Ups and downs with John Travolta
New Scientology documentary critical of star closely tied to the movement
“There is nothing at all strange, creepy or inappropriate about John Travolta.” - SCARLETT JOHANSSON REFERRING TO THE KISS FROM TRAVOLTA ON THE OSCAR RED CARPET
NEW YORK — Since strutting onto the big screen in Saturday Night Fever, John Travolta’s career has been one of dramatic ups and downs, from comeback king to Internet meme.
Travolta’s latest step back into the spotlight at Sunday’s Academy Awards was uneasy.
He’s been widely pilloried for his touching of Idina Menzel’s face while he cooed “You, you my darling, my beautiful, my wickedly talented Idina Menzel.”
“Apparently, I played with her chin too much,” Travolta told Jimmy Kimmel about his reunion with Menzel.
At the conclusion of the Oscars, host Neil Patrick Harris predicted Travolta (booked to redeem himself for his infamous mangling of Menzel’s name the year before) will be back at next year’s show to apologize again for “all the face touching.”
Images of Travolta kissing Scarlett Johansson in front of photographers on the red carpet also went viral, turning the star into a social media punchline.
Johansson, however, defended Travolta in a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday, saying “there is nothing at all strange, creepy or inappropriate about John Travolta” and called the photo “an unfortunate still-frame from a live-action encounter that was very sweet and totally welcome.”
The Oscar incidents come at a time when Travolta, 61, is prepping a handful of projects and ahead of the release of an explosive documentary on Scientology that focuses considerably on Travolta’s relationship with the organization.
Should that upcoming film, Going Clear, from the Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney, go on to be Oscar nominated, as many expect it to, it could again make Travolta a part of next year’s Academy Awards, albeit in a much different way.
But Travolta has long navigated the ebb and flow of celebrity, relying on his boyish charisma and a few good dance moves for numerous revivals. Here’s a look at his highs and lows:
HIGH: Already known to TV viewers of Welcome Back Kotter, Travolta emphatically debuted as a leading man in the 1977 disco sensation Saturday Night Fever. He pronounced: “This is dancing, not that Fred Astaire thing. I just move and strut, and THAT’S DANCING!” He followed it up as Danny Zuko in 1978’s Grease, forever immortalizing his high voice and pomade-slicked hair.
LOW: The 1980s weren’t nearly as good to Travolta as the ’70s. He worked consistently, but in a string of flops like Perfect, in which he played a Rolling Stone reporter, and Two of a Kind, which reteamed him with Grease co-star Olivia Newton-John.
HIGH: Though the Look Who’s Talking comedies restored Travolta’s popularity, his resurrection was undoubtedly due to one man: Quentin Tarantino. The director specifically sought out Travolta, even though Daniel Day-Lewis, fresh off his Oscar win for My Left Foot, reportedly wanted the part. Travolta’s performance as Vincent Vega earned him his second Oscar nomination and brought on a rush of work, including the acclaimed Elmore Leonard adaptation Get Shorty.
LOW: The Pulp Fiction rejuvenation did not last long, though Travolta’s track record (Michael, Face/Off, Primary Colors, A Civil Action) was better in the late 1990s than it was in the ’80s. But in 2000, he starred in perhaps the biggest bomb of his career: Battlefield Earth. The futuristic science-fiction film was partly based on a novel by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. It was made by independent production company Franchise Pictures (which was later convicted for inflating the budget to Battlefield Earth and went bankrupt), with Travolta putting up money of his own. It’s frequently ranked among the worst movies of the decade.
HIGH: Travolta perhaps never recovered after Battlefield Earth, but he continued to co-star in bigbudget releases that received mediocre reviews and did modest box office: Swordfish, The Punisher, The Taking of Pelham 123. More recently, Travolta has lined up several films: The Forger (a crime drama due out in April), Criminal Activities (a mob thriller directed by Jackie Earle Haley) and In a Valley of Violence (a Western co-starring Ethan Hawke). Most intriguingly, he’s to play O.J. Simpson defence attorney Robert Shapiro in the upcoming FX series American Crime Story by Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, American Horror Story).
LOW: Travolta’s recent years have been marred by tragedy, lawsuits and increased attention to his longheld religion. His son, Jett, died in 2009 of a seizure at the age of 16. In 2013, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright published Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, a thoroughly researched expose of the Church of Scientology, which Travolta joined in the ’70s. The book and Gibney’s upcoming documentary, made with Wright, are critical of Travolta for being a public face to the controversial organization.