The Wannabe is a 2015 American drama film written and directed by Nick Sandow, with Martin Scorsese as an executive producer, and starring Patricia Arquette, David Zayas, Domenick Lombardozzi, Michael Imperioli, Vincent Piazza and Nick Sandow.
This was distributed by Orion Pictures and Momentum Pictures on December 4, 2015.
Contents
Cast
Vincent Piazza as Thomas
Patricia Arquette as Rose
Michael Imperioli as Alphonse
David Zayas as Pablo Guzman
Domenick Lombardozzi as Mickey
Nick Sandow as Anthony
Mike Starr as Jerry
Doug E. Doug as The Twin
Vincenzo Amato as Richie
Slaine as Bruce Cutler
Larry Eudene as Assistant DA
Joseph Siravo as John Gotti
Neal Huff as Judge Glasser
Mark Lotito as Prosecutor Maloney
Adriana DeMeo as Annie
Daniel Sauli as Curtis Sliwa
Mario Macaluso as Whitey
Jay Bulger as Eric Roberts
Mark Vincent as Eddie Lino
Joe Bevilacqua as Giuseppe
Production
Nick Sandow was inspired to write the film after reading about Thomas and Rosemarie Uva, a New York City couple who were murdered on Christmas Eve 1992 by the New York mafia after they had robbed several mafia social clubs over the prior few months. After Sandow worked with his Boardwalk Empire co-star Vincent Piazza on the script, the pair sent the script to Boardwalk Empire executive producer Martin Scorsese. Sandow told Creative Screenwriting, "When we felt comfortable about the script, we thought about trying to get it to Marty. He sent it to him with a bottle of wine before the holidays. We didn't have expectations, but after the holidays they were having a table read for the first episode of the next season of Boardwalk Empire and Marty came up to him and said he loved The Wannabe." Scorsese agreed to serve as executive producer of the film.
Release
The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2015, and theatrically released on December 4, 2015, in the United States by Orion Pictures and Momentum Pictures.
Reception
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a "Rotten" 38% rating based on eight reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Ronnie Scheib of Variety called the film a "conventional mob drama" but praised the performances.