Nick Cassavates No Longer Directing GOTTI
Drops John Travolta led mobster biopic just one week after press conference unveiling.
Just a week after attending a media press conference for Gotti: Three Generations and Variety reports that director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook, John Q) has exited the project over scheduling issues with his indie film Yellow (though suspiciously that movie wrapped last fall and was generally thought to be in the final stages of post-production). The search is now on for his replacement. The movie is an epic biopic that has John Travolta locked in as American mobster John Gotti Sr, the notorious head of the Gambino family. It's been described as a father-son story and as an open door insiders look at the Gotti family which has been pieced together by screenwriter Leo Rossi (writer of low radar crime movies) from interviews conducted with John Gotti Jr., Victoria, family lawyer Charlie Cinelli and others who knew him. In fact Travolta met with John Gotti Jr before agreeing to make the film. Gotti: Three Generations will tell the story of when Gotti Sr passed the gangster torch to his son in 1988 and Gotti Jrs struggle to change and go in a different direction with his life. Having been released from a 9 year prison stint in 2009 and having been tried and not convicted on several racketeering cases in the last decade, Gotti Jr believes a new movie will put the record straight so everyone can move on. Of course, a film will also give the opportunity for Gotti Jr to perhaps have creative license with his own family history. Joe Pesci was recently cast as Angelo Ruggiero - the high-ranking mobster and close friend to Gotti and Lindsay Lohan is in talks to play Victoria Gotti, daughter of John, though her deal is not yet finalised (presumably it comes down to whether she needs to serve time for her recent misdemeanors). The lead role of John Gotti Jr, who lives in the shadow of his father and wants to leave the gangster life, has yet to be cast. Principal photography begins in October in New York with Fiori Films, a company whose only credit to date is the straight-to-dvd fare National Lampoons One, Two, Many are financing and producing the $15 million project. Meanwhile Cassavetes has recently shot a cameo for The Hangover 2 as Liam Neeson's replacement in a tattoo artist scene.