John T to play John Gotti

The following from The New York Post. It was also reported on CNN's "Showbiz Tonight":

It was an offer John Travolta couldn't refuse -- a chance to play Mafia boss John Gotti in a biopic co-produced by the Dapper Don's son.

Travolta toasted the reel deal this week at trendy LA trattoria Amici -- a calamari confab with John "Junior" Gotti Jr. and his ex-con film-producer partner, Marc Fiore.

"Travolta is the guy," Fiore told The Post yesterday. "When you watch a Travolta movie, you're never watching John Travolta. John Gotti Sr. is an iconic figure. You have to be an actor that can become John Gotti Senior."

The Wednesday sit-down between the star and the late gangster's son was the kiss to seal the deal.

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LOOK WHO’S TALKING! John “Junior” Gotti (center) and John Travolta talk movie-making with film producer Marc Fiore (second from right) and director Nick Cassavetes (far right) over dinner at an LA restaurant.

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"John came in to put his stamp of approval," said Fiore, who once pleaded guilty in a multimillion-dollar pump-and-dump stock scam reminiscent of a "Sopranos" episode.

Gotti picked Travolta -- and little-known Fiore Films -- over Hollywood heavyweight Sylvester Stallone after the "Rocky" star balked at ceding creative control to Junior.

And in what could be a criminal case of miscasting, actor James Franco, of "127 Hours," is being considered to play Junior.

Although Travolta and Junior have talked about the movie -- to be called "Gotti" -- their sit-down was their first face-to-face meeting, Fiore said.

Each arrived separately at the Brentwood restaurant -- no bodyguards in sight -- and joined a Tinseltown crew, including director Nick Cassavetes, veteran character actor Leo Rossi, who is writing the script, and ex-Howard Stern sidekick "Stuttering" John Melendez, a partner in Fiore's film company.

"Get Shorty" star Travolta looked Chili Palmer cool in a tailored dark suit and blue silk open-collar shirt, while Junior donned a wiseguy-loud checked sports that his Dapper Don dad wouldn't have been caught dead in,

The restaurant, a Travolta favorite popular with Hollywood A-listers, shut its kitchen to regular customers as the gang scarfed down an "old-fashioned Italian dinner of seafood, chicken parm, steak, pasta and red wine."

An insider told The Post Travolta had made the reservation and hosted the dinner.

"They came, had a nice meal and a good conversation, lots of laughs, and they left happy," the insider said.

Fiore said he paid the dinner tab but invoked the Mafia code of omerta when asked how much it was.

But he was happy to boast about the film.

"This is not a movie; this is part of American history. We have the exclusive story for first time ever told by John Gotti Junior and his family," Fiore said.

Junior, the one-time heir apparent to his dad's criminal empire -- and a man the feds have tried and failed four times to convict for racketeering and murder -- has maintained he is long retired from the mob.

But Fiore -- executive producer for "Gotti" -- glories in his own criminal past, and is producing another film, "MOB $TREET," inspired by his story.