UNITED KINGDOM: John Travolta promotes film 'Wild Hogs' and talks about comedy, returning to musicals and trying for another child

Record ID: 555380

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: John Travolta promotes film 'Wild Hogs' and talks about comedy, returning to musicals and trying for another child
  • Date: 12th April 2007
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (RECENT - FEBRUARY 24, 2007) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) TRAVOLTA AND WIFE KELLY PRESTON ON THE RED CARPET AT ARMANI FASHION EVENT
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA13IM0ERZMD61DK550SUWLBFL3
  • Story Text: It's a busy time for John Travolta. The actor, who made a name with 70s musicals "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease" and enjoyed a comeback with Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, is hoping to continue his good run of success in 2007.
    Travolta's new comedy "Wild Hogs" which is opening in the UK on April 13, made a 39.6 million dollar debut in the U.S. last month, surprising studio executives and critics alike.
    'Wild Hogs' tells the story of four middle-aged men in various stages of a mid-life crisis. The comedy stars Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy as the four American suburbanites who, in a desperate attempt to recapture their youth, abandon their day jobs to go on a cross-country motorbike adventure from Ohio to California.
    During a recent publicity trip to London, Travolta said the four actors had bonded on the set, but admitted there had been a bit of a battle on who could make the others laugh the hardest.
    "It was more jokes at each others' expense, that kind of thing," said the actor who plays the leader of the foursome, Woody, a business man who on the surface seems to have it all, including a supermodel wife, but is really struggling to keep his life together.
    Travolta added that the relationship between the four men had taken on brotherly tones, even mistakenly calling Allen "Sam", which is the name of Travolta's older brother.
    "One time, I got so mad at Tim (Allen) because he kept on revving, he had no muff around his bike so it was deafening, like it would puncture your eardrum. And he would do it antagonistically, he'd look at you and rev it, and look at you again and rev it and you would just say Sam, please, I mean, Tim, please. And when he wouldn't stop, I took my bike and I started to bang his bike on the back of his wheel. And I banged him in a circle. And every time he did that, I did that. So, it was the only thing that shut him up, you know, with the bike. And it worked. But everyone watching that thought that was pretty interesting. Here's John Travolta beating up Tim on a bike," he said.
    Allen, however, had a different take on who won the competition for the funniest man on set.
    "The funniest guy? That would be one point of view. John has no formal training in comedy. I, however, have years of comedy training. Just try to do the numbers," Allen joked.
    If "Wild Hogs" has got audiences talking, it is Travolta's two other new films that are generating even more buzz.
    The announcement of Travolta signing on as J.R. Ewing in the feature film adaptation of the cult television series "Dallas", got fans of the 80s show buzzing.
    On a different front, "Hairspray", Travolta's first musical since "Grease", recently finished filming and the actor said he was happy to be showing off his new moves.
    "Hairspray" is a big-screen adaptation of the Tony award-wining Broadway production that features Travolta as a voluptuous woman Edna Turnblad.
    "Hairspray was a lot of fun, it was a lot of work. Five hours of make up every day, throwing a very large body around in dancing, you know, I play this woman who is 300 pounds and to jump and leap and do things was fun but hard work but effective, it made everybody laugh," said Travolta.
    "Hairspray" will be released in the United States and the UK on July 20. But talking about the summer, Travolta had other things than publicity tours in mind. The father of two said he and wife Kelly Preston were hoping to welcome a new member to the family.
    "Yeah, hopefully. At the end of the summer we were thinking of having another, that'll be third. Because I think that we always wanted a large family and for different reasons we ended up with a smaller one and I think it's kind of like our last attempt at having a medium size family. So three, when we were thinking about six, is a compromise. But it's a good one," he said.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register