Chazz Palminteri, Who Would've Made a Great 'Chin,' to Play Big Paul -- Again

Now Chazz Palminteri is on board the new Gotti biopic, which also stars John Travolta and allegedly Al Pacino, but not Joe Pesci, who is suing the producer for switching roles on him -- and cutting a couple million dollars off his salary after pushing him to gain about 30 pounds. So reports Reuters.

Is it us, or does anyone else think that Chazz would have made a superb Vincent "Chin" Gigante? Does the Oscar-winning thespian look like the Chin or what. Anyway, this will actually be Chazz's second outing as Paul Castellano, the Gambino boss whom Gotti whacked in a two-pronged strategy to save his life and advance his position. Chazz's first whack as Big Paul was in a TV film, Boss of Bosses, that turned his ugly Colombian maid, with whom the former Gambino boss was having an affair, into a ravishing Latin beauty.

Producer Marc Fiore confirmed that Palminteri will star as Castellano. "Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father" also stars Kelly Preston and Ben Foster (as John Junior) and is being directed by Barry Levinson.
Pesci's pulling out is not the only speed bump this production has struck so far. Initially, Nick Cassavetes was to direct this feature, but he pulled out in April due to a "scheduling conflict." And as for Pacino, we have not seen an "official" announcement that he accepted an offer to star in the film (supposedly in the role of Gotti mentor Aniello Dellacroce).

Lindsay Lohan also was to star. Fiore announced he had signed her to a two-picture deal, though she's apparently not in the movie, which begins preproduction in September and starts principal photography on Jan. 3, according to Reuters.

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