THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 12, 1996 TAG: 9602100051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Hollywood Profile
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
AT THE AGE OF 8, John Travolta was pushed onto a New Jersey stage by his mother and instructed to do The Twist. The boy obligingly Twisted until his mother finally gave the orchestra the signal to stop.
Travolta has been making comebacks ever since.
Even though he's 42 now and has hung his slick white suit somewhere in Disco Heaven, Travolta is still called ``the Hollywood comeback kid.''
``I feel a lot of support,'' he said, after winning the Golden Globe award a few weeks ago. ``I feel it from the press, from the theatergoers - from everywhere. I don't quite know why it's there, but I feel that people are really pulling for me. They think I was some kind of underdog, but I never felt that way myself. I never felt I was away. I don't regard any of this as a comeback.''
On the eve of the Oscar nominations, there is every indication that he will be in the running for the second consecutive year. He's sure to get a nomination Tuesday for playing Chili Palmer, the small-time Miami mob loan shark who makes a big splash in Hollywood in ``Get Shorty.''
Travolta was nominated last year for playing Vincent Vega, a drugged-out hit man in ``Pulp Fiction,'' but lost to Tom Hanks.
Before that, though, it was a whopping 18 years between nominations and some had written him off as finished. His last nomination, before ``Pulp Fiction,'' was for playing Tony Manero in ``Saturday Night Fever.''
Meanwhile, ``Broken Arrow,'' his debut as an all-out, snarling villain is new in theaters. With three movies released in the past year, and four in the works, it seems that he works all the time.
``I'm not going to miss this opportunity,'' he said when he stopped long enough to talk the other day. ``I'm being offered the best scripts in town and I don't want to go through life saying `You know, I was once offered all these projects and I didn't do them.' I did that once or twice or three times already.''
In ``Broken Arrow,'' he plays Vic Deakins, a crack military jet pilot who steals a nuclear warhead during a test run of the stealth bomber and then threatens to detonate it if millions aren't forked over to him. It's directed by Hong Kong action guru John Woo and includes explosions, train chases, car crashes and lots of gunfire.
``I was never comfortable handling a gun,'' Travolta said, ``but it was necessary here. I'm playing an all-out psycho - a truly evil man. It's a complete change of pace. It's the first time I've ever played a villain.
``I can't really say that I had fun going over the top,'' he added, with a kind of wry Mona Lisa grin. ``I'm known for underplaying. But this character was way out. It took awhile to get him. First of all, I develop a walk for the characters. Then, I get the details. I decided to have him smoke - a lot. He discards cigarettes the way he discards lives.''
Woo, who has a budget for this film five times greater than any of his Hong Kong films, wanted Travolta ``because I like the contradiction. John is a real movie star. I like the idea of suggesting that evil can come from where we least expect it - from the guys who seem to be nice.''
Travolta said he took the film only because Woo directed it. ``He's a real artist with action films,'' the actor said. ``I saw `The Killer' and I saw a few others. He turns action into an art. I wanted to do an action picture and I knew he was the one to direct it. He rehearses everything. It's very choreographed, like dance. That's for me.''
He also was right at home in the simulated cockpit of the jet planes he was supposed to fly. He owns a corporate jet and has had his pilot license for years.
Since his return to the A-list after ``Pulp Fiction,'' he drew attention for high-living that overshadows even more veteran stars. He owns a 1978 Rolls-Royce and a mansion in Maine. He claims, though, that ``it's all a matter of style and I'm really pretty economical. A new Rolls would cost $300,000 as compared to the $30,000 for mine, and the style is the same. A house in Beverly Hills would cost five times what mine does in Maine.''
He gets $20 million per picture now but claims ``the only thing it means is that I have that status symbol to help me get better, and more, parts. The money is just a symbol.''
Wearing an Armani suit for the interview, he admits that he's fashion conscious. After all, he's started trends for decades. His role in ``Saturday Night Fever'' launched the disco phenomenon of the late 1970s. ``Grease'' inspired a revival of 1950s fashion and music. ``Urban Cowboy'' sped up the crossover of country music and styles, and caused mechanical bulls to crop up in bars nationwide.
But then, there were movies like ``Two of a Kind'' (a floperoo with Olivia Newton-John) in 1983, followed by ``Perfect,'' an ill-fated health-club outing with Jamie Lee Curtis in 1985.
Then came the ``Look Who's Talking'' movies, co-starring Kirstie Alley and babies and dogs, and Hollywood took another look.
Quentin Tarantino, a self-proclaimed Travolta fan, put him in ``Pulp Fiction'' and his career emerged from limbo, bigger than ever.
Next will be ``Phenomenon'' in which he plays a ``good-hearted, average guy who suddenly becomes a genius - with all the problems it takes to be a genius.'' Then he'll do ``Michael,'' a comedy written by Nora Ephron in which he plays the archangel Michael, complete with dusty wings. Finally, he shoots ``The Double,'' to be directed by Roman Polanski.
He then wants to produce a version of L. Ron Hubbard's science-fiction book, ``Battlefield Earth.'' It is no coincidence that Hubbard is the founder of Scientology. He has been a member since 1975 and credits it with getting him through the loss of his girlfriend, actress Diana Hyland, and his parents.
Married to actress Kelly Preston, he has a 3-year-old son, Jett. ``I was with my son every day for the first two years of his life, but not now,'' he said. ``Now, I have about the same work ethic my father had - six days a week, work every day.
``You can't force people to hire you and, in this business, you have to depend on others to make the choices. Right now, there seems to be a backlash against Quentin. Since he was last year's sensation, they're picking on him now, but I've been through that already. That can't hurt me.''
As for the Oscar race, his most formidable competition will come from Nicolas Cage, who has won preliminary awards for his alcoholic role in ``Leaving Las Vegas.''
``The Oscar thing would be nice,'' he said, ``but I'm kinda superstitious. I don't think about it.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
20th CENTURY FOX
John Travolta
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
John Travolta
by CNB