Like Travolta, he came from a theatrical family. Legendary casting director Shirley Rich told her, “Donna. In May 2010, nearly 16 months after their son's death, the couple announced that they were expecting another child. And so the Teamsters used to pick me up. He doesn’t have any class.’”, “I’m not that good a dancer,” Travolta told Hyland. Physically, I was weak when I started. McCormick says, “Robert walked in and said, ‘John, there’s good news and bad news. The film reportedly had a production budget of $6 million yet eventually earned almost $400 million at the global box office, becoming the top-grossing live-action movie musical of all time. By the end of the 1980s, despite a brief comeback with the Look Who's Talking series, featuring Kirstie Alley, Travolta's lackluster films landed him in the has-been actor category. The blockbuster film has since become a classic that will get the feet moving, even decades after its release. “They were touring Malaysia and Venezuela, the two places where they were still popular. “We just played basketball together and did that scene where we’re making fun of the gay guys,” Pape says. For his reunion with the musical, Travolta took on the lead role of cool guy Danny opposite suffering love interest Sandy, as played by Olivia Newton-John. I remember not being able to answer the phone, and I remember people climbing over my walls. “Now what do we do?” McCormick asked Stigwood. (It’s now valued at $l00,000 and has ended up in the Smithsonian Institution. Tony's older brother, Frank Jr., who was the pride of the family since he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest, brings despair to their parents and grandmother when he tells them he quit the priesthood. Before he was spotted, he watched the Faces—the cool, aggressive dancers Cohn had based his article on—concentrating on every detail of their behavior. Robert Stigwood, the 42-year-old Australian impresario known as “the Daryl Zanuck of pop,” was out of his mind. He struts like crazy. “They don’t do magazine articles.” But while McCormick was packing to return to New York, the phone rang, and it was the agent saying, “Kid, you’re in luck. It’s a touching and comic role—at one point, while showing off her erudition in her Brooklyn accent, she insists that Romeo and Juliet was written by Zefferelli. Travolta nonetheless persevered and returned with 2001’s Swordfish, an unevenly rendered cyber thriller that co-starred Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman and Don Cheadle. On an icy winter night in 1975, Cohn had made his first trip to Bay Ridge with a disco dancer called Tu Sweet, who would serve as his Virgil. Only Stigwood knew it was going to be something big. Certain crew members felt she was too old for the part, and that her dancing wasn’t up to par. With the help of wigs, makeup and costumes, Travolta convincingly transformed himself into a large, vivacious woman, showing off his vocal abilities once again and earning another Golden Globe nomination. I became almost a victim of my own success. A botched burglary attempt further clouds one of the earliest kidnap-for-ransom cases. © 2020 Condé Nast. Move back home, hang out with your parents. They were a mess. It is among the longest cuts of the film. [Alvin Ailey star] Judith Jamison we talked to for a while. I couldn’t get up early enough, and I couldn’t wait to see the dailies every night. I had to be Joey,” he later said. Pape admits how difficult it was to film that scene. It was just weird. We had one or two stages that were decent. The following year, he played the lead in the critically acclaimed TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. This disc includes both the director's cut and the original theatrical version, as well as the bulk of the bonus features from the prior release. He looked, in short, like a star,” recalled Cohn. But whatever its other cinematic merits, even the film’s strongest proponents would agree that it was the pulsing disco soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever that made it a work of lasting historical significance. He gives the Puerto Rican couple his trophy and award money, and leaves with Stephanie. Travolta, who thought they were just “doing a little art film in Brooklyn,” was stunned. The determined, troubled Stephanie … is an updated version of those working girls that Ginger Rogers used to play.” Her toughness, her ambition—even her comic cluelessness—contribute to the authenticity of the film. After that, she “spent years waiting for a film part to come through. La dernière modification de cette page a été faite le 5 octobre 2020 à 17:09. Ano ang Imahinasyong guhit na naghahati sa daigdig sa magkaibang araw? All that was improvised—it wasn’t planned. "[19] Siskel even bought Travolta's famous white suit from the film at a charity auction. But regardless of what you think, respect it. Earlier that day, he killed his mother at the home they shared. So we had to shut down for a couple of hours while we just regrouped and tried to figure out a way to make it work. This was important to them. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. A personal tragedy was unfolding for Travolta, however: Diana Hyland’s struggle with breast cancer. Stigwood gave Travolta license to re-edit the scene, over Badham’s objections. He’s depressed because his girlfriend is pregnant and he knows he has to marry her, ending his carefree days as one of Tony’s entourage. Paul Pape, who played Double J, the most aggressive member of Tony Manero’s entourage, says, “Deney Terio did show John the moves, and I give him credit for that. The poor thing was suffering so, and that kiss was totally spontaneous. But he had one flaw: he had a bad temper. With John Travolta, Karen Lynn Gorney, Barry Miller, Joseph Cali. There was one brother-and-sister team that was very good. Saturday Night Fever (1977) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Travolta made many trips from New York to Los Angeles to be with her through her illness, so he was in a state of constant jet lag and distress. He made his debut in an off-Broadway production of Rain (1972) and then joined the Broadway cast of Grease as a replacement cast member in the role of Doody. Remember, all those people in the show are extras. It aired November 12, l976, and his co-star was Diana Hyland, who played his mother. I felt like I was trying to dance with a wild stallion—he was that strong.”, An actress and dancer who was well known at the time as Tara Martin Tyler Brent Jefferson on ABC’s endlessly running soap opera All My Children, Gorney landed the part after sharing a cab with Stigwood’s nephew. He had just jumped from—or been pushed out of—directing The Wiz, because he objected to 33-year-old Diana Ross being cast as Dorothy. What Brando and James Dean had been to the l950s, Travolta was to the l970s. In Los Angeles, Stigwood’s assistant, Kevin McCormick, a brilliant, lean 23-year-old from New Jersey, went from office to office looking for one. In tribute, the following are 20 lesser-known facts about the epic film. His mother was an actress and his sister, Mary, had played Scout, Atticus Finch’s daughter, in To Kill a Mockingbird. [citation needed]. It doesn't have the power, or the impact, of the original, R-rated edition. You see them dancing next to Travolta and Donna Pescow [who played Annette]. of his own production company, Red Wall Productions. “Three months and 30 years, and it’s not over yet. They were really good dancers.”, There were no special effects in Saturday Night Fever, except for the smoke rising from the dance floor. Turner Classic Movies has aired the film in both versions (the R-rated version is commonly seen on their normal lineup, while the PG version has appeared on TCM's "Funday Night at the Movies" and "Essentials Jr." program blocks.). The film Saturday Night Fever was released 40 years ago this week, and soon became one of the biggest dance movies of all time. While it seemed Travolta could do no wrong with his run of TV and film successes, the actor saw his star power wane with forthcoming projects. Gorney has appeared in dozens of independent films since Saturday Night Fever. Meanwhile, Bobby C. has been trying to get out of his relationship with his devout Catholic girlfriend, Pauline, who is pregnant with his child. The audience for Grease was massive. He was the presiding spirit of the movie. How long will the footprints on the moon last? "[16] At Metacritic the film has a score of 77 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". He was financing it himself with his new partners, for two and a half million dollars. We were making this low-budget movie out of l35 Central Park West—we literally put together the soundtrack in Stigwood’s living room.”. He apologizes for his bad behavior, telling her that he plans to relocate from Brooklyn to Manhattan to try and start a new life. What part of Brooklyn are you from?’ It was a crush of affirmation.”, The film was, finally, so authentic, Karen Lynn Gorney believes, that it was more of a documentary. Letting off steam at the end of the shoot, Travolta and members of the crew filmed a mock wedding at the disco—for laughs—with John dressed as the bride and one of the grips appearing as the groom. I did the best acting of my life in front of him.” She landed the part of Stephanie, a Brooklyn climber who has already made the big move to “the city” and is hell-bent on self-improvement—taking college courses and drinking tea with lemon.