Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1986: Ray Liotta in Something Wild

Ray Liotta did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Ray Sinclair in Something Wild. 

Something Wild follows a milquetoast banker Charlie (Jeff Daniels) who gets caught up in the world of a wild criminal woman Audrey (Melanie Griffith).

The first half of the film is a largely comedic film about Daniels and Griffith on their escapades together, as she pushes him out of his specific shell and into her nearly insane at times chaotic mania that involves petty larceny, uprooting Charlie’s seemingly stable existence and naturally along with some wild sex. All of this eventually leads to the pair going to Audrey’s high school reunion with Charlie as her husband, unfortunately this leads to the pair running into Audrey’s actual husband Ray which immediately makes the film change genres from a comedy towards a thriller. This was Ray Liotta’s partial breakout role and with obvious reason, as the moment Liotta comes on screen he begins to dominate the film. Although this is a case one ponders how it was to watch the film in 1986 given that Liotta came up known for his gangster tough guy roles rather than being newcomer in this film and how one would have responded, given we have a predisposition of an expectation with him even in a role that was before he became the Liotta we’d expect. As when Ray Sinclair first appears with a different woman and eager to get to know Audrey’s “new husband” Charlie, Liotta begins with a theoretical charm offensive as he is encouraging in everything he says to Charlie and naturally throws in a few Liotta laughs for good measure. Liotta as we know him of course makes you feel a little unease in this excessive friendliness being Liotta, however I think what Liotta does well is not play the character of Ray as overtly that he might’ve been in lesser hands. What Liotta does consistently here is elevate a potential type of the jealous ex-boyfriend, though we’ll eventually learn he is in fact Audrey’s ex-husband, and turn him into something a bit more real. As it would be easy enough to have played more so into just planning the intimidation of Charlie immediately, and while that is still playing in Liotta’s eyes that denotes a deeper calculation to his questions to Charlie, there’s a strange genuine interest in Liotta’s note as well. Liotta by doing so presents Ray as wanting to get to know this man his wife has replaced him with, not just in hate but in some attempt to determine the situation to himself. 

An element that he reveals further when finally alone for a moment Liotta switches on a dime when with Audrey. A moment that is great acting by Liotta because in the switch it isn’t an immediate obsession, rather you see vulnerability in Liotta performance as he asks for her to give him another chance. Liotta doesn’t play the moment as a villain rather a man genuinely trying to present himself in some reformed, albeit falsely, light to his wife. Pivotal in that desperation is the sense of the history of failings in Ray who is trying to be some better man in his delivery with that need presenting obsession with her but also specific personal insecurity of a longer relationship. A relationship that propels him not only to casually dump his current girlfriend, literally at a convenience store, but take off in some cockeyed scheme to, in his mind, win Audrey back. Liotta’s performance captures a particular kind of energy that presents an unwieldy quality for Ray. As much as Ray does have a plan to try to rid himself of Charlie, by even framing him, while also robbing a convenience store, the way Liotta maneuvers in these scenes is with much confidence but without much of a sense of an intellectual plan. Rather Liotta brings really even this joy of going with the flow, with highlights of intensity, where Liotta shows that the behaviors aren’t really anything new for Ray to begin with, yet there is the nagging sense of real jealousy and still that desperation that compels him in this particular endeavor of his. Liotta’s performance creates a new angle to a potentially old character through this approach and lets us into more so with his obsession which Liotta keeps fundamentally less melodramatic. As a moment where he is left behind by Charlie and Audrey, and a woman interested in Ray appears, his reaction to her is great work by Liotta, because if you’d watch this scene in isolation you wouldn’t suspect anything horrible will come of it because Liotta plays it with such genuine excitement as Ray sees a new opportunity to pursue the couple. In the moment what Liotta is playing though is the real excitement to see his wife again, now of course this is not a good thing given what Ray plans to do when he gets there, but what Liotta keeps alive is the fundamental truth that in Ray’s own broken way he does honestly love Audrey…or at least believes that he does. Something that leads to the climactic scene where director Jonathan Demme seemed to be cutting his teeth on going fully horror thriller, which he’d do so successfully with Silence of the Lambs, as Ray invades Charlie’s home and attacks them both. A scene that is pure horror and part of the reason why is that Liotta is playing a particular note of insanity where the fear from it is based on the uncertainty of the situation in Ray’s own mind. Throughout the scene Liotta is changing notes, which is not as a criticism rather praise because what Liotta does so well is showing the uncertainty of someone who doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing, however what that will be will not be a good thing. So we get moments of pure visceral intensity and weirdly casual moments, both which serve the same purpose as representing someone who has lost in a way that could lead to as much horror as a serial killer with intent. A sequence that builds to the finale where Charlie manages to stab Ray, a moment that is absolute brilliance for Liotta, because his reaction is still not as an overt villain but rather a man who let his worst nature get the best of him. As Liotta’s reaction is that of surprise, not even I can’t believe this weakling got the best of me sort of thing, but rather the surprise of a man who didn’t exactly know what he was doing to begin with, however getting killed by Charlie never crossed his mind. It’s a compelling and captivating near debut that immediately makes an impression, takes hold of the film and doesn't let go until he exits.