Mobster biopic Gotti is getting a second life, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Veteran filmmaker Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger) has come aboard to direct the film for Fiore Films' Marc Fiore and Radar Pictures' Ted Field, while Relativity Media has snapped up U.S. distribution rights. Gotti also will be heading to Cannes, where IM Global will shop the project to foreign buyers.

Gotti stars John Travolta as the famed Gambino crime family head John Gotti Sr., nicknamed the "Dapper Don." The movie has been a longtime passion project for Travolta.

"I'm looking forward to portraying John Gotti -- it's been a long time coming. And I think that Johnson is an exciting and fresh addition to the vision of the film. We are all looking forward to starting production," Travolta said in a statement.

Johnston is set to begin filming in New York on Sept. 9. The movie is based on a story by John A. Gotti -- Gotti's son -- with an original screenplay by Leo Rossi and revisions by Lem Dobbs. Gotti has been in the works for several years, going through several incarnations.