Calgary Sun (Sunday, June 13, 1999)

General John
In Hollywood, rank has its privileges

By LOUIS B. HOBSON

HOLLYWOOD -- It was a new concept for John Travolta. He had seven months of down time.

Since his amazing career comeback with Pulp Fiction, Travolta has worked non-stop on such films as Michael, Phenomenon, Broken Arrow, Face/Off, Mad City, A Civil Action and Primary Colors.

After his military thriller The General's Daughter opens Friday, Travolta won't have another film for at least a year.

"I was signed for two movies, but both of them fell through. The down side is that I really liked the concept of both films. The up side is that I had time to spend with my family and friends," says Travolta, who has a manicured goatee and a few extra pounds to show for his time off.

He and his wife Kelly Preston were originally signed to star in The Shipping News.

Columbia Pictures wanted to film the romantic drama in Nova Scotia where it is set for authenticity and to save money.

Travolta insisted on the film being shot in Maine near one of his homes.

Travolta was also set to star in Standing Room Only, the story of a lounge singer whose career languished in the shadow of Frank Sinatra. "Standing Room Only would have given me the opportunity to sing again on camera -- something that really is a priority for me. I'd like to think this one is just in a postponement stage. "It's a musical, so it required a bigger budget than the studio was offering."

Travolta has committed in principle to playing Sinatra opposite Tom Hanks' Dean Martin in Martin Scorsese's planned biography of The Rat Pack. "Marty just can't get the script he wants, otherwise we're all there." The Rat Pack movie would be one of those projects for which Travolta would waive his usual $20-million US fee. "I've taken major fee cuts in the past because the project or the people involved were too special to pass on. "You can't do a movie for nothing every time out or you'd go bankrupt," he says. "I have a staff of 17 people. I keep roofs over their heads as well as over my own."

Much of Travolta's energy is being funnelled into Battlefield Earth, a science-fiction movie he's been trumpeting for the past 10 years. "I've never done sci-fi and this is one of the classic science-fiction novels of the 20th Century," says Travolta, who will play a gigantic alien. The film is based on the novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, the religion for which Travolta has become a spokesman.

"I credit Scientology for my career success and my personal happiness. It has taught me how to be more centred."

Madeleine Stowe, who stars opposite Travolta in The General's Daughter, says Travolta is one of the most constant people she has ever met.

"He has no mood swings," says Stowe. "You see the same man every day. He enjoys life in a way few people do. His tranquility and happiness set the tone of the set."

She adds that "John is very inquisitive. He is genuinely interested in so much. He doesn't just ask and listen out of politeness."

The thing that impressed Stowe the most is that "John has the most vivid recall of his childhood. I would love to be that focused that I could zero in on such minute details of my youth.

"I can't even conceive having that kind of mental discipline."

In The General's Daughter, Travolta and Stowe play former lovers who are investigating a brutal rape and murder on an army base.

The movie was filmed in Georgia.

"With all that heat and humidity, It was a bit like working in a sauna. I was grateful for the week we filmed my big fight scene in the marina," says Travolta.

"It was like playing water games with your friends in the backyard pool."

Several times during the shoot, Georgia was hit by mini-tornadoes.

"During the worst one, we had to run and hide out in the basement of an old southern mansion. It was rather eerie," says Travolta.

Stowe has no recollection of that tornado.

"I was on the phone having a fight with my husband (Brian Benben). That old tornado couldn't hold a candleto the storm we were whipping up."

Listening to the candid remarks of his co-star, Travolta explains that "Madeleine's honesty is laced with humanity. It's not in her nature to say anything that is meant to hurt another person."

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