Barry Levinson’s ‘Gotti: In The Shadow Of My Father,’ With John Travola, Is On Hold
The filmGotti: In the Shadow of My Fatherhas had a difficult path from development to screen. In fact, it looks like the project has fully stalled out before cameras were even able to roll.
WhileBarry Levinsoncame on board a few months ago (replacingNick Cassavetes) and a cast had started to shape up withdealsforJohn Travolta,Al Pacino,Ben Foster,Kelly Prestonand possiblyJoe Pesci, the time has come when some of those people were meant to be paid. And if reports are correct, there is no money to pay them. As a result, the movie has been put on hold. It almost certainly won’t make a planned January start date, but we don’t know if the project will die altogether.
Roger Friedmanreports that the film “has simply hit the wall.” Money that producerMarc Fiorewas trying to raise has not materialized, and as a result work on the project is stopped. (Friedman says “not much work has actually happened” yet anyway.) Money might materialize, but if that takes too long the cast may have moved on to other projects. If the money is contingent upon the participation of some of those actors, which is often the case, then more problems could arise.
This is a production that has been troubled for some time. Fiore went through the process of casting and firingLindsay Lohanmore than once, and he had to deal with alawsuitfrom Pesci after the actor’s role and payday were reportedly changed. On a much more routine development track, there has been the simple fact of getting the script nailed down (written byLeo Rossiand rewritten byJames Toback, with John Gotti, Jr. consulting through the whole process) as cast changes took place. Even the title has gone through multiple iterations.
