Matt Adcock Meets John Travolta

"altogether now... he's behind you"

Everybody Be Cool this is an interview…

Matt Adcock Meets John Travolta

Cool, calm and collected – looking very good for his 51 years, in walks John Travolta and I feel slightly awed. Here he is in the flesh, the iconic dancer from Saturday Night Fever, the Grease ‘lightning’ superstar, the Pulp Fiction hitman and um, the dodgy looking alien from Battlefield Earth… Okay, apart from that last one, this guy is the last word in cool but for me his ‘coolest’ role is as Chili Palmer in Get Shorty and now back in Be Cool…

How do you see Chili Palmer?

“Chili’s a gangster, but he has an image of himself as much cooler gangster, more along the lines of James Bond. And one of my favourite screen idols was Sean Connery, in particular as Bond, so I just took that as inspiration for my own take on Chili Palmer. When Get Shorty first came out I actually got a call from Sean who said: ‘I just saw the film and I loved it.’
So, Chili is fearless and never loses his cool, he's dapper, elegant, fun, and romantic. Chili embodies all the things the Bond character does. But America has no character like Bond so I figured, why not make him the American answer to that – a kind of ‘street James Bond’?”

Chili Palmer is definitely cool but are you cool in real life?

“At home it’s hard to be ‘cool’ when my 4 year-old daughter is quick to tell me: "Oh Dad, stop it!" I wish I could be more like Chili in real life.”

I can relate, with a 4 year old at home too but what would you say is ‘cool’ for you?

“Want to know what’s cool? My planes are cool. They're in the backyard. A few days ago I kissed the kids goodbye in the pool, walked 20 steps, got in the plane and flew to London. That's cool.”

Can’t argue with that, so what was your favourite line in Be Cool?

“One of my favourite lines in the film is Cedric’s (Cedric the Entertainer who plays a rap-artist producer), he’s about to shoot somebody and he says, ‘and don’t tell me to be cool. I am cool.’ Isn’t that everything this movie is?”

How was getting down on the dance floor again with Uma Thurman?

“With this movie being set in the music industry, we couldn’t resist it. The Black Eyed Peas had done a brilliant rap version of a Joabim song called ‘Sexy’ and it was exactly what I wanted to dance to. The dance scene was always going to happen in this film, getting to dance with Uma again was a bonus!”

What about working with The Rock (who plays Elliot – a camp bodyguard / wannabe actor)?

“After listening to Elliot do his audition monologue – I can relate to how Chili reacts. I think I'm very kind to people who aren't particularly good. I feel I would have probably responded exactly like he does, being very calm and non-reactive and giving some gentle words of advice. I like the idea that Chili would sooner kick his ass than insult his talent.”

Finally – is there any chance of you doing a Grease sequel (I have to ask as my wife is a huge Grease fan)?

“Let's not go there… Grease must be left alone.”