BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., May 10, 2000 — Who would have guessed that John Travolta is a big science fiction fan, what with his film work running the gamut from “Grease” to “Look Who’s Talking” to “Pulp Fiction.” Yet, here he is, one of the most powerful actors in Hollywood, using his leverage to bring one of his favorite sci-fi stories to the screen.
Whatever the critics may say about “Battlefield Earth” (opening May 12), Travolta considers it a victory that the film was merely made. After all, he’s been trying for more than 15 years (he first read the L. Ron Hubbard novel on which it’s based in 1982), and struggled through an on-again, off-again series of production deals and screenplay drafts.
Now, Travolta beams with pride over the finished film, which he co-produced and stars in, likening it to a classic-style B-movie that’s meant to be fun and fast-paced. Heck, it took so long to get the film done that Travolta decided he was getting too old to play the hero; thus, the role of Jonnie Goodboy Tyler went to Barry Pepper (of “Saving Private Ryan” and other films), and Travolta cast himself as the evil alien warlord Terl instead.
“I don’t think this is the kind of movie that critics necessarily take to,” Travolta says while promoting the film at a media junket. “There’s nothing heady or intellectual about it. It’s meant to be fun, and I think it is a lot of fun.”
If a B-movie is what Travolta wanted, he certainly picked an appropriate director. Roger Christian, whose varied credits include second-unit directorial work on the original “Star Wars” and “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” (and who was recommended to Travolta by George Lucas), had previously directed a variety of low-budget actioners like “Masterminds” with Patrick Stewart, “Underworld” with Denis Leary and Joe Mantegna, and “Nostradamus” with F. Murray Abraham and Rutger Hauer. Christian’s dollar-stretching skills came in handy when making “Battlefield,” which is packed with digital effects yet cost a (relatively) low $50 million.
“The film is set on an Earth no one has seen before,” Christian says. “Though the story takes placed a thousand years into the future, it’s not the traditional futuristic world. It’s a primitive world, as if the Earth of three or four hundred years ago had been frozen in time by an alien occupation. The cities have crumbled and the people have gone back to primitive hunting for survival.”
Christian, renown in sci-fi circles, also brought a measure of clout that attracted a few genre talents accustomed to working on productions with healthier budgets. First and foremost was Patrick Tatopoulos, the famed creature effects designer on both “Independence Day” and “Godzilla,” who created the alien costumes, creatures and production design; due to slow financing, Tatopoulos had to spend his own money during the pre-production phase, and was later reimbursed once the money came through.
[PAGEBREAK]
“Suddenly, from out of the woodwork, came so many people who were super-important, especially in the science fiction genre,” Travolta says. “Patrick wanted to do the movie, so we have two of the top science fiction professionals on our team. Then we get the top model builder that did all the ‘Star Wars’ models [Bill Pearson], wanting, to work with Roger again. So, now we have three of the best in the business. We were really on a roll.”
In addition to an abundance of CGI effects, which were used to create cityscapes of a futuristic, Psychlo-colonized Denver, the production involved the construction of elaborate sets and stages, much of which were built in oversized scale to fit the oversize Psychlos, who stand 8-feet, 6-inches tall. There was a nearly 100-foot-high model of the Mark II, the Psychlo flying ship, and more than 60 miniature buildings were constructed for those shots of the Capitol building and other familiar urban structures (which, in the film, are overgrown with weeds, and long abandoned since the downfall of mankind).
Travolta‘s contribution to the effects work was twofold: He helped Christian and Tatopoulos create the design of the Psycho aliens, and he underwent an arduous, four-hour daily routine in which his makeup, wig, costume and platform shoes were applied, transforming him into the wicked Terl. “John never once complained. He was a total professional – he came out of four hours of makeup and was ready to work, every day,” director Christian says.
Meanwhile, co-star Forest Whitaker, who plays Travolta‘s sidekick and comic foil, Ker, came up with a shortcut that reduced his time in the makeup chair by several hours daily. “I came up with a way to attach and remove it with velcro,” Whitaker says, indicating his dreadlocked Psychlo hairpiece. “When John saw that, he got upset, because he was still taking four hours (laughs).”
And while Travolta‘s fans are getting used to seeing him in a sci-fi universe, they’ll also have to accept him portraying a different kind of villain than they’ve seen before. Although Travolta‘s been quoted as saying he considers “Battlefield Earth” a sci-fi take on “Pulp Fiction,” there’s really not much correlation between the two films. Terl is more of a goofy villain than Travolta has played in the past, a cartoony oaf whose wits don’t equal his physical girth.
“There is no gray area with him,” Travolta says. “This is a very black-and-white situation and Terl is definitely the villain. On the Psychlo planet, evil is admired, betrayal is admired, blackmail is admired. Terl’s whole moral code is something that is directly opposed to that of your average good guy. It’s almost fascinating because it’s so wicked.”
