Joe Johnston, who directed Captain America: The First Avenger, has been tapped to direct Gotti, the long-gestating biopic on mobster John Gotti that John Travolta has been attached to since 2011.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Johnston will direct with Fiore Films' Marc Fiore and Radar Pictures' Ted Field producing. Relativity Media got domestic distribution rights, while IM Global will sell the project to international distributors at the Cannes Film Market.
Travolta has been trying to make the film since April 2011, when Fiore Films cast him. The actor’s wife, Kelly Preston, was also attached to play Gotti’s wife and Travolta even met Gott’s family. However, the movie never got made, and Fiore was stuck deflecting claims that ‘bad PR’ had derailed the project.
According to Commingsoon.net, other actors attached to the project at one point include Al PAcino, Lindsay Lohan, Ben Foster and Joe Pesci.
Now that the film has a director who is committed to the project, production can finally start in September. “I'm looking forward to portraying John Gotti -- it's been a long time coming. And I think that Johnson is an exciting and fresh addition to the vision of the film. We are all looking forward to starting production,” a relieved Travolta said in a statement.