By Joe Liddle

I wrote an article about upcoming mob movies a few weeks ago and since then, a few new updates have come to light. I also spoke about The Life and Death of John Gotti and got a lot of feedback regarding a poll posted in the article. The poll in question was headlined: Do you think John Travolta can pull off his role as John Gotti? The answers I got were kind of what I expected; the majority of voters saying yes with a near 40% of voters saying no. The truth is, and I still see it daily (at least), is that a lot of people just don’t think Travolta has the acting ability, the swagger and the charm to play the Teflon Don. At the end of the day, he’s an actor. His job is to persuade an audience that he’s someone else. He played Danny in Grease, but he also played Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction; two very different characters.

So, what’s new with The Life and Death of John Gotti? Various news sites and YouTube videos have been popping up out of the blue, sharing set photos and other material. The photos I found show Travolta in character with his “crew” and I also found a 17 minute video of the cast being filmed in Brooklyn, NY. After watching the video and studying some of Travolta’s movements and gestures, I can honestly say that in my opinion, I think he’ll do a great job.

If you go back and watch some old John Gotti footage, you can really see him nailing some of the Dapper Don’s behaviors. As for the release, whether it be national or worldwide cinema, no specific date has been set for The Life and Death of John Gotti, but late 2017 is the supposed target.

Another piece of news I’d like to talk about is the buyout of Martin Scorsese’s upcoming gangster flick, The Irishman, which tells the story of Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance from the point of view of Frank Sheeran, a labor union official and alleged hitman who had links to the Bufalino crime family. The movie in question has been bought by the streaming giant Netflix and is estimated to have a budget of over $125M. Unfortunately, this means that The Irishman will not have a worldwide cinema release. This is unlike anything Scorsese has done before, and I guarantee a lot of fans will disappointed with the news.

One last thing I’d like to mention is the news regarding a Scarface remake, which some of you may or may not know about. The movie will be a remake of the 1983 classic and will star Diego Luna as the main character, who will play a Mexican immigrant in Los Angeles. It will be directed by Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua and will be written by Boardwalk Empire creator, Terence Winter. Other writers involved in the project are Joel and Ethan Coen, better known as the Coen Brothers, who will be publishing the script. It is rumored that the movie will be set in the modern day and will focus on the movement of drugs and gang warfare in American society. A very different world compared to the 1983 version.

Last but not least, I said in a recent article that the recent surge of mob and gangster movies is very exciting, and with more news coming to light and more clips and photos being shared, this is definitely something to look forward to. Keep an eye out for other news regarding the future of mob cinema, because more and more great things will be happening.

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