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Lorraine Bracco Waited 25 Years to Watch Goodfellas Because She Knows Watching It on TV Ruins It

Lorraine Bracco. Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Lorraine Bracco was 36 when she starred as Karen Hill in Goodfellas, but she hadn’t seen the mob movie in its entirety until last year. “Well, I went to the premiere, but I missed the start doing interviews, and then they pulled me out before the end,†she told The Guardian. “And by the time I came home it wasn’t playing. And I never wanted to see it on TV.†See, even Lorraine Bracco knows: Watching the censored TV edit of Goodfellas is a waste of everyone’s time. She was going to see it in full for the first time in 2015 at a 25th-anniversary screening, but she was interrupted by interviews then, too. But last year, the stars aligned and she got a chance to watch herself play the role that nabbed her an Oscar nomination without any interruptions. “And finally I see it last summer, outdoors in L.A. [at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery] Beautiful … 4,000 people, a full moon. And me.†What’d she think? “It’s funny. I mean, laugh out loud,†she said. “I never realized.â€

Why Lorraine Bracco Finally Watched Goodfellas Last Year