John Travolta movie suddenly pulled
It’s the big question ricocheting around Hollywood: Why did a film company suddenly cut ties with John Travolta’s John Gotti biopic, leaving the movie without a distributor 10 days before its release date?
There was no official explanation from Lionsgate for this sur- prising and quint- essentially 11th-hour move. The unusual decision, of course, generated all kinds reports and speculation, including accounts of the production long being delayed or troubled.
“Gotti,” a mob drama about the infamous leader of the Gambino crime family, was expected to offer the Oscar-nominated actor his juiciest role in years. Travolta, 63, also got a chance to act alongside his real-life wife, Kelly Preston, playing Gotti’s wife, Victoria. The film was directed by Kevin Connolly, best known for his role in “Entourage.”
“Gotti” was due to hit theaters Dec. 15. But Lionsgate suddenly decided to sell the film back to its producers, an individual with knowledge of the project told the Tracking Board. The producers must now find new distributors, which means the film probably won’t be seen until 2018 at the earliest.
Deadline said the decision didn’t have to do with the film’s quality or anything nefarious. The project has been in the works for years with various big names reportedly attached to it but who subsequently dropped out, including Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Lindsay Lohan and Anthony Hopkins.
In fact, the producers believed the movie deserved to make a big splash and were disappointed that Lionsgate wasn’t giving it a wide release, Deadline said. The producers exercised a contractual option to buy the movie back.
“It was never a matter of Lionsgate dumping the film,” Deadline reported. “An outside investor has backed ‘Gotti’ so that it could get a wide release in May, and Lionsgate was generous to let the film go.”
One of the film’s executive producers, Keya Morgan, late Wednesday confirmed that version of events to TMZ, saying his team believes the movie could “do gangbusters in wide release” and even position Travolta to again be considered for awards.
Not mentioned in either the Tracking Board or the Deadline report were any concerns about Travolta, including his sometimescontroversial association with the Church of Scientology.
Travolta also was in the news last month related to a 2000 police report. The actor was accused of groping and other forms of “sexual battery” involving a 21-year-old male masseur at a Palm Springs hotel.
The news came amid the fallout from sexual harassment and abuse allegations involving Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men in Hollywood.
According to the 2000 police report unearthed by the gossip site Radar Online, an officer who investigated the alleged incident said “The details do not meet the elements of battery … or ‘sexual battery.’ ”
Travolta has denied similar claims in the past, including in 2012 when he was sued by two other masseurs who alleged sexual harassment during spa treatments, according to the Daily Beast.