Chicago Sun Times
Big hairy deal: Travolta as alien Terl
March 2, 2000
THE BIG PICTURE BY CINDY PEARLMANLove is a "Battlefield."
That's the case for John Travolta as he brings "Battlefield Earth" to the big screen this spring.
Travolta dubs the movie--based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's best-selling 1982 book--"a labor of love." "It's been a 10-year struggle to get this movie done. I'm bringing a historic book to the big screen," says Travolta, noting that the project has little to do with his much-discussed religion.
"This is an action film based on one of the biggest science-fiction books ever. The novel is right up there with Dune. It belongs on the screen."
The "Battle" plan:
* The post-apocalyptic film is set in 3000 A.D. "Aliens named Psyclos have seized the Earth to rape it of its natural resources," says co-star Barry Pepper ("The Green Mile"). "After a slew of battles, 90 percent of the humans are dead. The rest have run for the safety of the mountains and have regressed into an underground society again. The earthlings have the long hair, wear furs and become hunters and gatherers. "The aliens want to enslave us to work in the mines," Pepper says.
* Travolta plays Terl, a 9-foot, big, bad, hairy alien. "The movie required an amazing physical transformation. I wear a tall head apparatus with strange hair. I have amber eyes and talons for hands. It's quite remarkable," Travolta says. As for his new heights, "I'm on 4-foot stilts. We also shot at certain odd angles which capture the heights." Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, also plays an alien.
* Pepper says Travolta was very committed to the project. "John wasn't required to be on the set for the first three weeks. But the first day of principal photography, he flew to this remote mountainside in Montreal. John comes running up in his loafers and city duds. He starts picking up mud and putting it on my costume. He's going, `Yeah, that looks much better. Now you look very 3000 A.D. and savage.' "
* As for any controversy, Travolta says, "The e-mail and fan mail since this picture was announced as a `go' have been extraordinary. I've never been involved with a picture that got this amount of pre-excitement." Since only half the book was filmed, a sequel is also being considered for 2002. "Battlefield Earth" is due out in May.