Reflecting Back on the 1960s: Does John Travolta feel it was a better time in America’s history? “Yes and no,” answered Travolta. “Yes, in that there's never a more exciting decade in change. I mean, big changes were made, remarkable changes but a lot of suffering happened that is still happening in parts of the world that I wouldn’t want to repeat. We've come through big movements - racism, women's movement. Of course the only thing that seems to repeat itself more than ever is war, which is not a good thing. But I like the boldness of the '60s, but I like the progress we've made since then in that life is a lot easier on all of us. So it's a mixed feeling I have about it. But the fashion and the dance and the music, the Motown sound being introduced, those designers like Mary Kwan, Yves Saint Laurent, all of that excitement, there's never a more exciting decade as far as progress and movement. Going to the moon. The positive aspects of the '60s were unbeatable, but the negatives were scary too.”
Spreading Positive Messages: Travolta’s early career included a stint on Welcome Back, Kotter as ‘sweathog’ Vinnie Barbarino. That show and Hairspray are both loaded with positive messages and Travolta’s pleased to have been a part of both projects, as well as other movies with important stories to tell. “I witnessed with my own eyes the '60s and the '70s and all the decades since and seen the progress, and we have made some progress. I think you can't take your eyes off it because there's always more progress to be made, but I am proud of the fact that I can be part of several movies that have messages deeper than just entertainment value. And yet, some of them are more light-hearted where you gracefully allow an audience to interpret, so they go home with what they want to go home with. It's a tricky thing. You don't want to hit it over the head but you want to get the message out. You want to do it with some grace.”
And speaking of Welcome Back, Kotter, Ice Cube is set to star in a film adaptation of the classic TV series. Asked what he thinks of the planned movie, Travolta replied, “I can't wait to see it. I think that'll be fun. I think it's a good idea and I think it's so much smarter that he does it with another perspective than what we did so it's new.”
Travolta says he’d even consider a cameo. “I don't know. I've been approached on it, but I'd have to see what it was and how it was and what the real thing was.”
Taking a Pass on Chicago: Travolta passed on the role of attorney Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago, which was nominated for 13 Academy Awards and won six. Richard Gere eventually landed the role and earned critical acclaim for his performance as a sleazy tap-dancing lawyer. “We made a mistake with Chicago because Chicago was presented to me three times but nobody did the explaining of what the movie was going to [be],” explained Travolta. “As a stage show, I said, ‘I don't think it's going to work.’ But the concept of the movie was so much different, bigger and better, that if I had heard those and had several meetings with those people and got convinced, but no one was convincing me. They were just offering it. They kept re-offering it, re-offering it. But that wasn't enough. So when Hairspray came around, they did the same thing but they said, ‘We're not going to let you get away this time without meeting. We're going to have lots of meetings on it.’ I said, ‘Okay. I have to trust you because I made a mistake last time. Let's have the meetings.’ So for a year and two months we had meetings.”
Travolta explained why it took so long to get onboard. “Their commitment to an A+ quality of each department, because musicals are a minority genre. They are not a guarantee. They don't always work and I have the biggest movie musical in history behind me. I wasn't going to ruin that. So I had to be convinced that everybody's got their ducks in a row. You’ve got to let me play it the way I see it so I can contribute to it. Then we're all good, so they allowed that and here we are."
Travolta continued, “After several times of asking what the vision was and the steadfast answers were being said, and who they were hiring to get to do certain things - wardrobe, sets, the actors they had in mind for each of these parts - I said, ‘Okay, they're going for an A+ attack on this.’ Then most importantly for me it was, ‘Am I going to be free to interpret this role the way I see it, or do I have to stick with like a drag queen concept?’ Because that's not interesting to me. It's been done, A, and B, a lot on screen, and C, I would have more fun really trying to fool you, make you believe I was a woman than not. So those things allowed me to do it.”
Revisiting Wild Hogs: Audiences ate up John Travolta, William H Macy and Tim Allen as three buddies who leave their lives behind to go on a short road trip. The film was so popular that rumors of a sequel were inevitable. “Well, they've asked about it but we'll see,” revealed Travolta. “They want us to do it but I don't know, sequels… I have to play that card when it comes, see how good it is and all that. I have to do new things.”
