UMVA has learned that Hollywood superstar John Travolta was visibly overcome on Friday night after receiving a surprise honorary Palme d’Or as he premiered his directorial debut at the Cannes Film Festival.
The 72-year-old actor, who reflected on having worked in film ‘85% of my life’, said he was humbled to be presenting the film, which he noted was ‘the most personal thing I’ve ever done’. Travolta was blown away when festival director Thierry Frémaux presented him with the prestigious lifetime achievement award onstage ahead of the screening of Propeller One-Way Night Coach, an adaptation of his own 1997 children’s book of the same name.
Travolta touched his hand to his heart in immediate gratitude before accepting the prize as he shook his head and repeatedly mouthed ‘Oh my God’ and ‘wow’ amid rapturous applause. He then held it up to show the audience in the room as the cheers continued, before kissing his fingers and pressing them to the Palme and then his heart again.
Hugging Frémaux as he held back tears, Travolta declared: ‘This is beyond the Oscar.’ The actor and filmmaker exclaimed in French to the appreciative crowd, ‘Surprise complétement!’ after being given back the microphone, expressing his disbelief at the unexpected honor.
Travolta shared his gratitude for being able ‘to do both’ when it came to his twin passions of performing and being a pilot. He emphasized that the ‘biggest compliment’ he received for Propeller One-Way Night Coach was Frémaux’s recognition and decision to ‘accept it, the first time in history, five months before all these decisions were [usually] made’.
Propeller One-Way Night Coach, based on Travolta’s semi-autobiographical children’s book of the same name, follows young plane enthusiast Jeff and his mother as they set off on a one-way, cross-country journey to Hollywood. The film is financed, produced, directed, written and narrated by two-time Oscar nominee Travolta, a qualified aviator himself, who also makes an appearance as a retiring pilot.
Travolta confessed that he ‘thought I was going to die, I was so excited and thrilled’ as Frémaux revealed: ‘I was afraid that Berlin [Film Festival] could have stolen the film! I wanted to keep it for us.’ The 60-minute film stars Travolta’s daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, and is set in the golden age of aviation – the 1960s.
The film streams on Apple TV from May 29. Travolta has history with Cannes, first attending with Quentin Tarantino’s film Pulp Fiction as part of the main competition in 1994; it re-ignited his then-languishing career and became one of his most popular movies.
