Image Credit: Mario Santoro/PR Photos; Alison Buck/WireImage.com
John Travolta sat at the center of the table looking dapper and cracking jokes. If he seemed like a mafia don, that’s because he was there to announce he would be playing one. Travolta was the headliner at a press conference Tuesday morning at a hotel conference room in midtown Manhattan to announce his next starring role in Gotti: Three Generations. The independently-financed film will star Travolta as John Gotti Sr.
Also on hand were director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook), producer Marc Fiore, and John Gotti Jr. But perhaps the biggest head-turner for the assembled press corps was a platinum-blonde sitting near the front of the room, Lindsay Lohan. The actress has been rumored to be up for the part of the late mob kingpin’s daughter, Victoria Gotti. When asked about her odd presence at the press conference, Fiore said, “Lindsay is a terrific actress. I’m glad to have her here today. We’re in talks. Nothing’s finalized.”
Sitting a few feet away from Lohan were Chazz Palminteri, lending some outer-borough street cred, the tanned and tweezed Gotti boys of reality-TV fame, Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston, Jay Leno-sidekick John Melendez, and, for what it’s worth, Miss Teen New Jersey.
Ostensibly, the press conference was held to announce that Travolta would star in the Gotti biopic, which traces the relationship between the late Dapper Don and his son. But other casting news was announced as well. Fiore announced that Joe Pesci had signed on to play Gotti deputy, Angelo Ruggiero, and that Travolta’s 11-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, who previously appeared in her father’s 2009 film Old Dogs, would also have a part in the film. From Lohan’s presence, it’s assumed that she will play Victoria. Which left open the question of who would play the high-profile role of John Gotti Jr. When asked who he thought should play him, Gotti Jr. joked, “Eddie Murphy!”
Gotti Jr. said that he finally felt comfortable with Travolta and Cassavetes after sharing a five-hour lunch with them. He added that he was eager to see his family’s story told “correctly.” Said Gotti Jr., “My father was an icon. He was a man larger than life. When he walked into a room, he owned the room.” Aside from being raised, as he said, in the waiting rooms of federal prisons, Gotti Jr. said that his life story was much like any one else’s. “We’re a pretty normal family.”
Gotti Jr. added that his father may have been a gangster who ordered people killed, but he was also a man’s man who made a choice and lived by his convictions. He chose his course, he said, and “he paid for his sins.” When asked if his infamous father was a Travolta fan, Gotti Jr. said, “Absolutely! In the ’70s and ’80s, who wasn’t a John Travolta fan?”
Travolta, whose last film was 2010′s From Paris With Love, added, “This is probably the most interesting untold story in this country. What a character to approach and understand!” Travolta also admitted that he’d been a huge fan of the reality-TV show Growing Up Gotti. Travolta said that he was drawn to the film because of Gotti Sr.’s glamour and humor. He also alluded to the recent loss of his son Jett as a reason why he empathized with his character, whose 12-year-old son was killed in a neighborhood traffic accident in 1980. “This father lost a son and I lost a son. We discussed how painful that is.”
When Travolta was asked about the blonde elephant in the room, he joked, “Lindsay happens to be a very big fan of mine — of Danny Zuko and Vinny Barbarino. I always thought she was gorgeous and talented and filled with a lot of depth.”
Gotti: Three Generations is scheduled to go into production in October. It will be shot in New York and is expected to open in theaters in late 2012.
Read more:
John Travolta likely set to play John Gotti. Do you prefer your Travolta family-friendly, or bad-ass?
John Travolta in serious talks to play Gotti
John Gotti Jr. to tell his story in doc, feature film, and book
“[F]illed with a lot of depth.” hahahaha
Besides the fact that Lindsay Lohan is in the movie, I’m not looking forward to it based solely on the fact that John Gotti Jr. is a producer on the film. When I hear about a “Gotti” movie, I think of all the scandal and crimes involved. If Gotti Jr. is producing, I’m thinking it’s going to paint a different, fabricated light around one of the biggest Italian criminals. Oh, and Travolta is just god awful.
Great point.
****RING’S OVER RING’S**** hi this is the SIS,the CIA,and the F.B.I.,and the Secret Service is Allen Osborne still with your Agency-hit 42873-112 ****RING’S OVER RING’S OVER RING’S**** YOU KNOW WHAT SPAD’S TABLE CRACKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now its time to talk and write about those Goon’s!! will put them on the air WILL PUT THOSE CRACKER’S ON THE AIR CRACKER!! WILL PUT THEM ON NASCAR RACES!! YOU EVER WATCH ALIEN’S!! AAHHAAHH NEIL MARCE***** WILL PUT HIM JAY LENO CRACKER!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can’t wait for this movie to come out! I mean, how could it possibly be bad? Over the last 5 years Travolta & Lohan have put out nothing but brilliant films highlighted by their superior acting talents. Just check out the their lists of recent work. This one will no doubt (finally!) earn them each the Oscar nominations they so richly deserve.
Where did you get your sarcasm font? Love the post…
ALL RAIN! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
now for some word for word with Greg Biffle Nascar Driver and an old friend of mine from the **** ahh. Mark Martin at Texas Motor Speedway lol uhm some word for word as Greg Biffle is leading Mark Martin then comes up right behind him he watned you!! he wanted you!! HE WANTED YOU CRACKER!!!!!!!!!!!!
In need of rehab like Linds,Paulie???
ALL RAIN! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
A sympathetic propaganda movie about criminals staring the king of Scientology and a real life criminal. Yeah, sounds like a winner.
Cassavetes really lucked out when Uwe Boll and the “Growing Up Gotti” director passed on helming this dram project. Now they just need Madonna & Carrot Top to complete the talented cast
“. . .Now they just need Madonna & Carrot Top to complete the talented cast.”
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LOL. I’m sorry; I wouldn’t normally do this kinda thang. But this “good word(s)” all came out from the LAKE HOUSE superstar whom even WILSON the volleyball did beat out several years ago?
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That said, I do really cherish the fondest memories of your timelessly wonderful, ROBOTIC (that’s the way it should be) performance in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, Mr. Reeves.
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Thanks for a good laugh, seriously. : )
I’m glad you enjoy my work, Hiroshi. I’ve spent years honing my craft. I teach acting classes in La Brea on the weekends; both John & Lindsay study under me when they are not out seeking public attention.
This is on me!! this is on me!! THIS IS ON ME!! CRACKER!!!!!!!!!!!! Kurt Sutter has NOTHING!!!!
Wher using tha awefull other Classy Asian massage Place to Block owefull Kurt Sutter with his awefull looks AAHHAAHH ALL RAIN! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
John Travolta & Lindsay Lohan? I’ll take ‘talentless drama queens who people considered good actors several years ago’ for $1000, Alex!
I don’t understand why we need to glamorize a mass murder as a good guy? He wasn’t, just because you have personality doesn’t mean your a decent human being. Hitler had a great personality, where is the EPIC film of his life that shows how much he loved the jews and rainbows!
Hilarious comment..
Haha. And, Hitler didn’t have that great of a personality. But, Kim Jung? Now, that’s somone with a personality.
Glamorize? If I was a murderous gangster and they cast John Travolta to play me & Lindsay Lohan as my daughter, I would truly consider that part of my prison sentence (and violation of my constitutional rights as a convicted criminal)
Ditto, dude.
it’s just buisness….
they had the chance of making this movie an oscar winning movie but they ruined it by casting lindsay in it(and theres also tlks of kim kardashian being in it)those 2 women are not actresses they are publicity seekers, they need to cast more serious actresses, lindsay @ one point had a 15 minute movie career even though she was already a horrible actress she has ruined all her chances and i wouldnt be surprised if this movie gets a direct to dvd release
A gangster story that’s “interesting and untold”? Holy crap, Gotti was just another street thug dressed in designer clothes. But Travolta will invent a walk for the guy, practice smoking his brand of cigarettes, and figure out how a “man’s man” gets blood out of his Armanis — truly compelling stuff. But maybe they’ll reach deeper and explain how a man who has lost his son can justify killing other fathers’ sons. That’s not deep or tragic, just a description of a monster.
LOL IT will be Hard to compare, to the Movie GLOW Feature Film in Pre-Productions,By VFG-Productions Ready to shoot June 1 2011 With a MOB,Club and Real GOOD Story and an ALL-STAR Cast(to be announced soon) , you havent seen since GOOD F. SOPRANOS , and GOD Father!
are there usually press conferences to announce that a movie is going to be made? and, if so, do they usually have actresses present who are only “in talks”? this already sounds like a mess.
You’ve got a reasonable doubt.
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Re LILO, I think what lies beneath is their concern over LILO’s ongoing legal case; they both (they and LILO) might already say YES in a sense, or simply conditionally be in “train” of talking. Just my 10,000 yen.
actually that’s an interesting point you raised – this is the first time i’ve ever heard of a press conference just to announce a casting decision and it’s not even that big of a movie to be honest. And to have an “actress” (yep, quotes are necessary when describing Lindsay’s ahem… career) there who isn’t even signed yet … it all just smells like a big publicity stunt.
Speaking for myself, I have doubt in both TRAVOLTA and PESCI [Oui! Moi aussi; moi also love PESCI’s performance in GOODFELLAS, and VINCENT VEGA; but that’s another story. . .]. Wishing them well, I hope they both still retain their “cool” portraying mob characters.
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As for LILO, I couldn’t be gladder. Hoping this would be leading to a deal done.
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Thanks for the up.
Is this The Reelz Channel new project? *eyeroll*
John and Lindsay should prepare their Razzie speeches now!
I think a big problem with our country is we have this weird interest in criminals like Gotti and true ICONs and Heros, like the people who fill the ranks of our Armed Forces are just footnotes. What about the Man or Woman who is raising children in this world now and still managing to keep their kids Moral Center, and keep the bills paid and just being a good person. What about them. Why would we rather see a movie about an Idiot like Gotti who even in his own world was unable to follow the rules.