The actor says his fitness practice really comes in handy because he wants to 'look a certain way for the movie.'

• May 5, 2018

AceShowbiz - Ray Liotta has become a Pilates devotee after using the workouts to get into shape for roles. The "Goodfellas" star reveals his fiancee turned him on to his fitness passion and now he insists, "It's the best workout in the world."

"This teacher just kicks my butt!" Ray tells WENN. "My fiance got me into it. She had a little one (Pilates machine) in the house and I tried it a couple of times." And the fitness practice really came in handy as Liotta was preparing to play a "really bad guy" in his latest movie project.

"I'm getting ready to do an independent movie, called 'Cutman', about this guy who looks like a really bad guy but you learn later on that he has a big heart and ends up saving somebody in real trouble," he explains.

"I wanted to look a certain way for the movie. I'm 63 now and I don't want muscles on top of muscles, plus it's unrealistic at that age (to look super fit) unless you're doing things that you shouldn't be doing to enhance it. It's right for the role. I'm playing an ex-boxer who does bad things but who's dying of cancer. It's an interesting part. It's an interesting movie if we pull it off," he adds.

The role will be Liotta's first since it was announced his hit TV cop drama "Shades of Blue" will be ending this summer after three seasons. The movie star admits he has really enjoyed playing Matt Wozniak on the show, opposite Jennifer Lopez, his co-star and producer.

He credits her with really getting to the heart of his twisted cop character. "She's fun to work with," he adds. "When I first started the show I didn't think they were really utilising Wozniak as best as they could and I took a meeting with the producers. They thought I was coming in looking in for more screen time.

"I said, 'You've got a bisexual cop who is very paternal with the people he works with it but also crossed the line into badness in a serious way. I think there's a lot more story that could be told'. To her credit and the other producers' credit they started opening it up to where Wozniak became much more a part of the story," he notes.