The two post-‘Pulp Fiction’ roles that “verified” John Travolta’s comeback
The 1970s were a great time to be John Travolta as his career took off with iconic roles in Carrie, Grease, and Saturday Night Fever. Once the decade came to a close, however, the idol status began to decline.
The hits just weren’t rolling in like they used to, and Travolta was in danger of fading away completely. Then came a little feature called Pulp Fiction in 1994.
When Michael Madsen turned down the chance to star in Quentin Tarantino’s sophomore film, Travolta was brought in to play a character miles outside his usual repertoire. Vincent Vega was a suave, no-nonsense contract killer, part of a double act alongside Samuel L Jackson’s Jules Winnfield. The role of Vega completely restarted Travolta’s career, earning him an Oscar nomination and reminding everyone just how good he could be. It also opened doors for a number of jobs that he would have never been considered for in the past.
During an interview with CBS in 1998, Travolta was given the chance to reflect on Pulp Fiction and how much it changed his life. He talked about the two best roles he had landed as a result of the film’s success, the first being Chili Palmer in the 1995 crime comedy, Get Shorty.
“I enjoyed playing that part,” said the screen legend, noting, “After it came out, it was a confirmation of Pulp Fiction, meaning it verified that I had come back, I guess.” Get Shorty was Travolta’s next movie, directly following his work with Tarantino. Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, the story follows Palmer, a small-time mobster, after he accidentally becomes involved in Hollywood. It was a big hit, topping the US box office charts for three weeks in a row. It also landed Travolta his first ever major award, the Golden Globe for ‘Best Actor in a Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy’.
The other part Travolta singled out was one of his most recent at the time—Jack Stanton in Mike Nichols’ Primary Colors. “That, as an actor, was a great change for me,” he explained. “If you bookend Pulp Fiction or Saturday Night Fever with Primary Colors, it gives you the range of an actor”. Released in 1998, this Elaine May-penned tale closely mirrors the rise of Bill Clinton during the 1992 US Presidential campaign. Adrian Lester plays Henry Burton, a gifted but naïve political advisor, brought onto the campaign team of Governor Stanton, whose wandering eyes and hands place his chances of triumphing in serious jeopardy.
These two roles are just a number of big hitters Travolta secured in his post-Vega years, which included Face/Off, The Thin Red Line, Phenomenon, and Broken Arrow. Even total trash like Swordfish or The General’s Daughter still had good showings at the box office. Additionally, he did do Battlefield Earth, but that’s a story for another time.
Nowadays, the actor occupies a very strange place in the public consciousness. He hasn’t made a decent movie in years, but a combination of nostalgia for his best stuff and sympathy towards his turbulent family life has granted him a sort of elder statesman role. None of this would have been possible without Pulp Fiction and the second wind it gave him. He should be grateful that Tarantino rejected Harvey Weinstein’s suggestion that Daniel Day-Lewis play Vega instead: what a world that would have been.
