John Travolta's Wig Gives An Oscar-Worthy Performance In 'Gotti' Trailer

What happens when you combine every mafia movie cliche in history, a behind-the-scenes trainwreck of a production, and John Travolta's predilection for cartoonish wigs? You get Gotti, the somewhat-long-awaited B movie biopic about John Gotti, the former Gambino crime family head (also known as Dapper Don or Teflon Don), which we were convinced would never actually get made. It's coming out on December 15th, however—watch below and see whether you think Travolta and his wig were tough enough to play Gotti.

To refresh you on the behind-the-scenes chaos around the film: Travolta first signed up for it in 2011, back when it was known as Gotti: Three Generations (which was better than the working title, Gabagool Lasagna Bang Bang). It was supposed to be helmed by The Notebook director Nick Cassavantes, and was imagined by John Gotti Jr. as a "father-son" story, rather than a straightforward mafia movie. Professor Emeritus of James Franco Sciences, James Franco, was rumored to be in the running to play Gotti Jr., because 2011 was wild.

Lindsay Lohan was supposed to play Victoria Gotti, but she was fired by producer Marc Fiore, then re-hired to play Gotti's daughter-in-law Kim instead (a role that Kim Kardashian was initially considered for), then fired once again. Cassavetes dropped out (or was fired) and Barry Levinson was courted to direct. Joe Pesci signed up to play Gotti enforcer Angelo Ruggiero, but was fired over a money dispute (he later sued the producers); Al Pacino signed up to play Gambino crime family underboss and Gotti associate Neil Dellacroce, and then dropped out.

At some point, the movie's name changed to Gotti: In The Shadow Of My Father and Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, signed up to play Victoria Gotti. Some people continued to doubt whether Travolta could handle such a "tough" role, though the real Victoria Gotti gave him her blessing. The film's name changed again to The Life and Death of John Gotti before settling on the much simpler Gotti.

If all that hasn't gotten you frantically pre-ordering tickets for you and your family to see the film over Christmas, just wait until you hear director Kevin Connolly—that's right, one of the dudes from Entourage directed this film, hug it out bitch—tease the movie: "There are nice cars and fancy suits in the movie, but we're also showing where all that eventually leads," Connolly told EW. "HBO made a Gotti movie in 1996, but his death, which was horrible, hasn't been covered too much. That's a different angle that we're going to explore." If we are really lucky, maybe someday someone will make a movie about the making of this movie.