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John Travolta Probably Heading Back to Crime for John Gotti Biopic

by Ethan Anderton
January 26, 2011
Source: EW

Last December we found out that director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook, Alpha Dog) was going to direct a biopic about reformed criminal John Gotti Jr. and his mobster father, the late head of the Gambino crime family. Simply titled Gotti, the project would focus on the father and son relationship between the two Gotti men. Now it sounds like we know who will play the senior crime boss and father in this biopic as EW reports John Travolta is in serious talks to lead the film which will actually cover three generations of the crime family. Though this isn't official news yet, it helps that Cassavetes once co-starred with Travolta in Face-Off.

Marc Fiore, CEO of Fiore Films revealed the news, but his comments show that it's not a done deal yet. Fiore says, "We would love to have him. He’s a terrific actor. John Gotti, Sr. — he’s an icon. And so is Travolta. The Gottis have an image already. People know who they are. You can’t just be a good actor, you have to be a great actor who can become John Gotti.” But who might be playing the junior Gotti? Well, hold on to your hats folks because Fiore says he's in "very preliminary" talks with James Franco (who will be in every single film released over the next two years) to take the role. However, the actor is apparently one of many young actors in consideration and since he's got a full plate already, I doubt he'll actually get involved.

As for Travolta, even if From Paris with Love wasn't the best movie, it shows that he can still be one bad-ass dude. Since his last turn as a criminal resulted in the disappointing remake of The Taking of Pellham 123 (it wasn't bad, but it wasn't remarkable either), I'm looking forward to Travolta harkening back to his career revival in Pulp Fiction. How about you?

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