What happened to Joe Pesci as far as his career is concerned? Has he been in any films since 1998? If not, why not?
IMdB says his last film to date was Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). Wouldn’t know why he stopped acting, though.
He’s made a couple of “as himself” appearances in some documentaries, the most recent of them in 2001’s A Galaxy Far, Far Away.
My guess is that he hasn’t been offered anything on a par with Casino recently, that appearing in another bomb on the level of Gone Fishin’ or Eight Heads would damage his career beyond the benefits of the paycheck involved, and that another Lethal Weapon/Home Alone sequel would be a case of going to the well once too often. The man is approaching retirement age and would probably like to go out with another Scorsese-calibre film, not some crap he’s doing explicitly for the money.
There were some rumblings a couple years ago about a My Cousin Vinnie sequel, but nothing came of it.
I hope he plays another tough role, thats where his acting excells in my opinion. I hated his wimpy part in Lethal Weapon. No reason why he can’t carry on acting beyond retirement age - a lot of successful actors do. Maybe Scorsese could using him as a Don or something.
In my opinion he is one of the most fearsome villians ever to appear on screen. The reason he is so damn scary is because he is so real. The violence wasn’t cartoonish and you could really see the little man anger welling up inside of him. A truly frightening portrayal of a mob hit-man/scociopath.
This question came up on the IMDB boards a while back. Someone found a newspaper article that indicated that he was currently re-pursuing his musical career. Four decades ago, he played with a band called “Joey Dee and the Starliters,” who hit #1 with “The Peppermint Twist,” although I don’t know for a fact that he played on that particular song. Unfortunately, that thread is gone (things don’t last long at the IMDB), and I can’t find the article.
BTW, in a trivia note: “The Twist” by Chubby Checker is the only song ever to *hit #1 on Billboard magazine’s “Hot 100,” fall completedly off the chart, then hit #1 again (in this case two years later.) The second time it hit #1, it was bumped out by “The Peppermint Twist.” Coincidence??? I think not.
*It was not the first song to completely fall of the chart, the resurface and hit #1, though. That honor belongs to Tommy Edwards’ “It’s All in the Game,” which charted in the early '50s, failed to reach the top, then re-charted seven years later, hitting #1.
Personally, I think he’s been locked away doing penace for Lethal Weapon 4, 8 Heads In A Duffle Bag, and Gone Fishin’, as well he should.