual fall from grace. The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 9, 1990. Here's the list of its cast members:

Ray Liotta as Henry Hill
Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito
Robert De Niro as James Conway aka Jimmy
Paul Sorvino as Paulie Cicero
Lorraine Bracco as Karen Hill
Frank Sivero as Frankie Carbone
Tony Darrow as Sonny Bunz
Mike Starr as Frenchy

In the above-mentioned interview, Scorsese said that Joe Pesci initially resisted being a part of the film. He said,

"I know [Pesci] resisted it. He said 'I don't know gangster stuff and..'. Yeah but Joe I said this character is really interesting, based on a real life."

Scorsese also said that Pesci went through the famous "Funny how?" scene over and over again and acted it out. Pesci recorded each take of his act, which Scorsese used to create the actual scene in the film. The director decided not to use close-ups in that scene.

"The two cameras would be medium wide shots because it was important to see...there are no closeups. It was important to see Joe's character and Ray's character in relation to the people around them and while the intensity builds you see the body language or everybody around them change."

What are your thoughts on the film?