HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 25, 2000 — John Travolta already proved his comic chops as smooth cats in “Pulp Fiction” and “Get Shorty.” With “Lucky Numbers,” however, the former Vinnie Barbarino gets to play a type he hasn’t played in a while: the guy who wants to be cool, but isn’t.
“He’s earnest and funny and not so bright,” Travolta said at the film’s premiere, held at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. “You get to be funny … do stupid things. You get to be a little more awkward and peculiar.”
In the film, Travolta, who plays a local TV weatherman aspiring to be a gameshow host, partners with a Lotto girl (Lisa Kudrow) and gets embroiled in a scheme to win the state Lottery, with comic results. “Lucky Numbers” is directed by Nora Ephron, who previously worked with Travolta in “Michael.”
“I knew that [Travolta and Kudrow] would just love working together,” Ephron said. “And in fact on the third day of shooting, Lisa came over to me and said, ‘Is John Travolta the funniest person on the face of the earth?'”
The premiere was attended by the cast, which included Ed O’Neill, Michael Rapaport, Tim Roth, Michael Moore, Michael Weston and Daryl Mitchell. Also attending were Travolta’s wife, actress Kelly Preston, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Jackman, Gloria Stuart, Lisa Marie Presley and Lori Loughlin.
“Lucky Numbers” opens Oct. 27.
