SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER, GREASE, PULP FICTION, GET SHORTY, FACE/ OFF. Just five of the many iconic John Travolta movies in a career that has spanned five decades and over fifty movies. In that time Travolta has appeared in musicals, horror films, thrillers, comedies, action movies, dramas, animated fares and science fiction epics. He is the actor that has seen it all and done it all. In last 35 years, since his career blossomed with a role in a 1977 musical named GREASE, he has overcome personal tragedy, critical acclaim and critical mauling, career highs, career lows and at least two movie rebirths in the late 80s and 90s, most notably with the 1994 cult movie PULP FICTION, from director Quentin Tarantino; and here he is in London, on perhaps the most glamourous nights of the year, BAFTA night, to celebrate his career and his life with the people he clearly adores the most, his fans. Travolta takes to the stage for one night only at the historic Theatre Royal, Drury Lane for a conversation with one of the nation’s most beloved film critics, Barry Norman.
The evening opens with a twenty minute montage of the man’s epic back-catalogue, from URBAN COWBOY to CARRIE, LOOK WHO’S TALKING to PHENOMENON, HAIRSPRAY to THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER, BASIC to SAVAGES, and all of those other glorious aforementioned movies of course. The man’s body of work is extraordinary, and the now 80-year-old Barry Norman makes the statement that although he dislikes some of Travolta’s movies, and he has made some absolute stinkers, he has always liked John in them. Always. It is kind of hard to disagree.
What’s also hard is to not to fall under the warm spell of Travolta’s seemingly bewitching prescence as he takes to the stage of the hallowed Theatre Royal on a rather bright, and very mild Sunday night in February. As the beats and bass guitar of the Bee Gees’ iconic Staying Alive soundtracks his entrance, the audience is captivated by the strutting soon-to-be-60 megastar as he struts along before the waiting audience. What follows is sixty minutes of a Q&A not limited by the waving finger of a moody PR, or any questions deemed off limits and our host Norman pushes the questioning quite intensely, and as well as covering the star’s massive movie career, he also touches upon Travolta’s love of aviation and his life with Scientology.
You may not have noticed it, but John Travolta has been missing from our cinema screens for a couple of years. His last screen credit was starring alongside Robert De Niro in the rather gruesome, and indeed rather average, KILLING SEASON, which received a limited run over in the United States last summer, but is still to get a UK bow. The reason for the lack of Travolta movies is the sad loss of his son, Jett, and Travolta reveals to Norman that he took three years off, away from our screens, to cope with the tragedy. Again, it’s a subject that was not expected to be covered, but it was, and the star revealed that he coped with the loss of sixteen-year-old Jett with the constant support of his religion, and the help of his friends. Travolta singles out his friend, and co-star of no less than five films, including GET SHORTY, the late James Gandolfini as one of those supports, a man that refused to leave town until he knew Travolta was okay and coming to terms with his grief. Quite sad, still deeply upsetting that he lost his life just three years later.
Lighter highlights on the night included Travolta doing the customary ‘roles I’ve turned down’ piece. Turns out he starred in STAYING ALIVE after turning down AMERICAN GIGOLO, a contractual obligation at Paramount. Ironically Richard Gere replaced him in that movie (Gere was the original Danny Zuko in the 1973 London stage production of Grease). Travolta also revealed that he turned down two other movies which had the lead eventually go to Gere, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN and DAYS OF HEAVEN. Later on, Travolta reveals that after his brief stint away from the ‘pictures,’ he will return with no less than four movies in 2014, starting with Phillip Martin’s THE FORGER, before moving into production into shooting the other three, one of which is a western, one of the few genres Travolta hasn’t touched.
John Travolta clearly displays a love and admiration for his fans, evident on this great night. After constantly mentioning that he intended to ‘rub elbows’ and make love to each and every person in the audience following the show, you can’t help but think that there wouldn’t be many people not willing to give their consent to indulge in the proposed act. This was a two-way thing however, and when asked to teach an audience member’s wife to dance, Travolta instantly obliged. When asked to teach five lucky audience members, though not this one, the ‘You’re The One That I Want’ sequence, and some of Jack Rabbit Slims twist contest, he of course, made it happen.
The night was billed as ‘a conversation with John Travolta,’ but it was a lot more than that. We’ve said it before here on the website that it’s always a danger for fans to meet their idols for fear of them not living up to expectation, but there was no danger here. If one did not love John Travolta waiting for him to grace the stage on this wonderful night, then one did by the time the curtain fell on the superstar as he danced off stage to the tune of ‘We Go Together’ from perhaps his greatest, and most iconic film. Applause, Mr. Travolta, applause.
[usr=5] A CONVERSATION WITH JOHN TRAVOLTA was staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, on Sunday February 16th, 2014
Images (c) WENN
