JOHN TRAVOLTA ON “DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE”

John Travolta flew into Dallas recently—quite literally, since he often pilots the planes on which he travels himself—to promote his new film, the thriller “Domestic Disturbance.” But he took time from his schedule to visit the Lewisville, Texas, fire department, located near DFW Airport; its members had raised more than $200,000 to help victims of the September 11 terrorist atrocities and their families.
“I had gone to ground zero, and it had affected me greatly, because you kind of saw the best and worst of humanity together,” he said. “But I left with the best, because there’s a different feeling about these guys. These firemen, there’s an essence about them of goodness and sometimes greatness that I just can’t put my finger on. There’s no misinterpretation for taking a fireman’s position. What would the ulterior motive be?”
In “Disturbance,” Travolta plays a different kind of hero—a divorced boat-builder who fights to protect his son from his new stepfather (Vince Vaughn), a local celebrity but a suspicious character who may be threatening the child. “Certainly the father aspects of…this part were easy to identify with,” the 47-year old actor, a dad himself (son Jett is now nine), explained. But he added: “I liked that he was…down-to-earth guy who had a craft that he loved and wasn’t succeeding well at, but that he still held onto his ideals about. I liked all those kinds of subtle colors in the character.”
He continued: “I liked the structure of the screenplay. I thought it was very classic film noir,…reminiscent of ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ or ‘Dial M for Murder.’ I liked that it dealt with a new character, you know—for so long it’s been the wicked stepmother, in this case it’s the wicked stepfather. Of course there’s been all sorts of variations in real life, where people are evil, but I thought it was fun in this one that it was this rich, handsome guy that has another story underneath.”
Travolta was also enthusiastic about the performers he was sharing the screen with. He had a hand in selecting Matt O’Leary, the fourteen-year old who’s making his feature debut. “He was the only kid that auditioned that naturally had that quality [of seeming like my son],” he said. “As a matter of fact, in the improvisation that we did for the audition, he was brilliant. I could make him laugh very easily, and I liked that. Because as soon as he started laughing naturally at the way I pretended to be his father, I said that if I could capture that a little bit with him on camera, it would be a done deal—you’d buy it. So that’s what convinced me it was him, because there was another actor that was stunning—the emotional notes he hit were just brilliant—but he didn’t have that other thing that made you feel that he was really your son.”
Travolta also expressed happiness over the opportunity to act with indie stalwart Steve Buscemi, who plays a seedy acquaintance of Vaughn’s whose disappearance convinces the father that his son has good reason to fear his stepfather. “There’s a joy of acting that he has, that I have [too],” Travolta observed. “And when you meet someone that has the joy of acting, you know it—you know it upon the meeting. And when I knew I was going to do a scene or two with him, I couldn’t wait, because I said it’ll be easy. When you meet someone who loves acting, it becomes effortless. You just show up and things happen.”
The conversation returned to the recent real-life drama of September 11 when Travolta was asked whether, given the changed circumstances, he’d reconsider making a film like “Swordfish” {now out on video and DVD) today. Noting its continued success abroad, he observed, “It’s different from other ‘terrorist’ films—it’s almost like he [the character Travolta played, a flamboyant ex-government operative stealing money hidden within the system to use in fighting terrorists] was a hero in his anti-terrorist feelings. On September 11, we would have done anything to have had a guy like that. At the time [‘Swordfish’] was released, it was ‘Well, is he a good guy or a bad guy?’ Well now, today, he’d be viewed as a good guy, in a way—someone who’s up for the fight. [Swordfish] deals with terrorism, but it also deals with anti-terrorism.”
Nor does Travolta feel that recent events will permanently alter the kinds of films Hollywood makes. “I think when incidents happen, moral codes change for that moment. So for now I think people will be sensitive in Hollywood, and theatre owners will be sensitive about the product they put out. As soon as the mores change, it will be different. I think that’s how it’s been since movies started, and I think that’s what it will be forever. People are sensitive enough towards what’s going on in life to alter their communications. But freedom of free speech and expression will always outweigh all that. So you’re never going to inhibit it. But the moral standards will always be a bit reformed when something like that happens.”
For the present, however, on the screen Travolta is concerned not with international affairs but familial ones. “Domestic Disturbance” is a Paramount release.