[IMG:L]From his classic hip-swiveling in Grease and the disco dynamics of Saturday Night Fever to his more modern boogies in Pulp Fiction and Be Cool, moviegoers have never tired of watching John Travolta’s dance moves on the big screen.
But are we ready to watch him cut a rug in support hose, sensible shoes and a beauty parlor bouffant?
Travolta certainly thinks so, jumping gleefully into wig, makeup, ‘60s hausfrau mumus and padding – lots and lots of padding – for the iconic role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray. The filmed version of the smash Broadway musical (which in turn was inspired by snarky campmeister John Waters’ cult classic movie) in which Tracy Turnblad (Niki Blonsky), a bubbly, big and beautiful teen who gets a shot at local fame on a Baltimore dance show.
Tracy’s inspirational triumph inspires mom Edna to come out of her shell – and the role of Edna clearly inspired Travolta to come out of his as well. The actor tells Hollywood.com about embracing the female within, the permissive pleasure of letting people cop feels, and channeling a rock and roll goddess for Edna’s ultimate movie moment.
Hollywood.com: How much fun did you have playing this enormous, energetic woman?
John Travolta: Well, they let me play it. That was the difference between it being delightful or not fun to play. But they allowed me to play that Baltimore accent, they allowed me to make her curvaceous and more woman-like. Then, when I can do that, I was all over it. I didn’t know how to play a man in a dress. That’s more Vaudeville. It works. It’s fun, but for me, I like going all the way with it.
HW: What was the toughest part about playing that character?
JT: There’s an added level of weight to carry around, but more than that it was very hot inside. Martin Lawrence had warned me that it was not going to be easy and others had warned me it was not going to be easy. So I was sweating a lot. A lot of air needed. High heels were difficult to dance in, but I committed, too.
[IMG:R]HW: You have a pivotal musical scene in this film, “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” that will be on your career highlight reel forever.
JT: It was my homage to Tina Turner. In the play, the character doesn’t really dance, and doesn’t really sing too much, either. Because they hired me, they wanted me to do both those things. I said, “Yeah, but that number, it’s got to be different than just Grandma coming out doing it.” They said, “Well, like what?” I said, “Tina Turner. She really kicks ass at the end in ‘I Am Woman.’” In that shimmering dress and [I wanted to] really attack that. And they said okay.
HW: With this movie’s social message, and even looking back at Welcome Back, Kotter, is it satisfying to be involved in so many projects that can promote positive change?
JT: It is…I witnessed with my own eyes the ’60s and the ’70s and all the decades since and seen the progress. We have made some progress. I think you can’t take your eyes off it because there’s always more progress to be made, but I am proud of the fact that I can be part of several movies that have messages deeper than just entertainment value. And yet, some of them more lighthearted, where you gracefully allow an audience to interpret, so they go home with what they want to go home with. It’s a tricky thing. You don’t want to hit it over the head but you want to get the message out. You want to do it with some grace.
HW: Were the ’60s a better time?
JT: Well, yes and no. Yes, in that there’s never a more exciting decade in change. I mean, big changes were made – remarkable changes, but [also] a lot of suffering happened that is still happening in parts of the world that I wouldn’t want to repeat. We’ve come through big movements. Racism, The women’s movement. Of course the only thing that seems to repeat itself more than ever is war, which is not a good thing. I like the boldness of the ’60s, but I like the progress we’ve made since then in that life is a lot easier on all of us. So it’s a mixed feeling I have about it. But the fashion and the dance and the music – the Motown sound being introduced, those designers like Mary Kwan, Eve St. Laurent, all of that excitement. There’s never a more exciting decade as far as progress and movement, going to the moon. The positive aspects of the ’60s were unbeatable, but the negatives were scary too.
HW: Previously, you turned down Chicago. What made you decide that Hairspray was the musical for you to do?
JT: Well, we made a mistake with Chicago, because Chicago was presented to me three times but nobody did the explaining of what the movie was going to [be]. As a stage show, I said, “I don’t think it’s going to work.” But the concept of the movie was so much different, bigger and better, that if I had heard those, [I could have been] convinced, but no one was convincing me. They were just offering it. They kept re-offering it, re-offering it. But that wasn’t enough. So when Hairspray came around, they did the same thing but they said, “We’re not going to let you get away this time without meeting. We’re going to have lots of meetings on it.” I said, “Okay. I have to trust you because I made a mistake last time. Let’s have the meetings.” So for a year and two months we had meetings.
HW: After all that time, what was the main thing that sold you?
JT: Well, after several times of asking what the vision was, the steadfast answers were being said, and who they were hiring to get to do certain things. Wardrobe, sets, the actors they had in mind for each of these parts. I said, “Okay, They’re going for an A+ attack on this.” Then most importantly for me it was “Am I going to be free to interpret this role the way I see it, or do I have to stick with a drag queen concept?” Because that’s not interesting to me. It’s been done a lot on screen, and I would have more fun really trying to fool you, make you believe I was a woman than not. So those things allowed me to do it.
[IMG:L]HW: What was it like having Christopher Walken as your husband?
JT: We both have a Broadway pedigree history. Summer theater, Broadway. We’re both very comfortable with the genre. Musical is a genre that takes a special thinking as to own the zone. I was brought up with it so it was very natural to me to believe a musical reality. And I knew it would be for Chris because he came from that. So I wasn’t going to worry about, “Oh, I gotta convince an actor who’s never done a musical that it’s make believe and you just talk and then you sing and everybody is happy about it.” If you don’t commit to that zone of performance, it doesn’t work. I knew, I said, “Chris is the number one choice because he knows that zone. He did that for a living.” It’s a perspective. It’s a point of view.
HW: Did playing a woman change your perspective on women?
JT: Yes. I realize the power a woman has, because I was not a woman but I just had the illusion of a woman and yet I was treated differently. I was treated with a lot of flirtation. I was treated with a lot of added courtesies. I was treated with flirtation in a way that was like, “How you doing, Edna?” “I’m okay, how are you?” I didn’t know how to respond to those things. A lot of groping. And I used to think: pregnant women – everyone feels the right to just dive into, have to hold that stomach or their breasts and I’m thinking, “Well, why because you’re pregnant does somebody have the right to do that?” Where everyone felt the right to feel my breasts and my bottom. I must have been a slut because I was just there going, “Oh, okay, feel.” The women’s movement would have hated me. I was just, “Here – go, do whatever you want.” It was a definite appreciation of seeing what a woman must feel like having that kind of attention from everyone, male and female, that is a little different from what a man gets.
