In `General,' acting's second nature now

The Kansas City Star
17.6.1999

By ROBERT W. BUTLER, The Kansas City Star

The popular perception is that actors are essentially insecure, uncertain children who find satisfaction in make-believe.

And then there's John Travolta, who radiates confidence and creativity on and off the screen.

"I once asked a friend, a professional baseball player, if guys who had played the game for 20 years ever get nervous that they'll miss that routine fly ball," Travolta said in a phone interview from Chicago, where he was promoting his latest film, "The General's Daughter."

"He replied that it's second nature by that time. And it's true. After 20 years of acting, I don't worry about walking in and sitting down and somehow blowing the scene. At this stage I trust my instincts so much that the basics of creating a character are second nature."

It was not always so, said Travolta, who in the late '70s burst into the big time with "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease" but whose career stalled only a decade later.

Travolta's career was reborn with his Oscar-nominated turn as a talky hired killer in the 1994 "Pulp Fiction." Since then he has consolidated his artistic and box-office reputations with memorable performances in films such as "Phenomenon," "Michael," "Get Shorty," "Face/Off," "Broken Arrow" and "Primary Colors."

In his new film he plays an Army investigator who uncovers unpleasant secrets while trying to solve the murder of a female officer. The role was a challenge, Travolta said, because "this character is very much unlike me."

In building a performance, the actor said, he relies on fact and instinct.

"I do it both ways. I always feel uncomfortable if I don't do research for a character because I need to know what my boundaries are. I need to know what's possible with this character and what isn't.

"For my role in `The General's Daughter' I had several sources. I pulled about 50 pages of stuff off the Internet about the CID" -- the Army's Criminal Investigative Division -- "and we also had a couple of veteran CID guys on the set.

"The central conflict is that these CID people have to be both cops and soldiers. They're career military guys, and yet they have the power to investigate any other soldier, no matter how far up the chain of command. So there's this conflict in the job: Is he a soldier, loyal to the Army, or a cop who wants the truth no matter what?" Before filming begins, Travolta said, he concentrates on developing character details. "I work out the walk, the talk, accents, gestures. And then when I get all the goodies in one place -- the wardrobe, the sets, the atmosphere -- it all comes together at the 11th hour. It's a magic moment."

Travolta, a flying fanatic who pilots his own jet (and in fact named his son Jet), compares the process to learning how to fly.

"When you first take flying lessons, you don't know what you're doing, and you feel like quitting. There's so much to learn and keep track of. And at the 11th hour it all comes together. You know what the yoke does and the rudder, and you no longer have to think about it. Suddenly you're ready to solo.

"You go through the same evolution in acting. You work through the confusion. And then, just before the camera starts rolling, you've got your character."

One of the great joys of his new success, Travolta said, is that he can play good guys, bad guys and everyone in between. In fact he's getting ready to portray a towering alien villain in "Battlefield Earth," a big-screen adaptation of the novel by the late Scientology creator, L. Ron Hubbard. Travolta, one of Scientology's most visible spokespersons, also is producing the film.

"If you really want to make a career as an actor, you have to show early on that you're capable of lots of different things," he said. "If you don't, people won't give you the opportunity. You'll be typecast. As soon as I could after the success of `Pulp Fiction,' I started making role choices that demonstrated my range.

"Once you convince Hollywood of your versatility, you're home free. They'll see you as an asset who can play almost any kind of character."

To reach Robert W. Butler, movie editor of The Star, call (816) 234-4760 or send e-mail to bbutler@kcstar.com