''The Wannabe'' is a 2015 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
written and directed by
Nick Sandow
Nick Sandow (born August 3, 1966) is an American actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Joe Caputo in ''Orange Is the New Black''.
Early life
Of Italian descent, Sandow grew up in the Italian neighborhood of Van Nest ...
, with
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
as an executive producer, and starring
Patricia Arquette
Patricia Tiffany Arquette (born April 8, 1968) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' (1987). Her other notable films include '' True Romance'' (1993), ''Ed W ...
,
David Zayas
David Zayas (born August 15, 1962) is a Puerto Rican actor. He is best known for his roles as Angel Batista on Showtime's series ''Dexter'' and Enrique Morales on the HBO prison drama series '' Oz''.
Early life
Zayas was born in Ponce, Puer ...
,
Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenico "Domenick" Lombardozzi (, ; born March 25, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Herc in ''The Wire'', and is also known for his roles in ''A Bronx Tale'' (1993), '' Entourage'', and ''The Irishman'' (2019).
Ca ...
,
Michael Imperioli
Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor, writer, and musician. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Ou ...
,
Vincent Piazza
Vincent Piazza (born May 25, 1976) is an American film, television and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of gangster Lucky Luciano in the HBO television series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He has also played Earl Hefner in the comedy-dra ...
and
Nick Sandow
Nick Sandow (born August 3, 1966) is an American actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Joe Caputo in ''Orange Is the New Black''.
Early life
Of Italian descent, Sandow grew up in the Italian neighborhood of Van Nest ...
. It was released on December 4, 2015, by
Orion Pictures and
Momentum Pictures
Momentum Pictures is a film distributor and a subsidiary of Entertainment One, itself part of Hasbro. Prior to 2013, it was a brand of Canadian distributor Alliance Films used for its releases in the United Kingdom, and was one of the leading in ...
Cast
*
Vincent Piazza
Vincent Piazza (born May 25, 1976) is an American film, television and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of gangster Lucky Luciano in the HBO television series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He has also played Earl Hefner in the comedy-dra ...
as Thomas
*
Patricia Arquette
Patricia Tiffany Arquette (born April 8, 1968) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' (1987). Her other notable films include '' True Romance'' (1993), ''Ed W ...
as Rose
*
Michael Imperioli
Michael Imperioli (born March 26, 1966) is an American actor, writer, and musician. He is best known for his role as Christopher Moltisanti in the HBO crime drama ''The Sopranos'' (1999–2007), which earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Ou ...
as Alphonse
*
David Zayas
David Zayas (born August 15, 1962) is a Puerto Rican actor. He is best known for his roles as Angel Batista on Showtime's series ''Dexter'' and Enrique Morales on the HBO prison drama series '' Oz''.
Early life
Zayas was born in Ponce, Puer ...
*
Domenick Lombardozzi
Domenico "Domenick" Lombardozzi (, ; born March 25, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Herc in ''The Wire'', and is also known for his roles in ''A Bronx Tale'' (1993), '' Entourage'', and ''The Irishman'' (2019).
Ca ...
as Mickey
*
Nick Sandow
Nick Sandow (born August 3, 1966) is an American actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Joe Caputo in ''Orange Is the New Black''.
Early life
Of Italian descent, Sandow grew up in the Italian neighborhood of Van Nest ...
as Anthony
*
Mike Starr
*
Doug E. Doug as The Twin
*
Vincenzo Amato as Richie
*
Slaine
* Larry Eudene as Assistant DA
*
Joseph Siravo
Joseph Siravo (March 11, 1955 – April 11, 2021) was an American actor, producer, and educator. He acted on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning productions of '' Oslo'' and '' The Light in the Piazza''. His roles in film and television included ...
as
John Gotti
*
Neal Huff
Neal Huff is an American actor from New York City. In April 2018, he performed as Willie Oban in the Broadway revival of ''The Iceman Cometh''. In December 2018, Huff began performing in ''To Kill a Mockingbird'', adapted for stage by Aaron Sor ...
* Mark Lotito as Prosecutor Maloney
*
Adriana DeMeo
Adriana DeMeo (born 1981) is an American actress. She is known for playing Lucy in the CBS television drama series ''Without a Trace''.
Early life
Adriana DeMeo was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents moved to Brooklyn from a small town in I ...
as Annie
* Daniel Sauli as
Curtis Sliwa
Curtis Sliwa (; born March 26, 1954) is an American activist, radio talk show host and founder and chief executive officer of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit organization for unarmed crime prevention. Sliwa was the Republican nominee for the ...
* Mario Macaluso as Whitey
*
Jay Bulger
Jay Bulger (born August19, 1982) is an American film director and writer from Washington, D.C.
Biography
Bulger attended Fordham University in the Bronx, where he boxed in several New York Golden Glove tournaments. Photographs of his fighting ...
as Eric Roberts
* Mark Vincent as Eddie Lino
*
Joe Bevilacqua
Joseph K. Bevilacqua (born January 2, 1959) is an American actor, producer, director, author, dramatist, humorist, cartoonist, and documentarian.
Biography Early life
Bevilacqua was born on January 2, 1959, in Newark, New Jersey, the son ...
as Giuseppe
Production
Nick Sandow
Nick Sandow (born August 3, 1966) is an American actor, writer, producer and director, best known for his role as Joe Caputo in ''Orange Is the New Black''.
Early life
Of Italian descent, Sandow grew up in the Italian neighborhood of Van Nest ...
was inspired to write the film after reading about
Thomas and Rosemarie Uva
Thomas Uva and Rosemarie Uva (often misspelled ''Rosemary'' or ''Rose Marie'') were married ex-cons from Ozone Park, Queens.
Biography
Thomas Uva got out of prison in May 1992 at the age of 28. He and his 31-year-old wife, who worked as the getaw ...
, 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
Vincent Piazza (born May 25, 1976) is an American film, television and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of gangster Lucky Luciano in the HBO television series ''Boardwalk Empire''. He has also played Earl Hefner in the comedy-dra ...
on the script, the pair sent the script to ''Boardwalk Empire'' executive producer
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
. 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
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...
on April 17, 2015. On May 18, 2015,
Entertainment One Films
Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...
acquired the film. It was released on December 4, 2015, by
Entertainment One Films
Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...
.
Reception
On review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
the film holds a "Rotten" 38% rating based on eight reviews, with an average rating of 3.5/10. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, 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
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called the film a "conventional mob drama" but praised the performances.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wannabe
2015 films
Films about the American Mafia
American drama films
2015 drama films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films