Travolta on E! "Celebrity Oops"
Hud Nordin
Biggest Celebrity Oops' (December 7-11, 10 PM). I saw pictures of John
Travolta, and a voice-over commentator saying something like, "When
I went to see 'Battlefield Earth' I sat in the middle of an empty
theater..."
(We'll see where he ranks. If the web rankings at
<http://www.eonline.com/On/Rank/Shows/CelebOops/index.html> are any
indication, though, he didn't even make the top 20.)
Congratulations, John Travolta!
Congratulations, Scientology!
Congratulations, L. Ron Hubbard!
===
E! News <http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,6454,00.html>
May 12, 2000, review excerpt:
Of course, any controversy might be moot considering the film's
notices (some of the worst since, say, Ishtar) might keep even the
most devout Scientologist at home.
"A million monkeys with a million crayons would be hard-pressed in a
million years to create anything as cretinous as Battlefield Earth,"
snipes Rita Kempley of the Washington Post.
"Contrary to prior evidence, it is possible to make a popcorn pic
too dumb for the peanut gallery...haplessly cliched dialogue,
cardboard characters and dunderheaded plot logic." Variety
"The second, and hopefully last, of John Travolta's Scientology
movies, Battlefield Earth, like Phenomenon, is religious propaganda
masquerading as sci-fi fun...The dialogue is inane, the acting
wooden, and Roger Christian's directing choices are a lesson in
sci-fi film cliche." Newsweek
"Sitting through it is like watching the most expensively mounted
high school play of all time...Plan Nine from Outer Space for a new
generation." New York Times
"Travolta's intergalactic stinkaroo...is nowhere near a great movie.
In fact, it's a pretty gruesome mess." Mr. Showbiz, in a zero-star
review
"A bloated sci-fi monstrosity...we are now spared the sleepless
nights of wondering which gobbler will dominate the next Razzie
Awards for worst turkey of the year." Toronto Star
"The more I think about it, the more I suspect that Battlefield
Earth was directed by a software program that absorbed and
reprocessed the standard sci-fi elements of the past 30 years."
Salon.
"Earth is one of the darkest, ugliest, most uninvolving and
incomprehensible major-studio fantasies I've ever seen. In it,
Travolta...delivers a stupefyingly bad performance." New York Daily
News, in another zero-stars review.
"[The script is] deeply dumb, depressingly derivative." USA Today
"In the post-apocalyptic adventure genre, Battlefield Earth makes
Waterworld look like a masterpiece." Los Angeles Times
===
Oops, John Travolta,
'Battlefield Earth' was a bomb.
What were you thinking?
--
Hud Nordin <h...@pobox.com> Silicon Valley
Hud Nordin
>I just caught a promo for the upcoming E! cable channel series '101
>Biggest Celebrity Oops' (December 7-11, 10 PM). I saw pictures of John
>Travolta, and a voice-over commentator saying something like, "When
>I went to see 'Battlefield Earth' I sat in the middle of an empty
>theater..."
>
>(We'll see where he ranks. If the web rankings at
><http://www.eonline.com/On/Rank/Shows/CelebOops/index.html> are any
>indication, though, he didn't even make the top 20.)
>
>Congratulations, John Travolta!
>Congratulations, Scientology!
>Congratulations, L. Ron Hubbard!
Aw, poor John Travolta only reached number 94 on the list of E!'s "101
Biggest Celebrity Oops" for his role in the Hubbard-inspired box-office
disaster "Battlefield Earth", according to:
<http://www.eonline.com/On/101/BiggestCelebrityOops/TheCompleteList/index.html>
However, I caught part of the final episode, the top 21, and he got
mentioned a second time, as part of a group effort. I didn't catch the
ranking, but it was probably number 9 (Yes, More Celebrity Rejections).
This greatest Travolta oops was not taking the lead role in the hit
movie "Chicago". Instead Richard Gere got the gig, and went on to win an
Oscar.
What was the reason given for Travolta not taking the dream job when it
was offered? He was tied up doing "Battlefield Earth"!
No wonder he hates Scientology.
Ted Mayett
>This greatest Travolta oops was not taking the lead role in the hit
>movie "Chicago". Instead Richard Gere got the gig, and went on to win an
>Oscar.
>
For anyone who has not seen it, Chicago is quite delicious.
l.l.lipshitz
Ted Mayett <tedm...@despammed.com> wrote:
| On 12 Dec 2003 02:16:10 -0800, h...@pobox.com (Hud Nordin) wrote:
|
|
| >This greatest Travolta oops was not taking the lead role in the hit
| >movie "Chicago". Instead Richard Gere got the gig, and went on to win an
| >Oscar.
i don't think gere won, or was even nominated. i seem
to remember that was a bit of controversy.
i generally like john travolta but i'm glad he turned
down this role. he just wasn't right, and richard gere
was perfectly wonderful.
| For anyone who has not seen it, Chicago is quite delicious.
highly recommended.
-elle
---------=[ l.l.lipshitz * elkube-at-hypercon-net ]=--------
mona [lipshitz]: I loved Al Lipshitz more than I could
say. He was a real artistic type, a painter. He was
always trying to find himself. He'd go out every night
looking for himself. And on the way, he found Ruth.
Gladys. Rosemary. And Irving. I guess you could say we
broke up because of artistic differences. He saw
himself as alive. And I saw him dead!
Hud Nordin
l.l.lipshitz <elk...@REMOVETHIShypercon.net> wrote:
>In article <e22otvsj4h6kn09n9...@4ax.com>,
> Ted Mayett <tedm...@despammed.com> wrote:
> | On 12 Dec 2003 02:16:10 -0800, h...@pobox.com (Hud Nordin) wrote:
> | >This greatest Travolta oops was not taking the lead role in the hit
> | >movie "Chicago". Instead Richard Gere got the gig, and went on to win an
> | >Oscar.
> i don't think gere won, or was even nominated. i seem
> to remember that was a bit of controversy.
Right. I must have heard it wrong. It didn't have my full attention.
"Chicago" got the Oscar and Gere got a Golden Globe nomination.
Still, it sure was a big mistake on Travolta's part, as E! had it, to be
doing "Battlefield Earth" instead of "Chicago" -- if his being offered
"Chicago" actually happened and wasn't a bit of phony Hollywood PR meant
to prop up Travolta's foundering career.
When asked about it in a recent interview Travolta smarted, "You're
rubbing salt in my wounds! I'm still angry with myself that I turned
down the role of the lawyer in Chicago that Richard Gere then got."
I say he pulled it in.