Wild Hogs - John Travolta interview
Interview by Rob Carnevale
JOHN Travolta talks about appearing in Wild Hogs, working in several genres and why he doesn’t anticipate shopping for any mid-life crisis.
He also talks about how on-screen dance partner William H Macy compares with his favourite male partner of all-time, Sean Connery…
Q. Was this a no brainer for you, given your passion for planes and cars, etc?
John Travolta: I think if you’re familiar with something that you have a lot of fun doing you don’t have a lot of attention on it, so I anticipated the fun of it more than I did the challenge of it.
Q. Do you think you might feel the need to do anything similar to your character when you reach middle age – eventually?
John Travolta: I felt that my whole life. From the time I was a kid, I had a wanderlust. I always wanted to travel, in any form – plane, train, boat, car, motorcycle. So I think that if I ever do have a mid-life crisis, I have all the toys to refer to quickly.
Q. And the aeroplane in the back garden too?
John Travolta: Exactly, so there’d be no shopping for a mid-life crisis.
Q. What was it like having Peter Fonda on set?
John Travolta: It was my idea to use Peter Fonda. I was old enough to be 14-years-old when he arrived on the screen in Easy Rider. It would be like me showing up in a white suit and a black shirt in some dance movie 20 years from now, it has significance. And I knew it would, even though it addresses a certain generation. It worked like a charm.
Q. Did the camaraderie ever give way to any one upmanship?
John Travolta: Tim is an antagoniser. You have to drop the gauntlet at some time after all those jokes at our expense. He would rev the bike super loud to deafening, and then I couldn’t get off my bike to handle him, so I had to bump into him – lots. I was the bull, so to speak.
Q. Was there a lot of improv?
John Travolta: A lot. I would say that in every scene each actor had an improvisational take and 90% of them are used in the movie, which was a great thing. Even if the script’s well written there’s something about the life of an improvisation that resonates better than a written word, sometimes. So I think we all had a good shot at that.
Q. How do you switch off from the pressures of everyday life?
John Travolta: I escape with airplanes, mostly. I’m a jet jockey and I’ve always escaped ever since I was a kid. I’ve always been a weekend type runaway person. Work hard, play hard type thing. It’s not been a mid-life thing at all, it’s been a habit because I think it changes your environment and how you feel even if it’s for the day. It’s a good thing. Europeans are good at that, don’t you think? Everybody in England’s running off to Spain for the weekend.
Q. You’ve tackled most genres in your career. Why do you think you’ve been so lucky in that respect?
John Travolta: I don’t know, but I think I was brave and experimented a lot, and in doing so, the audience had belief in me to do it, and the studios backed it up. I think what you have to do is have a box office success in every genre and then you’re set for life. And fortunately, I happened to do that, so I get a myriad of offers of various sorts.
Q. What friends would you take along as your companions on a fantasy road trip?
John Travolta: That’s a hard question. I’d pick my best friend Anson Downes. I did the movie Carrie with him 30 years ago, and I’m still kicking. I’d pick him, how about that?
Q. Where in your list of iconic dance partners does William H Macy fit in?
John Travolta: He wasn’t bad. Sean Connery, as far as men are concerned, was my favourite dance partner. It was at a big party for Frank Sinatra, there was every old fashioned Hollywood name there, and he was there. My wife and I were about to leave and Sean said: “John, where are you going?”
I said: “I’ve got to go, I’m working tomorrow morning…” But he said: “Not before you dance with me, you’re not!” So there I am dancing with Bond, James Bond, with everybody watching. Since Princess Diana I’m a hot ticket to dance with, male or female.
Q. Who led?
John Travolta: [Laughs] Being that he’s my senior and he is Bond, I let him lead. I’m no fool.
Q. You have a dark film, Lonely Hearts, coming up – is that a change of pace for you?
John Travolta: I try to balance independent films with commercial films, and I’ve done a pretty good job of it over the years. But it’s a very good movie. I don’t think it’s for everybody… it’s a very dark story with James Gandolfini, myself, Salma Hayek and Jared Leto. It’s a true story about a couple in the 1950s who seduced older women – he would marry them and then they would kill them. It’s very well done but it’s very dark and for that field it needs an independent audience too, I’m sure.
Q. Grease Is The Word has just started on UK television. What would you say are the necessary qualities to play Danny Zuko?
John Travolta: Being that it’s the play, I think there’s a wider spectrum of possibilities. You could be older or younger to play it, the stage forgives. I think passion, I adored that play so much before I did the movie, I was in the Broadway show and the road show. I just lived for it.
If you have the ability and the passion for it, it could be something that might put you ahead of the group. As long as they’re not re casting the movie, I don’t care.
Q. Can you tell us a little bit about Hairspray – is the world ready for the sight for JT in a frock?
John Travolta: [Laughs] Oh honey, wait till you see him! It’s a sight to be seen. Oh my goodness. I don’t know, I’m a big beautiful woman. When I was offered it, I said: “And why are you asking me to do this role?” I’d be in prosthetics, be 300 lbs, what value is this going to be? And they said: “Well, you sing and dance, you’re known for macho roles, it’s a funnier hook.” And I thought: “OK.”
I’ve seen about 17 minutes of it, and it is pretty hilarious. It works as a comedy, regardless of the music, which I love. Traditional American musical.
Q. With the success of the film, will the Hogs ride again?
John Travolta: This is what happened. We all think the movie’s going to do around $20 million, which is a very respectable opening weekend, it’s a big success if you do that. We wake up to $39.7 million, which is breaking all the records, five records in a row, and is turning people’s heads. By Sunday night, the movie’s been out two days, I get a call that I’m getting an offer for the sequel on Monday.
I said: “Come on, let us enjoy a week!” They were already on it on Sunday night. So, what we say to that is, let’s see a script. I know the boys want to be together again. But sequels are tricky, and you’ve got to be smart with them, regardless what the success of the first one is. It would be fun to be with the boys again.