These are photos of John Travolta being honored for his outstanding contribution to film (with a Lifetime Achievement award) at the Karlovy Vary film festival in the Czech Republic. The festival also celebrated Oliver Stone with the same award, and oddly enough (not really) both stars were already scheduled to be present because they premiered their new film, Killing Season, at the festival.
In celebration of his award, John sat down with the Guardian for an interview during which he sings the praises of L. Ron Hubbard’s gospel of Scientology. You’ll notice, of course, that John continues to dance for David Miscavige even when Tom Cruise realizes it’s time to shut up — because John really wants to be the poster boy for the cult. Most recently, Travolta told the tale of healing a car crash victim with a Scientology “assist,” and now he’s deflecting questions about the challenges rightfully heaped upon the CO$ over the last several years. He never really answers the questions about Scientology at all … it’s as if he can just change the subject and make people magically believe him. Whatever:
The best life advice he’s received: “Marlon Brando gave me great advice: never expect things from people they can’t give you. That’s hot. That’ll save you a lot of heartbreak. And, think about it: it has a lot of tentacles. Because if you don’t analyse what a person is capable of doing and if you’re expecting one thing but you’re getting another, well, why didn’t you see that they could only give you that first thing? It’s very powerful.”
Does he still love to dance? “Oh yeah, dancing’s part of my soul. I enjoy it, it makes people happy, and it makes me happy.”
Is he weary of fame? “I don’t do as many movies now, so the pacing of them is better. Back in the days when I would do two or three movies a year and have to do world junkets for each of them — that was tiring, to be completely frank. But when I do a movie a year or so, or go to an event like this, there’s not enough to tire me out.”
On Scientology’s negative press: “Well, you know, I love Scientology. I’ve been involved for 38 years, and I don’t think I’d be here without it because I’ve had a lot of losses and different negative things that have happened over the years and it really got me through brilliantly. I would walk in to a session feeling one way and walk out feeling a lot better.”
Why he gave up Catholicisim for CO$: “There are techniques for actually ridding you of stresses and pain as opposed to an advisory or recommendation on how to live. I believe L Ron Hubbard resolved the human mind, and in resolving it he has also resolved human pain — that’s what I really think has happened here.”
His memories of James Gandolfini: “I’ll tell you two small stories that will explain how I feel about him. The background is that my father sold automobile tyres to his father in New York, and he would see my photograph in the store window, and it inspired him to be an actor. Later, we ended up doing five movies together. When my son passed away, (3) he would not leave the city until I was OK, he was worried about me, and I felt it was so human, and so unusual for an actor to have this depth of feeling about someone. Before that, we were shooting a little movie with Salma Hayek [Lonely Hearts]. He was going through a divorce and was very sad. I saw him backstage and said: ‘Jim, did I ever tell you something?’ He said: ‘What?’ and I said: ‘I loved you the moment I met you.’ He started to cry, because he needed to cry. That was a true connection, and I hope these two stories explain it a bit.”
On career lows: “You have to understand my origins. I’m from a working-class family. We didn’t have a lot, but we had the arts. You’re talking to a guy who is making a living at doing what he loves doing — acting, singing and dancing. So any career ups and downs were not that significant to me, the only things that really powerfully impinged on me were my losses, and there were many in my life. Those had an impact, but short of that, movies — I love them, but they’re not life.”
[From The Guardian]
On one hand, I feel slightly terrible for John because he’s basically living a lie while going overboard on PDA with wife Kelly Preston in an effort to convince us that they’re totally happy together even though John regularly ducks away for sailing trips with the boys when he’s not slapping the ass of the nearest male masseuse. On the other hand, John has all the resources in the world to pull away from this cult, but he just doesn’t want to do it. So he’s content to live in his own little bubble forever, and to me, that seems like a wasted way to spend one’s life.
Now for absolutely no reason at all other than the fact that Travolta namedropped Marlon Brando, here are some photos of the acting legend in his younger years. Hey, we never get a chance to post photos of Brando looking hot, so enjoy!
Photos courtesy of WENN
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