Screen Junkies » gotti: in the shadow of my father

‘Gotti’ Film Having Difficulty Finding Financing On Account Of It Being An Unholy Nightmare Of A Production

Penn Collins — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:47:17 +0000

It’s a damn shame, but it looks like Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father might not get made after all. I say it’s a shame not because it sounds like it could be a good film – it doesn’t; it looks awful – but because Screen Junkies has written 12 articles chronicling the ins and outs of a movie that seems more at home on Lifetime than it does in theaters.

Well, all the fascinating weirdness and indefensible casting decisions (such as hiring the entire Travolta family) have taken their toll, Showbiz411 reports. Producer Marco Fiore has been unable to get funding for the film as promised, so the actors haven’t been paid, so the work has stopped.

Why has financing the film been so difficult?

Perhaps it’s because:

The film has John Travolta playing a mob boss.

Kim Kardashian was rumored to be involved.

As was Lindsay Lohan.

Director Nick Cassavettes walked away from the project.

As did Lindsay Lohan.

Barry Levinson then stepped in.

John Travolta cast his whole family.

Joe Pesci was fired from the project, even after he got fat for a role.

Hmm. It’s almost hard to believe that this production isn’t inspiring confidence in potential investors.

Ben Foster To Play The Prodigal Son In ‘Gotti’

Penn Collins — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:34:23 +0000

Well, I’ll be damned. They weren’t able to find a way to shoehorn a Travolta into the role of John Gotti Jr., so they had to go out and get an actor to play him. And that actor is Mr. Ben Foster, who got his film debut in Liberty Heights courtesy of Gotti director Barry Levinson. Since then, Foster has appeared in 3:10 to Yuma, X-Men: The Last Stand, Alpha Dog, and The Mechanic. His casting is the latest in a seemingly endless stream of casting stories about Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father.

Foster doesn’t look the type out of the gate, but give him Gotti’s black hair and a quick spray tan, and they might be on to something here. Junior Gotti took over for his father following the Senior Gotti’s passing in 2002.

Interestingly enough, it’s Gotti Jr. that sold the rights to his family’s story to Fiore, a smaller, production company that he felt would create a less sensational film than a bigger studio. I don’t know if you can consider anything with Al Pacino and John Travolta “less sensational” than anything, but we’ll find out whenever this thing finally gets made.

Joe Pesci Gets Booted From ‘Gotti’, Now He’s Fat With Nowhere To Go

Penn Collins — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 00:27:32 +0000

Those bastions of responsible journalism over at TMZ have turned us on to the fact that Joe Pesci, of 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag fame, has been given the boot from Barry Levinson‘s Gotti family biopic Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father (formerly Gotti: Three Generations; maybe they cut the budget by ignoring a generation), but he’s not going quietly. Pesci is suing the producers of the film for $3 million. Here’s how it went down according to the gossip site:

In the lawsuit, Pesci claims reps from Fiore Films offered him the critical role of Angelo Ruggiero, Gotti’s close friend and enforcer. Pesci says he made a deal for $3 million.

But Pesci says after he was lured into making public statements about how happy he was to appear in the movie – which stars John Travolta as John Gotti, Jr. — the producers pulled the deal, claiming Pesci breached the deal by trying to back out.

While that is very interesting and for the courts to decide, Pesci had apparently been so sure of the arrangement that he gained 30 pounds to better represent the stocky Angelo Ruggiero. He alleges in the lawsuit that he “ended his strict and healthy diet” to gain the weight. Poor guy.

This is the first we’ve heard of Pesci’s separation from the project, which is left now with Al Pacino, every human being with the last name “Travolta,” Lindsay Lohan. What a bizarre wrap party that will be.

In the meantime, if you see a rotund gentleman crying into a giant bowl of spaghetti on the side of the road, go ask him for his autograph. It’s probably Joe Pesci.