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RD: You've been a pilot as long as you've been an actor. You've got two movies coming up, A Love Song for Bobby Long, and Be Cool, the sequel to Get Shorty.Travolta: Be Cool is a pure entertainment piece -- me, with Uma Thurman. A Love Song for Bobby Long has a whole other thing going for it.
RD: Yes -- you play a tragic figure in Bobby Long, a college English professor with a drinking problem. What was that like?
Travolta: I knew I could play him because I lived through theater for 20 years -- a lot of drinkers and pontifications, nights of suffering through mean-spirited and then very beautiful things. I suffered through people like Bobby Long. And I felt, "One day, I'll be able to portray that. And it'll be cathartic."
RD: You play guitar and sing a little in the film. You've released albums, and obviously, you sang in Grease. Do you sing at home?
Travolta: My son likes to hear me sing more than my daughter does, because she gets reminded that I'm Danny Zuko in Grease, and that freaks her out.
RD: You dyed your hair white for Bobby Long, who must be the oldest character you've played. Do you worry about getting older?
Travolta: On the screen, I don't. But do I examine that I maybe have 25 to 35 years left? I have children. I'd like to live forever, and see them fully married, have their own children, be happy.
RD: Some people look forward to their kids getting older and being done with that part of their life.
Travolta: Oh, I can't imagine that. I would like to have my kids live with me and have their kids in my house. I'm the grandfather, and we're all together still. I think there is something wrong with the belief that everyone's got to individuate.
RD: When you were growing up, were your grandparents around?
Travolta: My mom had me at 42, so I wasn't around to know my grandparents. But I would have gladly had my mother and father live with me. There's a joy to keeping the family lifeline close. But they wanted to be modern and never burden us.
RD: Your fans think of you as one of Hollywood's nice guys. Why is that?
Travolta: When I was 18, I was doing a Broadway show. I wanted to meet this big star who will remain nameless. When the star met me, the star was appalled that I had interrupted the conversation. I thought, That's right; I was ill-mannered. Nevertheless, I was impacted so deeply that I made a decision: I thought, I don't ever want to have the effect on a person that this person had on me, where I was just blown away by disappointment. It took a few years to get over it.
RD: But you didn't do anything wrong.
Travolta: I always have felt better when I think of what I did to contribute to a situation. Okay, you didn't get that job. Well, you could have been better prepared.
RD: Taking personal responsibility rather than blaming people.
Travolta: When something goes wrong, if you can find any little bit you could be responsible for, it automatically flips it around to where you are in control again. Something bad happens to me, and I go, "I don't like that this happened, but how can I fix it so it doesn't happen again?" It doesn't mean I don't suffer sometimes. But you can turn things around.
RD: Do you feel like you've made a difference in your career -- like the inverse of the way that star treated you all those years ago?
Travolta: I hope so. One thing I do is work with Make-A-Wish. If an ill child's one wish is to see a celebrity and he picks me, then I make time to see him. But I have to be very careful with these kids, because if you get too attached, you're just setting yourself up for loss.
There was one girl who had cancer. She was only seven when I met her, and she didn't look like she was going to make it. But I'm at the airport the other night in L.A., and this beautiful 19-year-old girl comes up and says, "Do you remember me? I was the Make-A-Wish girl." And she took a picture out of her with a bald head and wearing a scarf. "After that visit with you," she said, "I just decided, I ain't going anywhere. Thank you for giving me the inspiration to stick around."
At age 50, you have to feel you're contributing to something. If you don't, I think you die a little bit.
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