Ray Liotta is playing a character written especifically for him — an arms dealer, in India. Somehow the independent short film director Rohit Karn Batra (Roundabout) convinced the Goodfellas actor to star in Batra’s feature film debut, The Field. It’s about an undercover operation between an Indian mafia family–and Liotta’s character gets caught in the middle of a multi-generational drug war. That indie karma is paying dividends for Liotta. The History Channel TV mini-series “Texas Rising” (Liotta plays an Alamo survivor seeking brutal revenge) just got picked up by ITV Studios, and Liotta’s music-driven family film “The Identical” just got bought by Freestyle Releasing (Liotta plays the husband of Ashley Judd, and is an exec producer).
The only wrinkle in Liotta’s life appears to be Nerium International, the skin care company that’s been using Liotta’s name and pocked-skin complexion in “before and after” photos which are spreading around social networks faster than a bad case of acne. Liotta says he’s never used it, let alone gave them permission to use his likeness. He filed a federal lawsuit against the company and one of its investors, Michael Shouhed, who stars in the reality TV show “Shahs of Sunset.” You wonder how they thought they could get away with it. But then people always wonder that about Shahs.
“Before and After” photographs used by Nerium International
