NEWSJohn Travolta Was So Obsessed With 'Fame' He Didn't Bother to Learn His Lines, 'Get Shorty' Director Claims: 'He Arrived on Set With No Sense'
John Travolta's former 'Get Shorty' director got candid about working with him at the height of his fame.
John Travolta's former director has some interesting memories of working with the A-lister.
Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed the 1995 film Get Shorty, reflected on how difficult it was to shoot the crime film when Travolta was too preoccupied with fame to learn his lines.
John Travolta's 'Get Shorty' director Barry Sonnenfeld reflected on working with the actor on the 1995 film.
"I have never worked with anyone who loved being a movie star as much as John Travolta," Sonnenfeld wrote in his book Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time.
"I'm not saying he didn't also love acting, but he truly loved the fame and glamour and all the things that Gene Hackman hated," the filmmaker said of the Grease actor's costar in the project. "John is charming and not self-aware. He arrived on set with no sense that he had kept everyone waiting."
John Travolta didn't bother to learn his lines.
According to Sonnenfeld, the Superman star, 94, had a particularly difficult time dealing with Travolta's diva tendencies. When the Saturday Night Fever actor asked Hackman how his weekend had been, the older actor told him, "'Well, with eight f------ pages of dialogue, I pretty much spent the whole weekend memorizing today's work.'"
"'That's a waste of a weekend,'" Sonnenfeld recalled Travolta telling Hackman. "When they started filming, his lack of preparations were immediately obvious."
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Gene Hackman was not thrilled with John Travolta's lack of effort on the movie.
"Gene was a professional, memorizing his lines before showing up on the set," the director remembered. "Gene was off-book knowing every line of dialogue. John, on the other hand, probably hadn't read the script since his agent made his very lucrative deal. Fumbling his lines, or forgetting them entirely, I could tell John had no idea how angry Gene was getting. I knew we were in for a very, very long day."
Travolta's lack of dedication to being prepared for shoots only prologued everyone's time on set. "Playing a scene... requires both actors to know their lines," Sonnenfeld penned. "Unfortunately, while Gene spent his weekend learning his, who knows what John was doing."
Barry Sonnenfeld claimed John Travolta 'loved' being a movie star.
Due to the Hairspray actor's inability to learn his lines, production came up with a solution. However, other actors on set were not amused by the aids being used for Travolta. "At one point, John asked me where we were starting from, and before I could answer, Gene, pointing to the cue cards, said, 'Right here, John. Right at the top of your cue card,'" Sonnenfeld said. "John didn't realize Gene was making fun of him."
Daily Mail obtained the excerpts from Best Possible Place, Worst Possible Time.
