Bullz-Eye: I was able to check out “Snowmen” – they sent me a screener – and it was a great little movie. My highest praise is that I’ve got a 6-year-old daughter, and I’d be comfortable with her watching it with me.

Ray Liotta: Yeah, it’s really a good movie, and it definitely…it’s more than just entertaining. It definitely touches on a lot of issues for grown-ups or kids.

BE: How did you find your way into the film?

RL: It just so happens that the producer has a kid in school where my kid goes, and they were gearing up and had cast all the kids, and they were thinking about the adult roles, and my name came up. We talked, he gave me the script, and I loved it and decided to do it.

BE: So how much of the character was on the page, and how much were you able to bring to the character?

RL: It was all on the page. All of it. It was really well written. I mean, my job is to make it as real as possible and try to add as much depth and dimension to it as I can. To pretend that I was a dad whose son was sick and thinks he’s going to die, the bills that I have to pay, the guilt that I have from just working too much to pay those bills, maybe missing some of the things that are going on in his life.

BE: How well did you and Bobby Coleman get on? You seemed to have a pretty strong father-son dynamic going on.

RL: Yeah, he’s a really special kid. He’s a really nice kid, and he’s been acting for awhile now. He’s just serious about the work, so he was very committed to every scene. He had done his homework and knew his lines, and he was raring to go. He was in the pocket. So it was easy. One of the great things when you work with a kid is that you really realize something that, as an  adult, you sometimes forget: you’re just playing pretend. He pretends that I’m his dad, and I pretend that he’s my son. You just play pretend, and that’s it. It’s nothing more or less than that.

BE: A film like “Snowmen” is one which may surprise some, since you’re not generally perceived as Ray Liotta, Family-Friendly Actor, but you’ve been doing family-friendly films as far back as “Corinna, Corinna” and “Operation Dumbo Drop.” Does that get frustrating, that people try to put you in a particular niche?

RL: Yeah, within the business, it gets frustrating. But then something like this comes along and you get a chance to do it. I did a movie with Tobey Maguire called “The Details,” and that’s a little more…I’m not a nutjob in that one. [Laughs.] See, what happens is that even if people see the movies – and I think it’s true with any actor who plays good guys and bad guys –  the bad guys just tend to stand out in people’s minds. You can’t expect everybody to see every movie you’ve done. I had one woman come up to me at the gym the other day, and she said, “Oh, my gosh, all you do is play bad guys. Why are you always such a bad guy? You scare me!” And I’m…I mean, I’m not going to sit there and list the movies that she hasn’t seen. It just kind of goes with the territory.

BE: Bullz-Eye is definitely a guy-centric site, and “Goodfellas” is certainly a film that ranks high  with our viewers. What was the experience like of doing that film? Were you a fan of the mob genre when you stepped in?

RL: No. That was only my fourth movie, and before that I’d done “Dominick and Eugene,” which was a sweet movie, and “Field of Dreams.” In my first movie, “Something Wild,” I was an edgier kind of character, but that was the first time I had ever stepped into the mob world.

BE: Was it intimidating to work with a major director like Martin Scorsese so early in your career?

RL: No, I was just excited. I didn’t do my first movie ‘til I was 30, so by the time I did “Goodfellas,” I was 34 and I’d been studying for years. So when the opportunity came along, I was just chomping at the bit. I couldn’t wait. My mom was really sick at that time, too, so it really put the playing-pretend and her illness in perspective. So it was more exciting than anything. And they were all such nice people, you know? What you guys see is the end result, but the day to day, from rehearsals and setting up the shots and what goes right and what goes wrong, it’s just a whole world that happens before they see the movie.

BE: I usually ask people about their projects that didn’t get the love they deserved. You were in a series in the ‘80s called “Our Family Honor” that I can’t believe more people don’t know about, given the cast involved. It was you, Michael Madsen, Eli Wallach…

RL: Yeah, that was a really good series! I also did a series a couple of years ago called “Smith” that was really good and barely saw the light of day. We did a couple of shows, and that was it. But with the way things are with television, now if the numbers we were doing then were compared to what’s considered a hit now, we’d surely still be on the air. [Sighs.] It’s a crazy business.

BE: So would you still be willing to delve back into television?

RL: Yeah, but I’d probably want to do something more on the cable side, where it’s 13 shows as opposed to 26. I like making movies, but it’d be nice to have a series where you’re working three or four months out of the year. Then the rest of the time, you’re still able to do movies.

BE: Speaking of movies, do you enjoy the opportunity to mix it up between lead roles and parts in ensemble films?

RL: Yeah, you know, it’s really all about what’s going on in my life, the movies that are coming in…you never know. Some days you think, “Holy shit, what’s going to happen? I haven’t worked in awhile,” and all of a sudden two or three movies come along. There’s a lot of movies you turn down and there’s a lot that you do, and you hope that they work.

BE: You turned up somewhat unexpectedly in “Date Night.” How did that come about?

RL: You know, that was one of those things that my agent had somebody who was in the movie – I think it was James Franco, actually – and…I don’t know, when it came along, I wasn’t doing anything, they were shooting it in New York and I hadn’t been to New York in awhile, and it was only a couple of days of work. So I figured, “Why not?”

BE: I mentioned your underrated TV work, but are there any films in your back catalog that you think are worthy of reevaluation?

RL: Well, “Dominick and Eugene” was a really good movie that a lot of people didn’t see. I don’t have a list of the movies that I haven’t made, so I don’t know offhand. I’ve made a bunch. [Laughs.] “Operation Dumbo Drop” was a really good movie with a horrible title. There’s also a movie I made called “No Escape” that didn’t really get big play, and that was a really good action-genre film. And hopefully this movie! It’s not a big distributor getting us out there. It’s a true independent movie, but…I just think this movie is beautiful. What it says, what it’s about, and the questions that can arise from a kid’s point of view. How do you live a good life? How will you be remembered? What’s really important and what’s not? I think it’s a beautiful movie.

BE: When you worked on “Narc,” you were also a producer on the film. Do you enjoy getting behind the scenes once in awhile on films?

RL: I do! It’s nice to have a say, and as an actor, if you’re not producing it or doing anything behind the camera, you tend to just show up and do what you have to do and leave. And that’s fun, because sometimes who needs the headaches? But it’s also nice to have some say with the casting and how the director wants to make the movie. You can add things and take away things with the edit, and it’s always nice to be a part of it and see the movie in its initial stages. So, yeah, I do enjoy it. I’d like to do more of it, but it’s just so hard right now with independent movies. It’s a whole different world just from a few years ago.

BE: Lastly, I know that you’ve got plenty of films in the pipeline, but is there anything in particular on your slate that you really think people should look out for?

RL: Yeah, there’s a few. There’s “The Details,” the one I mentioned with Tobey Maguire. Laura Linney’s also in that. There’s one I did called “Cogan’s Trade,” with Brad Pitt, that’s really a nice movie. There’s another one…God, I can’t even remember them all. [Laughs.] Oh, yeah, I just finished one with Derek Cianfrance, the director who did “Blue Valentine.” It’s with Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling.

BE: “The Place Beyond the Pines”?

RL: Yeah, that’s it. So, yeah, all three of those are coming up, and they’re all really good.

BE: It definitely doesn’t sound like you’re resting on your laurels.

RL: Absolutely not. [Laughs.]

If the strong critical support, the record-setting ratings, and HBO’s decision to renew the show for a second season the morning after its premiere is any indication, then yes, I’d say it has a pretty good chance. But first, it’s going to have to do a lot more than deliver a captivating pilot episode – one that was directed by Martin Scorsese, the man behind some of the best mob films of the last 20 years – if it ever hopes to reach the same level as “The Sopranos.”

One good episode doesn’t exactly make a great series, but you can definitely tell that the pieces are all there to create something really special. And to help make sense of all the corruption, backstabbing, and every sordid piece of back-alley business in between, Will Harris will be blogging “Boardwalk Empire” throughout the season. Here’s a brief taste from his post about the premiere:

“I don’t know about you guys, but I was sucked into the show almost instantly, in no small part because of Steve Buscemi. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t been a fan of his work for years, but it’s great to see him in the lead role for a change. He’s perfect for it, too: Nucky’s a guy who’s got a lot of power but isn’t necessarily the most intimidating fish in the pond.”

In addition, Bullz-Eye is currently running a “Boardwalk Empire” contest asking our Facebook friends to tell us about their favorite cinematic mobsters. The contest runs through next Wednesday, September 29th, and one lucky winner will walk away with a branded flask, a “Boardwalk Empire” book about the real-life characters, and a keychain flash drive preloaded with exclusive content. Head over to the official contest page to find out how to enter and then be sure to visit our “Boardwalk Empire” blog every Sunday night for a recap of all the latest action.

In March 2007, Bullz-Eye inducted its first class into the Bullz-Eye Directors Hall of Fame. It’s an unconventional list, to be sure, and that was the idea. With all due respect to Howard Hawks, David Lean, Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, Akira Kurosawa, et al., they will just have to wait their turn.

So what has our illustrious founding class of directors been up to since their induction? As it turns out, they’ve been rather quiet, though one of them finally decided to make his first movie in 12 years, and would you look at that, he’s completely changed the game for a second time. Let’s take a look and our directors’ newest credits. And, in some cases, debits.

Alfred Hitchcock

Mr. Hitchcock has not been terribly productive lately – for anyone who just snorted that he’s dead, don’t say that; he’s just…unavailable – so his legacy remains unblemished. And thankfully we’re past the point of anyone speaking of one M. Night Shyamalan as the next Hitchcock. Those were dark days, indeed.

Tim Burton

Burton’s been pretty quiet since his induction. He unleashed the bloody good musical “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” in late 2007, and produced “9,” the animated film about a group of puppets in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, last year. He does have two tantalizing projects on the horizon, the first of which is the much-anticipated “Alice in Wonderland,” a live action 3D affair that has Burton teaming up with Johnny Depp for the seventh time and boasts one of the creepiest trailers we’ve seen in years (two words: Cheshire cat). Then, in 2011, Burton brings one of his very first creations to life on the big screen. Yep, “Frankenweenie.” And they damn well better not change that title.

Steven Spielberg

As director and/or producer, our resident manchild has racked up some monster hits since his induction…but at a cost. His lone directorial effort is “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which made $317 million but also coined the term “nuke the fridge,” which some view as the modern-day equivalent of “jump the shark.” He served as executive producer for both of Michael Bay’s “Transformers” movies (insert your own explosion porn joke here), and God help him, he even executive produced “Eagle Eye.” There is hope on the horizon, though, as Spielberg is elbows deep into the production of “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn,” a motion capture adaptation of the Belgian comic book series starring Daniel Craig, Simon Pegg, Andy Serkis, and Nick Frost. After that, Spielberg is scheduled to direct “Interstellar,” a wormhole and gravity-centric film co-written by Christopher Nolan’s brother Jonathan, and he is producing or executive producing eight (!) other projects, including the awesomely titled, Jon Favreau-directed “Cowboys and Aliens.”

Martin Scorsese

He finally got his Oscar. About damn time.

It was actually one of the funniest set-ups in recent Academy Awards memory; the award for Best Director during the 2007 Oscars was given out by Scorsese’s longtime friends Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and George Lucas, all of whom were looking at Marty as if to say, “Hey buddy, do you think they picked us to hand out this award for a reason?” The theater, of course, went nuts when they read his name, and as he made his long-overdue walk to the podium, it reminded us of when Michael J. Fox received an Emmy for his work on “Family Ties,” and said, “I feel four feet tall!”

Marty has only released one movie since 2006′s “The Departed,” the Rolling Stones concert film “Shine a Light,” but he directed a short Hitchcock tribute called “The Key to Reserva” as well as the pilot episode of the show “Boardwalk Empire,” the story of Atlantic City man about town Nucky Thompson. His upcoming thriller “Shutter Island,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was originally scheduled for last fall, but was abruptly bumped to spring. Usually that is an ominous sign; we’re hoping that is not the case here, but February is generally more hospitable to horror movies than it is to period-piece thrillers. Good thing “Shutter” has a supernatural element to it as well.

And just this Sunday, Scorsese was just awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award by the Hollywood Foreign Press at this year’s Golden Globe Awards. Everything’s coming up Marty. As we said before, about damn time.

James Cameron

So there’s this movie, you might have heard about it…

Love him or hate him, James Cameron does nothing by half, and once again, he swings for the fences, and once again he hits one that lands over the fence on the other side of the highway from the ballpark. “Avatar” only needed four weeks to become the second biggest worldwide box office hit of all time. This despite the fact that Cameron released his movie in the face of rampant speculation that he had finally bitten off more than he could chew, and the movie could not possibly live up to the 12-year hype. Whoops.

Is it finally time to give the man the benefit of the doubt? He now owns the #1 and #2 spots on the all-time box office charts – and yes, we readily acknowledge that 3D and IMAX upcharges have played a large role in “Avatar’s” performance – and has done so without pandering or playing it safe. He could use some assistance on writing dialogue, but we’re none of us perfect, and Cameron’s good points as a director far, far outweight his drawbacks as a writer. Let’s just hope he doesn’t take another 12 years to make his next movie.