Skip to main content

John Travolta plays another slick gangster in the first 'Gotti' trailer

The past couple of decades have been less than kind to John Travolta, who once reigned as a world-famous sex symbol in Hollywood. Apart from an acclaimed comedic performance in the 2007 Hairspray reboot and an award-worthy turn as litigator Robert Shapiro in FX’s American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson (available on Netflix), Travolta’s most noteworthy recent work is probably all the work he’s had done on his face.

Whether that will change with Travolta’s upcoming John Gotti biopic (titled Gotti) remains to be seen, but at least he’s back in the spotlight! Lionsgate has released the first official trailer via YouTube, giving us an in-depth look at the film.

Apart from Travolta — who plays Gotti, obviously — Kelly Preston (Travolta’s real-life spouse) appears as Gotti’s wife, Victoria DiGiorgio, and their daughter, Ella Bleu, plays Angel Gotti. Spencer Lofranco (Unbroken) portrays John Gotti Jr., who acts as the film’s narrator as well as one of the main characters. The story spans nearly 30 years, recounting Gotti’s rise to the top of the Gambino crime family and his tumultuous reign as its de facto leader.

In the trailer itself, Travolta does most of the narration, affecting an Italian accent and making grandiose statements like “I was a kid in these streets, and I made it to the top” and “I will build something that nobody can destroy!” The trailer is fairly standard action-crime fare, featuring Gotti’s betrayal of boss Paul Castellano and Gotti Jr.’s rise up the criminal ranks (against his mother’s wishes, of course).

The very fact that Gotti is actually happening is a minor miracle, considering the project’s tumultuous history. Kevin Connolly (known best as “E” from Entourage) will direct, but he’s the fourth man tapped for that role, succeeding Nick Cassavetes, Joe Johnston, and Barry Levinson. Several big names have been associated with the project over the past several years, including Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, and Lindsay Lohan, but none remained by the time filming began in 2016 (by the way, the movie was actually shot in Cincinnati, not New York).

Gotti was written by Leo Rossi and Lou Dobbs. Though the trailer itself simply says “Coming Soon” at the end, the description below the YouTube video says the film will be released in theaters and on demand on December 15.

Editors' Recommendations

Nick Hastings
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Nick is a Portland native and a graduate of Saint Mary's College of California with a Bachelor's of Communication. Nick's…
Jason Momoa and Patrick Wilson bro up in Aquaman 2’s first trailer
Patrick Wilson and Jason Mamoa in "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom."

2019 seems like such a long time ago that it's easy to forget that Aquaman was far and away the most successful movie in the DC Extended Universe. The Flash and the rest of this year's superhero film flops could only dream of matching Aquaman's $1.148 billion worldwide gross. Can the upcoming sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, deliver a turnaround for DC's movies ahead of the big James Gunn-led reboot? That remains to be seen. However, the first trailer for the film is banking heavily upon the burgeoning bromance between Jason Momoa's Aquaman/Arthur Curry, and his estranged half-brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson).

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom | Trailer

Read more
Netflix debuts first trailer for Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon
Jimmy the Robot Knight in "Rebel Moon."

In the early 1980s, one of the first responses to Star Wars was a legion of low-budget imitators, including the Roger Corman-produced film Battle Beyond the Stars. Director Zack Snyder has made no secret of the fact that Rebel Moon was originally his pitch for a Star Wars movie before Disney purchased Lucasfilm. And the early story elements from this film also seemed to lift some of the plot from Battle Beyond the Stars. But now that the first teaser trailer for the flick has arrived, it's showing even more Star Wars influence than we expected, including a look at glowing blue and red swords that shamelessly resemble lightsabers.

Rebel Moon | Official Teaser Trailer | Netflix

Read more
Leonardo DiCaprio faces dark times in new Killers of the Flower Moon trailer
Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon.

Apple Studios hasn't been shy about loading up Apple TV+ with a large number of original films in order to fill out its cinematic library. So when an Apple movie is heading toward theaters with a wide release, it's a big deal. And it doesn't get much bigger than director Martin Scorsese dropping a new crime epic, Killers of the Flower Moon, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in the leading roles. According to the new trailer's tagline, it's "based on a true American story," and it is. But it's not a happy story that makes the country look good. Instead, this is a dark tale of murder and greed.

Killers of the Flower Moon — Official Trailer

Read more