PROPELLER ONE-WAY NIGHT COACH
World premiere for Propeller one-way night coach… And Travolta receives an honorary Palme d’or
On May 15th, in the Debussy theatre, John Travolta received a surprise honorary Palme d’or before opening the world premiere of Propeller One-Way Night Coach (Vol de nuit pour Los Angeles), his first film behind the camera, presented at Cannes Première. He describes the work as “the most personal of his life“, celebrating the “art of the sky,” which this pilot — with his 9,000 flight hours — has mastered to the same degree as cinema.
In 1962, an eight-year-old boy climbs aboard the TWA Constellation on the East Coast of the United States. Flight 393’s propeller plane takes off on a multi-stop journey. The boy’s mother, an actress, might land a role in Hollywood, and they are headed for Los Angeles. This journey is that of Jeff, representing young John Travolta, who as a boy would stand in his yard watching the planes take off from La Guardia; an adventure from a child’s perspective, which will shape the rest of his life.
Present in the Debussy theatre are John Travolta’s loved ones, among them his daughter, Ella Bleu, who is perfect in the role of air hostess Doris, young Jeff’s first crush. “My family is the reason I exist as an artist and as a person.” John Travolta is the director, screenwriter and producer of his film, and he has surrounded himself with what is dearest to him. The character of Jeff’s mother is a composite of his own mother and sister. “They influenced me so deeply, they were responsible for all my hopes, all my dreams, and they watched me fulfill them.” The Travolta name rolls by in the credits like a family gathered around a photo album: the grandmother, the hot dog vendor, the air hostess… A mere spectator of life, “an observer since childhood of faces, voices, of the emotions people are experiencing,” his film is, he says, nothing more than these observations set to music.
Propeller One-Way Night Coach, adapted from an illustrated children’s book he wrote for his son in 1997, is the most personal film he has ever made. “It’s a glimpse of what I was like as a child. It was a romantic time when architecture, aviation, and the automotive industry all offered a lot of hope. We wanted to know what the next step would be. That’s missing today; young people sometimes don’t have much hope, and this film is a gentle reminder of that.”
On May 15th, at the world premiere of the film in the Debussy theatre, Thierry Frémaux handed him a surprise honorary Palme d’or. “This is beyond the Oscar,” noted John Travolta as he received the award with emotion.
