Award-winning producer dishes on new ending for ‘Rocky,’ Liotta’s ‘Goodfellas’ role

Here’s a bit of movie trivia that might make you say fuhgeddaboudit.

Back in the late ’80s when uber producer Irwin Winkler was casting “Goodfellas,” the studio had its own ideas of who should play mobster Henry Hill and his sexy wife Karen.

“The studio wanted Tom Cruise and Madonna,” said Winkler on a sunny spring morning from his office in New York City. “I called Mike Ovitz who was Cruise’s agent and asked him if Cruise had even read the script, since he was so wrong for the part — and Cruise is an actor who has a very good sense about what roles he should play.

“Did Cruise want to be a cokehead?” he posed. “And Madonna — we wouldn’t discuss.”

Of course, the roles in the Martin Scorsese classic went to Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco, and the rest was movie history. Those stories and many more are in Winkler’s new book, “A Life in Movies” (Abrams Press, May 7). Winkler — whose career includes producing classics such as “Rocky,” “Raging Bull,” “The Right Stuff” and “Creed” — has been nominated for 52 Academy Awards including five for Best Picture. He has won 12.

Winkler reunites Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci this fall for the much awaited “The Irishman.”

Review-Journal: Describe your perfect Sunday.

Irwin Winkler: Watching a great movie, of course.

When did you decide to write a book?

So many people kept asking me what a film producer is because most don’t understand the job. I’d say, “A producer is everything from a guy who puts up some money to Madonna’s brother’s hair dresser.” Several years ago, I started keeping a diary. Finally, I showed it to a few people who said, “You should write it up as a narrative.”

Your first job in show business was selling hot dogs on Coney Island.

I sold hot dogs and knishes. Don’t forget the knishes. I even worked at a place that had these electric bumper cars. My introduction to show business was separating the bumpers.

Do you remember the first movie you saw as a kid? What was the first influence?

I remember standing in line at Radio City Music Hall in the middle of winter waiting to see “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” I was a little boy who was intrigued. Luckily, I got a job in the William Morris mailroom and learned from there. It wasn’t long before I got a sense of what a script looked like and how to read it.

When did you first meet Martin Scorsese?

I went to see “Mean Streets” (1973) at the New York Film Festival back in the early ’70s. I was introduced to Marty and we made a date to have a drink together. We went to the Plaza Hotel. We got to talking and just liked each other. A little while later, I got a call from his agent about the film “New York, New York” (1977), about the big-band era. He was interested in reading the script. I was already producing and was talking to Gene Kelly about directing it. Marty told me he wanted to do it and it became our first film together.

When you met Sly Stallone, he was just a wannabe actor-writer from Hell’s Kitchen.

Stallone asked for a meeting with me to talk about scripts he had written. He walked into my office and my first thought was he didn’t sound like a writer or look like a writer. He gave me a script that wasn’t “Rocky.” I read it and thought, “The guy’s a pretty good writer, but I don’t want to do this.” Sly said, “Look, I have this other idea called ‘Rocky’ about this boxer.”

Tell me how that went down.

He made me a deal that I couldn’t refuse. Stallone said, “I’ll write the whole script for ‘Rocky’ for nothing. The only commitment on your end is if you want to make the movie, then you need to have me star in it. Down the pike, the studio wanted Ryan O’Neal to play Rocky. They offered Sly a lot of money not to star in it, but he wouldn’t budge.

Originally, you didn’t think Ray Liotta was right for Henry Hill in “Goodfellas” (1990). Why?

When Marty suggested Ray, I thought we could get somebody more interesting. We began to see other actors. Then one night, Ray cornered me at this restaurant in New York. We went outside and he told me how he knew about my feelings. Let’s just say he convinced me that he was the only actor right for the part.

And “Creed”?

I’m very proud of the “Creed” films because we showed an African American family that was different. So often one son is a drug dealer, one kid is a pimp. We wanted to really reflect an American family story. By the way, we’re talking about “Creed 3.”

But Stallone went on Instagram when “Creed II” came out and said he was done playing Rocky.

I was surprised he sent out that Instagram. We’d love to have him back. He probably will be back.

Is it true in the original cut of “Rocky,” he lost the fight and the film faded to the credits? Yes, that’s true. After “Rocky” wrapped, we weren’t happy with that ending and went back and reshot it three months after shooting was over. That’s when we added the love story at the end. But that’s the thing with films. You keep improving them while you’re working on them.

You just finished fall’s “The Irishman,” directed by Scorsese and starring De Niro, Pacino and Pesci. It’s about a mob hitman and his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa.

It was great to get everyone back together. If I had to categorize it, the film is more about friendship and people really relating to each other.

What’s it like being out to dinner with Pacino, De Niro and Pesci?

It’s great. We all had dinner the other night — Bob, Marty, Joe, Al and me. We had a celebration because we wrapped the movie. We got this table in the corner and people were staring, but people are kinda nice that way. They’re staring because the movies have meant a lot to them. By the way, it was a pretty good dinner, too.

Did you go out for Italian?

Of course it was Italian food.