Joe Pesci has won acclaim for his wide range of roles, as he can do serious dramas like Raging Bull and laugh-out-loud comedies like My Cousin Vinny with equal skill. However, Pesci stopped acting full-time in the late 1990s, only appearing in a few assorted projects in the years since, leading many to wonder why he's spending so much time home alone. It's actually quite complicated, as it involves a music career, a few famous exes, and even a hitman, so strap in. Let's take a look at the real reason why we don't hear about Joe Pesci anymore.
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00:00Joe Pesci is one of the all-time great and versatile character actors.
00:04He played Jake LaMotta's brother and manager in Raging Bull, a psychopathic Tommy DeVito
00:09in Goodfellas, and had legendary roles in Home Alone, My Cousin Vinny, and the Lethal
00:14Weapon franchise.
00:15Pesci was a welcome present on the big screen for decades, who could successfully handle
00:19high drama and humor.
00:21I'm funny how?
00:22I mean, funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?"
00:24But lately, we haven't heard much from the Oscar winner, while his talents have been
00:28sorely missed.
00:29Here are some of the reasons Joe Pesci's been off the radar in recent years.
00:34Early retirement
00:35In 1999, when his acting career was still very much alive, Pesci announced he'd largely
00:40retire from the biz in order to pursue his first love, music.
00:43Now, while a lot of actors decide to record an album or take a role in a Broadway musical
00:48just because they can, Pesci actually has some chops.
00:51In the 60s, he was the guitarist for the band Joey D and the Starlighters, a position he
00:56vacated to a slightly better guitarist named Jimi Hendrix.
00:59In 1968, he released an album called Little Joe Sure Can Sing, under the stage name of
01:05Joe Ritchie.
01:06He even introduced the two musicians who'd go on to form the Four Seasons.
01:10But then his acting career took off, and music went on the back burner for 30 years.
01:15Pesci's retirement came after the release of a bizarre LP called Vincent La Guardia
01:19Gambini Sings Just For You.
01:22Something of a novelty project, the title is derived from the name of Pesci's My Cousin
01:26Vinny character.
01:27Guess that whole Be a Good Lawyer thing didn't work out for ol' Vinny, huh?
01:31Just for friends
01:32Every once in a while, Pesci pops out of retirement for an acting gig here and there, but there's
01:36usually a good reason for it.
01:38For example, Pesci is still very close friends with Robert De Niro.
01:41Over the course of four decades, they've starred in a number of movies together, among which
01:45are the best of both actors' story careers like Raging Bull, Casino, and Goodfellas,
01:50the latter of which netted Pesci the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and what may
01:55be the shortest Oscar acceptance speech in history.
01:58It's my privilege, thank you.
02:01It's his bond with De Niro that led to Pesci's only major role of note since 2000, a cameo
02:07in The Good Shepherd, the 2006 movie that was also Robert De Niro's directorial debut.
02:13Other than that, Pesci's only been seen in the 2010 brothel drama Love Ranch, which combines
02:18both boxing and the gambling scenes for which he's famed, and a 2011 Snickers commercial
02:23in which he played himself.
02:24What are you looking at?
02:25I'm not looking at anything.
02:26We're not good enough for you.
02:27You looking for something else?
02:29Losing interest
02:30Now that we know that he's semi-retired and only comes out of hiding for a role once in
02:34a while, let's talk about why.
02:36A glance at his resume reveals very few movies after the classic Casino was released in 1995,
02:42and what he was being offered really couldn't compete with his best films.
02:46Remember Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag?
02:48Or Gone Fishin'?
02:49Pesci's last major role was the 1998 sequel Lethal Weapon 4, which earned him a Razzie
02:54Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actor for reprising his role as the obnoxious informant
02:59Leo Goetz.
03:00Those movies, and his subsequent walk from Hollywood, reflect a comment Pesci made to
03:04The New York Times in 1992.
03:06I love to star in movies, but I want to have good roles.
03:10It doesn't help to get starring roles in something that's no good.
03:12I mean, that will just kill you.
03:14Besides, how could any subsequent role possibly compete with what he's already done?
03:19What the f*** is it?
03:23We're just f***ing gonna land it, fairway?
03:26Gains and losses
03:27Even after Pesci retired, he was still willing to take on a big role if all the factors aligned.
03:33Around 2011, he was set for a major supporting role in a film about the Gambino crime family,
03:38with John Travolta attached to star as John Gotti, and Pesci set to portray Gotti's friend
03:42and personal enforcer, Angelo Ruggiero.
03:45Ruggiero was a big guy, so Pesci dutifully gained 30 pounds for the role.
03:50Then he was reportedly dropped into a smaller part, and offered a reduced salary.
03:54Surely, he must've had some choice words for the execs who came to him with that.
03:58Without me, you, personally, every f***ing wise guy still around, I'll take a piece of
04:04your f***ing j***** ass.
04:06Pesci ultimately committed his ire to paper and filed suit against the production company,
04:11ending in an undisclosed settlement in 2013, and the Gambino movie still hasn't been filmed,
04:16with or without Pesci.
04:17But that wasn't the only legal entanglement he's found himself in.
04:21The ex-wife, the hitman, and the attorney
04:23Pesci was married to model-actress Claudio Haro from 1988 to 1992, with whom he had a
04:29daughter.
04:30They must've remained on good terms, because Haro's acting career started after the divorce,
04:35and of the five movies she appeared in, four were Pesci films.
04:38Pesci also stood by her side during a very bizarre legal matter.
04:42After her split from Pesci, Haro married Hollywood stuntman Garrett Warren.
04:46But things soured in 1999, and about a year later, Warren was shot by a stranger at the
04:51front door of his home in Westlake Village, California.
04:54It took years to figure out who shot him, but some evidence uncovered in the trunk of
04:58a car in a drug bust, directions to Warren's house, and his photograph set police off and
05:03running.
05:04Haro eventually figured out that Haro had paid the assailant, a hitman, to kill her
05:08ex-husband.
05:09She later hired another hitman to finish the job.
05:12During her 2012 trial, during which she was free on $1.25 million bail, Haro brought a
05:18huge entourage to the courtroom each day, including a nun dressed in all white and her
05:24other ex-husband, Joe Pesci, dressed all in black.
05:27Haro pled no contest, and was sentenced to just over 12 years in prison.
05:32Still at a preliminary hearing, a witness strongly implied that Pesci had paid for Haro's
05:36hit against Warren.
05:38Police interviewed him and searched his property and found him absolutely unrelated to the
05:42crime.
05:43Time for a comeback?
05:44Legal lunacy aside, there's always a chance Pesci might re-emerge.
05:48In the summer of 2016, he made a surprise appearance at Spike TV's Guy's Choice Awards
05:53alongside De Niro to induct goodfellas into the Guy Movie Hall of Fame.
05:57De Niro mentioned a long-gestating movie called The Irishman.
06:00The score says he had been trying to get off the ground for years, but remained stalled
06:04in part because he wanted it to star not just De Niro, but the elusive Pesci.
06:09"...that's if Joe has any more s---- left in him, so… so far all he keeps saying is
06:15go f---- yourself."
06:16Finally, in early 2017, Netflix paid $105 million for the global rights to the film,
06:22and it'll supposedly be available in 2019.
06:25Could this be the start of Pesci's return?
06:27Well, maybe.
06:28Maybe.
06:29Insulted me just a little bit, just a little bit insulted me, man, just a little bit.
06:36It's okay though, I'm used to it.