Monday April 12, 1999

Travolta puts ``Earth'' first

By Dan Cox and Benedict Carver

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - The lights have faded temporarily on the Jimmy Roselli story, ``Standing Room Only'' starring John Travolta.

The $50 million picture had been slated to start shooting in the spring under Gus Van Sant's helm with Travolta playing the charismatic New Jersey Italian lounge act along with his real-life wife, Kelly Preston, as Donna Roselli.

Travolta's manager/producer Jonathan Krane announced that the numerous musical numbers and the elaborate staging required had lengthened pre-production and production schedules, and caused a conflict with Travolta's commitment to star in the action-adventure ``Battlefield Earth.''

Travolta is supposed to start principal photography on ``Earth'' in July. Roger Christian is directing the $70 million film, which is based on a novel by Travolta's Scientology guru L. Ron Hubbard. Krane said ``Standing Room Only'' would reschedule to shoot after ``Earth.'' Travolta also has several other commitments, including ``The Shipping News'' for Sony.

``We realized that we needed more time in preparation and more time in principal photography,'' Krane told Daily Variety. ``John would not have been let out of the film until after he was obligated to commence 'Battlefield Earth.' Instead of crunching, which would just make everyone nervous and maybe affect the quality of the film, we said, let's just do it in October.''

Disney is distributing ``Standing Room Only'' domestically.

Reuters/Variety