10 Actors Who Threatened To Quit Famous Movies

Few actors would turn down the opportunity to appear in a Martin Scorsese movie, and even fewer would sign up for one, do four weeks of pre-production, then quit three days before shooting was scheduled to begin.

But that was the position Paul Sorvino found himself in while working on Scorsese's 1990 crime epic Goodfellas, with the actor finding it difficult to bring out his character's aggressive, brutish nature, which gave him cold feet.

At the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015, Sorvino stated that portraying thug Paulie Cicero was "so far from me... I'm a poet, I'm an opera singer, I'm an author... none of it is gangster." So, he called his manager and asked to be released from the movie, but when he "found" the character after noticing his own stern expression in the mirror, he decided to continue with the project.

Goodfellas is widely considered one of Scorsese's best movies, and one of the greatest achievements in cinema, full-stop. It was also nominated for six Oscars (including Best Picture), so Sorvino is probably quite relieved he didn't jump ship.