John Travolta savors challenge of ‘Gotti’

COMMENTARY

In a long career of showy roles, John Travolta ranks playing mob boss John Gotti Sr. with some of his bestremembered parts.

“I think it’s one of the bigger challenges along with ‘Pulp Fiction,’ and [Robert] Shapiro [in ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’], and my original one, ‘Saturday Night Fever.’ I think it’s right up there,” Travolta, 64, said in a phone interview. “It took a lot of thought and investigation and research.”

Moviegoers can see the results when “Gotti” opens Friday, June 15. Travolta and wife Kelly Preston, who have a home in Ocala, are united in marriage in “Gotti.” She plays Victoria Gotti, the mobster’s fiery wife.

“Both of us had the luxury of the real deal in the Gotti family informing us,” Travolta said. Victoria Gotti shared insights into her husband, the Gambino crime boss who died of cancer in prison in 2002. He was 61. Gotti, known as “the Teflon Don,” had been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder and racketeering in 1992.

Travolta prepared by reading books by Victoria and John Gotti Jr., the couple’s son. The actor said he captured Gotti’s mannerisms, accent and vocal cadence by watching prison videos and family holiday footage.

“He had a particular style, a swagger in the way he dealt with people,” he said. “I needed to know why he was so loved.”

The movie makes the eye-opening point that neighbors mourned Gotti as a folk hero. Travolta interviewed Gotti’s business associates and studied a typical day in the gangster’s life.

“He brought small businesses out of the red into the black. In doing so they never went out of business. They loved him for this even though he was taking a percentage,” Travolta said. “He financed events for different neighborhoods. If a family was in trouble, he would help them.”

Travolta said he was struck by a fascinating darkand-light duality in Gotti. “He had this side to him that was goodwill, which I don’t remember Dillinger or Capone or any of the historical gangsters having,” he said. “That was informative, and it helped me understand him better.”

Gotti supplies profanityladen narration and talks to the camera as the movie skips back and forth through time.

“Initially, John Jr.’s part was quite a bit larger, and John Sr.’s was smaller, but it evolved where we decided to let John Sr. tell the story,” said Travolta, an executive producer on the film. “John Sr. telling the story through prison and narration helped, I think, so an audience can be invited to understand that the Mafia was a wellorganized group, and navigating through that was an art within itself.”

John Gotti Jr. told The New York Post that Travolta is “one of the greatest actors of our time’ and that “he carried the movie on his shoulders.”

It’s clear that Travolta is having a grand time playing the role. “At times it was fun, because he was unabashed. He had a moral code that was very decided,” the actor said. “Whether it was his kids or one of his crew, he knew how to tell them what to do and what not to do. Many scenes define this strong-willed behavior.”

He also liked Gotti’s humor. “When he’s upset with someone, the choice of words he used, his real choices of words were hilarious,” he said.

Kevin Connolly, who played Eric on HBO’s “Entourage,” directed the movie.

“The reason I chose Kevin was because he had such a knowledge and a passion for the subject matter,” Travolta said. “I had to remind him sometimes, ‘Kevin not everybody knows every character, every detail the way you do.’ You cannot assume we all do.’”

But Travolta praised Connolly for having a vision of how “Gotti” could unfold. “Honestly, what good and great directors need is a vision,” Travolta said. “Without it, films don’t ever come to fruition. I’ve learned that. The first thing I ask a director is: What’s your vision here?”

Travolta is savoring the 40th anniversary of the musical “Grease,” which was directed by Randal Klesier. Travolta played Danny opposite Olivia Newton-John’s Sandy.

“I love ‘Grease,’” Travolta said. “The idea that it’s survived 40 years of entertainment at this level, where people still will pay money to go see it in a theater and sing along with it, is kind of astonishing. It has a life to it that’s inexplicable.”