John Travolta Interview: Night Moves

John Travolta sleeps all day, works at night -- and is one of the happiest stars around.

• Actors

A Star on the Bright Side

John Travolta is nocturnal. The star of Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Urban Cowboy and other iconic films sleeps all day, then conducts the business of his life at night. Often rising around 5 -- yes, that's 5 in the p.m. -- Travolta has a meal, spends time with his wife, actress Kelly Preston, and children, Jett, 12, and Ella Bleu, 4. Maybe a jump on the trampoline in the yard of his house, deep in Florida's horse country. Then he gets to it. Preparing for movies, his work with Scientology, the religion he adopted at age 20, or flying one of his two jets -- most of it happens after dark.

The inverted sleep cycle is part of the price he pays for fame, which came hard and fast when he was 21 and playing "Sweathog" Vinnie Barbarino on Welcome Back, Kotter. Says Travolta: "I do things at night because in the daytime I get recognized."

Maybe Ben Franklin's early-to-bed, early-to-rise advice isn't for everyone. Travolta certainly is wealthy, and at 50, he still has his strapping on-screen good looks. And while wisdom is in the eye of the beholder, in person Travolta comes across as one of the happiest, least-tortured souls around (even when he's playing tortured souls, like a heroin-addicted hit man in Pulp Fiction, for which he received an Academy Award nomination in 1994).

Part of what keeps Travolta centered, he says, is Scientology, "a set of philosophies that help you handle life." Scientology isn't something you believe in, he says, but a "workable technology" -- which perhaps appealed to the kid who has been fascinated with flying for as long as he can remember.

And then there's the freedom of the night. After dark Travolta can go to restaurants, cruise the highway in one of his vintage Ford Thunderbirds, or disembark his 707 and not be hounded by fans and curiosity seekers.

Reader's Digest met with the actor in Florida for a midnight dinner on the eve of the release of his latest movie, A Love Song for Bobby Long. We couldn't have picked a better time.

RD: I once heard you talk about the period before Pulp Fiction, when you weren't getting many roles. In response to a question about how hard that was for you, you said, "I wasn't looking at it that way. Shame on you if you let something like that stop you." Where did you get the ability to always look at the bright side?
Travolta: I am truly an optimist, but not a nutty optimist. If a person does not have legs, I'm not going to say that she can be a ballerina. But if she does have legs, and she has rhythm, I'm going to say, "You could be a ballerina." I never look at the glass half-empty. I always look at a glass half-full. That comes from my parents.

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There were only two cars at the end of my exit ramp, but no one was moving. Clearly the first driver was too timid to blend into the flow of traffic. Opportunity after opportunity passed her by, and cars piled up on the ramp. Finally, the driver moved, spurred by an exasperated motorist at the end of the line, who yelled, "The sign says yield, not surrender!"

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