The biopic about mobster John Gotti, produced by John Gotti, Jr. and titled Gotti: In The Shadow of My Father, has been a bit of trainwreck from the start. Nick Cassavetes was announced as the director only to quickly back out. Lindsey Lohan was in the movie, then she was out, then she was back in… but in a smaller role. Joe Pesci was in, then he was out, then he was suing the producers for using him to drum up interest in the film (and he has a valid point — any mob film becomes ten times cooler if Joe Pesci is involved). Even with John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Al Pacino, and director Barry Levinson involved things seem a bit… ugly.
What could be the root of the problem? Well, according to Deadline it seems like the problem stems from producer Marc Fiore and the fact that he doesn’t actually seem to actually have the money to finance the project. What’s the problem? Before a frame of the film has been shot, the production has already spent a boatload of cash. According to the article, the production owes “Travolta $10 million to play John Gotti Sr, Pacino $7 million, co-writer/director Barry Levinson more than $4 million, co-writer James Toback $1 million, and Ben Foster low seven figures to play Gotti Jr.” Most of these are play-or-pay deals, meaning if the production collapses the principals will still get paid! That’s a hefty bill for an independent film.
Whether or not Fiore will be able to pay the bills is anyone’s guess, but the fact that this film’s preproduction phase has gone on for months with seemingly only setbacks is a bad sign. I’m up for a good mobster movie, but not if the film’s production is anything like it’s preproduction (even though Deadline says the rewritten script by Barry Levinson is “quite good”).
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