John Travolta touched down at Cannes with his directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, at the Cannes Film Festival, where he was given the honorary Palme d’Or.
Festival head Thierry Frémaux gave Travolta the honor. “You said this would be a special night, but I didn’t think you meant this. This is a humbling moment,” said Travolta. “This is beyond the Oscar.”
The film, which is set to debut on Apple on May 29, is based on Travolta’s book of the same name and follows a young aviation enthusiast, Jeff, and his mother as they embark on a cross-country flight to Hollywood.
“When John came to us in the fall, he was very humble and shy with the idea of showing the film as an official selec[tion],” said Frémaux, revealing that Propeller was the first film chosen for the 79th edition of the French festival and calling Travolta “one of the greatest artists of the 20th and 21st century.”
“When you told me this would be the earliest film accepted, I cried,” said Travolta. Frémaux joked, “I was afraid Berlin could have stolen the film.”
Prior to the screening, Travolta called the film, “the most personal thing I’ve ever done.”
He also joked about the influence that past Palme d’Or winners had on Propeller.
“My favorite movies in my life have always been the winners of the Palme d’Or … and you’ll see them all demonstrated in this movie,” he said, laughing at the end of his remarks.
The Travolta-starring Pulp Fiction from director Quentin Tarantino premiered at Cannes, going on to win the Palme d’Or. Grease and Saturday Night Fever both played as Cannes beach screenings, while 1998 drama Primary Colors played out of competition and 1997 thriller She’s So Lovely played in competition.
Ella Bleu Travolta, who appears in the film as a flight attendant, was on hand for the screening at the Debussy Theater. Clark Shotwell, Kelly Eviston-Quinnett and Olga Hoffmann also star in Propeller. After the screening, John Travolta thanked Prince Albert II of Monaco for being at the premiere.
Speaking about how the film might resonate with audiences, John Travolta said, “there was an era where architecture, aviation, automobiles, clothing, style had a lot of hope and adventure and you looked forward to what was next. I think to some degree this is missing today, where young people miss this romance of having hope. Maybe it’s just a gentle reminder or could be.”
Travolta, who produced, financed, narrated, directed and wrote the movie, told the audience, “Other people wanted to produce it and direct it. But it was so personal. I don’t know if they could capture it. I just wanted to, at the end of my chapters in my life, give a reflection of where it started for me.”
When asked if he would direct again, Travolta said, “For 55 years, I have watched people do it well. I have watched people do it not so well. I’ve watched mistakes, and I really believe that I can navigate around all of that, but I really feel I would have to have passion about the material.”
The Cannes audience gave Travolta a warm welcome, clapping multiple times during the screening and giving him a standing ovation. Said Travolta, “What a night for me, thank you all for being here and for witnessing my directorial debut.”
Looking back at his career through a clip reel before his Palme d’Or presentation, Travolta said he was “very emotional.”
“You feel a mixture of things because every image has a memory,” he added. “It’s wild but it’s my life. I’ve been doing film most of my life.”
Watch Travolta receive his honorary Palme d’Or in the video below.
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