Lindsay Lohan nearing Gotti movie deal

Lindsay Lohan is in final negotiations for a role in John Travolta's upcoming biography of the late mob boss John Gotti, the actor and the film's producer, Marc Fiore, said Tuesday at a midtown Manhattan news conference.

"Lindsay is a terrific actress; we're very glad to have her here today," said Fiore, head of the New Jersey-based Fiore Films. "I'm in talks with Lindsay to be in the movie," adding that nothing has been finalized.

Lohan, 24, was seated in the first row alongside members of the Gotti family and others, including Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, and actor Chazz Palminteri, who is working with Fiore on another film.

A final announcement is expected "pretty soon -- shortly," Dina Lohan, Lindsay's mother and manager, told Newsday afterward. TMZ.com reported last week that Gotti's daughter, former reality star Victoria Gotti requested Lohan to play her, over producer's considerations of Blake Lively and Sienna Miller.

"I'm actually a really good friend of Victoria Gotti's, and Marc Fiore contacted me, and they're very interested in Lindsay, so here we are," Dina Lohan said. "I've known Victoria for a while, and she's just been such a dear friend, helping me out with my personal situations. They're really great people, misunderstood like my family, so I can relate 100 percent to them and so can Lindsay."

Of Lohan, Travolta told the crowd, "I always thought she was gorgeous and talented and filled with a lot of depth, so I think whatever she would like to do [in the film] would be great."

Fiore also said Joe Pesci would play Gotti lieutenant Angelo Ruggiero, and Travolta's daughter, Ella Bleu, 11, would have a role. "Gotti: Three Generations," which a Fiore staffer said is budgeted at $75 million, is being made in cooperation with Gotti's son John A. Gotti, 46, who pleaded guilty to racketeering in 1999 and spent several years in prison. Follow-up federal charges resulted in a series of hung juries.