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From Paris with Love/ Èç Ïàðèæà ñ ëþáîâüþ
Âåëüâåò: When he donned a wig and a dress, John Travolta made our Lame in 2007 list for his work in Hairspray. But now he's taking a decidedly different look for his work -- baldness! Above is a peek at Travolta, from ExtraTV, on the set of his new movie -- From Paris with Love, which is shooting in (surprise, surprise) France. The film, co-written by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak, stars Travolta as an American spy, while Jonathan Rhys Meyers co-stars as an embassy employee. Travolta doesn't look too bad with a bald noggin, and now I've got visions of the actor teaming up with Bruce Willis for a baldie buddy cop film. But back to the film -- there's just as much drama off-screen as there is on. Earlier this month, production was postponed after arson attacks. The film was set to shoot in one of Paris' suburbs, but then 10 stunt cars were set on fire "during a night-time rampage." It looks like things are back on, and hopefully will continue safely. The film is set to hit theaters next year. http://www.cinematical.com/2008/10/28/john-travolta-loses-his-hair-for-paris/
Âåëüâåò: Sometimes it's good not to be king — at least for Jonathan Rhys Meyers in "From Paris With Love." In the action film, which opens today, the Irish actor plays an aide to the U.S. ambassador in the City of Light who also happens to be a low-level CIA operative. Yearning for a bigger assignment, Rhys Meyers' James Reece is paired with wild man Charlie Wax, an agency veteran played with panache - bald head, earrings, scarves, leather jackets and parachute pants - by John Travolta. Directed by Pierre Morel, who helmed last year's hit "Taken," from an idea by producer-director Luc Besson ("La Femme Nikita," "The Fifth Element"), "From Paris With Love" doesn't try to disguise its intensions. "We didn't try to make `Body of Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII in "The Tudors" Lies' or anything like that even though it touches on drugs and terrorism," says Rhys Meyers, referring to the Ridley Scott film about the Middle East. "If people are walking in the theater hoping to see a serious drama about terrorism, they are going to be disappointed. It's a commercial movie ... a generic buddy movie." But generic doesn't mean it's dull. "It looks like a lot of fun on camera, but to get that it requires a lot of hard work," Rhys Meyers says. "In a movie like this, which has to be 95 minutes of quick-paced action, you don't really have time to teach people the job." Which was why the 32-year-old actor enjoyed working with 55-year-old Travolta, who while not having to dance in this film, still made some nifty action moves. "It's really easy to talk nicely about him because he really is a nice guy," Rhys Meyers says. "As an actor, he not only brings his own charisma but tons of experience to the set." Travolta being there also helped out the Irishman with his American accent even though the actor's done one before, most notably in the 2005 miniseries "Elvis." "I certainly wasn't playing a character from Tupelo, Mississippi," says Rhys Meyers, who is known for playing another king, Henry VIII, in Showtime's "The Tudors." "It certainly helped having John with me because when you're in Paris you can't use the French crew as reference." Morel, who is a fan of "The Tudors," says that even though Rhys Meyers wasn't American, "We thought he'd play well as a straight, everything-by-the-book, still-naive guy." Rhys Meyers says he mainly wanted to do the film because it's an action role, which he normally doesn't get to do, and because he gets to play "the naive guy." "In most of my other roles - as Henry, or in `Match Point' or even as Elvis - I'm the manipulator. Here, I'm the manipulated." Another attraction was that Paris was just "a hop, skip and jump" from where the actor lives in London. But Morel tried to give the city a different look than is usually seen in films - an "exoticism," as Rhys Meyers calls it. "Because I live in Paris, I don't see it as tourists do - a postcard point of view," says the 45-year-old director. "When I go to Los Angeles, I only see the sunshine, but people who live there see it differently. Because people expect a romantic Paris, we showed one that's not clean, not that much fun, not that romantic at all." Generating excitement among sci-fi fans, Morel is attached to write and direct a new version of the classic "Dune." Though in the early stages, you can expect the action director to take a different path on the Frank Herbert novel than David Lynch did in his 1984 film. "I'm a huge fan of `Dune.' I read it as a teenager, and I've been living with it for over 30 years now. So I'm passionate about that. I'm going to try to give it a new approach, but a very faithful-to-the-book approach." And although known for slam-bang movies, Morel says he's "not going to make `Dune' an action movie. That's not the point. It's a big sci-fi philosophical story; I want to stay true to the book as much as possible." As for Rhys Meyers, he's still mulling over his next project, but he can be seen later this year in "Shelter," a thriller with Julianne Moore. And in April he'll return for the fourth and final season of "The Tudors," the good English King Henry having already gone through four of his six wives. Rhys Meyers, who some complained was a bit too slight and pretty for the role, will finally age perceptibly. And with the aid of prosthetic devices, the 5-foot, 10-inch actor will gain weight. The real Henry - measured by his armor, which was displayed in London last year - was 6-foot-1 and at the age of 48 had a waistline of 51 inches. "Obviously, I was never going to be able to weigh 28 stone (about 390 pounds)," says Rhys Meyers, who got into acting when he was offered a role at age 17 and found that it paid well. After 15 years in the business, the actor hardly sounds as naive as the character he plays in "Paris," though. "The first 10 years of being an actor you've got to do an awful lot of s---," he says. "Now at 32 years old having done all my apprenticeships on all these films and TV series ... I feel I know a bit more about how to do what I do, but at the same time I'm incredibly open to learning." And while he has made the tabloid news - bouts with alcohol abuse - he says he doesn't think of himself as famous. "I don't know how much fame is all that good for you, to be honest. When I was a young actor, I thought it would have been lovely to be super-rich and famous - who doesn't want that? But then I realized what it actually is - that it just blocks you from doing the work half the time ... you've got to think of it as passing and not real." One thing you won't see the actor doing, like some other celebs, is starting his own band, despite being from a family of musicians and singing and playing in "August Rush." "I play guitar very badly and sing in the shower for my own amusement," he says straightforwardly. "The possibilities for embarrassment are endless." http://www.dailynews.com/lalife/ci_14336677
Âåëüâåò: A conservative estimate of the escalating body count in Pierre Morel’s gleefully chaotic action-adventure comedy “From Paris With Love” is two dozen a day, boasts John Travolta’s trigger-happy character, Special Agent Charlie Wax. But as you watch Mr. Travolta, twirling a weapon in each hand, dispatch the members of a Chinese drug gang in a Paris restaurant and later in a nearby apartment, it could be a hundred or a thousand. In a rare moment of contemplation, Wax remarks that there are a billion more to be disposed of. This gonzo wild man storms into the movie at a Paris airport, where security refuses to let him enter the country with his precious energy drinks whose containers hide firearms. But with the last-minute intervention of his new partner, James Reese (a mustachioed Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a personal aide to the American ambassador in France, Wax is allowed in. Winking broadly, “From Paris With Love” leads us back into vintage James Bond territory where fiendish Asian baddies were casually exterminated like so many cockroaches. What’s another billion anyway? In this movie, whose title echoes that of the second Bond film in that endless franchise, the drug dealers are somehow related to the Pakistani terrorists on whom “From Paris With Love,” all but forgetting about drugs, directs its searchlights in its second half. The turning point comes with the smashing of a cocaine-filled vase that Reese has been dutifully toting from place to place. “From Paris With Love,” Mr. Morel’s follow-up to his B-movie blockbuster, “Taken,” is a really a one-sided buddy movie in which a leather-clad Mr. Travolta, with a shaved head and an earring, camps it up in the Vin Diesel supermacho style. Details in the screenplay by Adi Hasak, based on a Luc Besson story, signal that beneath his facade Wax is really a softie. He goes moony when a recording of “(They Long to Be) Close to You” comes on a car radio, then demands his companions not tell anyone of his weakness. Late in the movie he is also revealed as a killer at the chessboard, as is Reese. Mr. Travolta so completely dominates the movie that Mr. Rhys Meyers can barely crawl out from under his shadow once Wax appears. Mr. Rhys Meyers’s better moments all occur in early scenes before Mr. Travolta blasts onto the screen. Reese has a seemingly perfect girlfriend, Caroline (Kasia Smutniak), and is the apple-polishing golden boy of his boss, Ambassador Bennington (Richard Durden). A low-level operative for the C.I.A., Reese has cloak-and-dagger dreams that are finally rewarded when he is teamed with the appalling Wax. I am ashamed to admit that this empty-headed, preposterous, possibly evil mélange of gunplay and high-speed car chases on Parisian boulevards is a feel-good movie that produces a buzz. Even more than “Taken,” a kidnapping drama with the semblance of a heart, “From Paris With Love” wallows in action for action’s sake. The set pieces are precisely calibrated movements in a symphony of violence with no adagio. There is the scene in which Reese watches spellbound on a circular staircase as bodies plummet past him. During a breathless highway chase Wax hangs out of the car window with a rocket launcher aimed at the green Volvo driven by a terrorist, and you can hardly wait for the detonation. The soundtrack, in which David Buckley’s beat-driven orchestral score seamlessly mingles with the sounds of gunfire, suggests a hip-hop suite precisely coordinated with Michel Abramowicz’s jiggling, agitated cinematography. In these scenes you lean back, let the action wash over you and feel the caffeinated glow as it seeps into bones. For better or worse, “From Paris With Love” is an effective stimulant. “From Paris With Love” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has violence and profanity. Directed by Pierre Morel; written by Adi Hasak, based on a story by Luc Besson; director of photography, Michel Abramowicz; edited by Frédéric Thoraval; music by David Buckley; production designer, Jacques Bufnoir; produced by India Osborne and Virginie Besson-Silla; released by Lionsgate. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. WITH: John Travolta (Charlie Wax), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (James Reese), Kasia Smutniak (Caroline) and Richard Durden (Ambassador Bennington). http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/movies/05from.html
Âåëüâåò: For Jonathan Rhys Meyers, as good as it was to be king, he's having a blast as uptight aspiring secret agent James Reese, who is partnered with John Travolta's wild card Charlie Wax in "From Paris With Love." "James expects a sophisticated, elegant, worldly James Bond to turn up," Rhys Meyers said at a New York press conference. "What James gets is a biker boy minus the Harley Davidson but pretty much everything else. So it's that jarring reaction. You see, James has dreams; he dreams what a spy is going to be like. He dreams what a sophisticated undercover life is. But the reality of it is that it's a dirty job." Rhys Meyers wrapped up his scenes as King Henry VIII on "The Tudors" in London, and was filming "From Paris" on location the next day. "I'm playing an American guy," the Irish actor said. "If I didn't have someone like John there, I'm not quite sure it would have worked for me because I had to have a true American to play off." As the wide-eyed innocent who's introduced to a gritty, explosive world of espionage, Reese bonds with Wax. "It's chemistry that separates an action movie from a classic movie: the chemistry between the actors doing it," Rhys Meyers said. "Why does `Lethal Weapon' work? Because Danny Glover and Mel Gibson work with each other - you can see the energy there. They play off of each other very well. You get some partnerships that just mean more. `Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' - if that had been Robert Redford and Warren Beatty, would it have been the same movie? Who knows? It's (Redford and Paul Newman's) energy that carry it." For this actor, great screen chemistry is simple. "It's about the humans. Sometimes I see some (animated) films by Pixar and they're extraordinary. But it's these spontaneous elements of human beings that are worth more than any explosion. If you can get that one little moment where two people share a joke or a nice emotional moment, that makes a classic action movie to me." http://www.californiachronicle.com/articles/yb/140941583
Âåëüâåò: Sometimes its good not to be king - at least for Jonathan Rhys Meyers in "From Paris With Love." In the action film, which opens today, the Irish actor plays an aide to the U.S. ambassador in the City of Light who also happens to be a low-level CIA operative. Yearning for a bigger assignment, Rhys Meyers' James Reese is paired with wild man Charlie Wax, an agency veteran played with panache - bald head, earrings, scarves, leather jackets and parachute pants - by John Travolta. Directed by Pierre Morel, who helmed last year's hit "Taken," from an idea by producer-director Luc Besson ("La Femme Nikita," "The Fifth Element"), "From Paris With Love" doesn't try to disguise its intensions. "We didn't try to make 'Body of Lies' or anything like that even though it touches on drugs and terrorism," says Rhys Meyers, referring to the Ridley Scott film about the Middle East. "If people are walking in the theater hoping to see a serious drama about terrorism, they are going to be disappointed. It's a commercial movie ... a generic buddy movie." But generic doesn't mean it's dull. "It looks like a lot of fun on camera, but to get that it requires a lot of hard work," Rhys Meyers says. "In a movie like this, which has to be 95 minutes of quick-paced action, you don't really have time to teach people the job." Which was why the 32-year-old actor enjoyed working with 55-year-old Travolta, who while not having to dance Advertisement in this film still made some nifty action moves. "It's really easy to talk nicely about him because he really is a nice guy," Rhys Meyers says. "As an actor, he not only brings his own charisma but tons of experience to the set." Travolta being there also helped out the Irishman with his American accent even though the actor's done one before, most notably in the 2005 miniseries "Elvis." "I certainly wasn't playing a character from Tupelo, Mississippi," says Rhys Meyers, who is known for playing another king, that of Henry VIII in Showtime's "The Tudors." "It certainly helped having John with me because when you're in Paris you can't use the French crew as reference." Morel, who is a fan of "The Tudors," says that even though Rhys Meyers wasn't American, "We thought he'd play well as a straight, everything-by-the-book, still-naive guy." Rhys Meyers says he mainly wanted to do the film because it's an action role, which he normally doesn't get to do, and because he gets to play "the naive guy." "In most of my other roles - as Henry, or in 'Match Point' or even as Elvis - I'm the manipulator. Here, I'm the manipulated." Another attraction was that Paris was just "a hop, skip and jump" from where the actor lives in London. But Morel tried to give the city a different look than is usually seen in films - an "exoticism," as Rhys Meyers calls it. "Because I live in Paris, I don't see it as tourists do - a postcard point of view," says the 45-year-old director. "When I go to Los Angeles, I only see the sunshine, but people who live there see it differently. Because people expect a romantic Paris, we showed one that's not clean, not that much fun, not that romantic at all." Generating excitement among sci-fi fans, Morel is attached to write and direct a new version of the classic "Dune." Though in the early stages, you can expect the action director to take a path on the Frank Herbert novel than David Lynch did in his 1984 film. "I'm a huge fan of 'Dune.' I read it as a teenager, and I've been living with it for over 30 years now. So I'm passionate about that. I'm going to try to give it a new approach, but a very faithful to the book approach." And although known for slam-bang movies, Morel says he's "not going to make 'Dune' an action movie. That's not the point. It's a big sci-fi philosophical story; I want to stay true to the book as much as possible." As for Rhys Meyers, he's was still mulling over his next project, but he can be seen later this year in "Shelter," a thriller with Julianne Moore. And in April he'll return for the fourth and final season of "The Tudors," the good English King Henry having already gone through four of his six wives. Rhys Meyers, who some complained was a bit too slight and pretty for the role, will finally age perceptibly. And with the aid of prosthetic devices, the 5-foot, 10-inch actor will gain weight. The real Henry - measured by his armor, which was displayed in London last year - was 6-foot-1 and at the age of 48 had a waistline of 51 inches. "Obviously, I was never going to be able to weigh 28 stones (about 390 pounds)," says Rhys Meyers, who got into acting when he was offered a role at age 17 and found that it paid well. After 15 years in the business, the actor hardly sounds as naive as the character he plays in "Paris," though. "The first 10 years of being an actor you've got to do an awful lot of s--," he says. "Now at 32 years old having done all my apprenticeships on all these films and TV series ... I feel I know a bit more about how to do what I do, but at the same time I'm incredibly open to learning." And while he has made the tabloid news - bouts with alcohol abuse - he says he doesn't think of himself as famous. "I don't know how much fame is all that good for you, to be honest. When I was a young actor, I thought it would have been lovely to be super rich and famous - who doesn't want that? But then I realized what it actually is - that it just blocks you from doing the work half the time ... you've got to think of it as passing and not real." One thing you won't see the actor doing, like some other celebs, is starting his own band, despite being from a family of musicians and singing and playing in "August Rush." "I play guitar very badly and sing in the shower for my own amusement," he says straight-forwardly. "The possibilities for embarrassment are endless." http://www.sgvtribune.com/living/ci_14335303
Âåëüâåò: John Travolta and his family are still feeling the pain of loss. It's been more than a year since his 16-year-old son, Jett, died during a family vacation in the Bahamas, and the 55-year-old actor, wife Kelly Preston and daughter Ella continue to deal with the aftermath one day at a time. "It's been a rough year," Travolta admits to reporters during a news conference in New York to support his sizzling new thriller, From Paris With Love. "I'm not going to say it's not been." It has also been a year without closure: Travolta is meeting the media on the same morning that Bahamian authorities have announced the date for a retrial of two actors accused of conspiring to extort money from him following Jett's death. Court proceedings will begin Sept. 6. Travolta is stoic as he talks about coping with tragedy. "We've been working very hard every day at healing, and we still are. But it's working. We've worked with our church and worked with each other and our friends and family. It's a tough one and it's going to be. But at least we have help and it's working. Thanks for asking." The actor has always been a loyal foot soldier on behalf of the industry that made him a superstar. He's not yet ready to go back before the cameras -- "I'm still taking some time off," he says with a smile -- but he was ready and willing to promote From Paris With Love, which opened yesterday, and to discuss his startling performance as a trigger-happy U.S. government agent who breaks every rule in the book to avert a terrorist attack in the French city. The personal loss hasn't silenced Travolta's humanitarian side either. He's talking to the media only days after he flew his Boeing 707 jetliner on a mission to earthquake-ravaged Haiti. "I had the privilege to fly my Boeing down because it was sitting there empty and I felt a duty and responsibility to fill it with doctors and supplies, food and medicines," says the experienced pilot. Travolta transported seven tons of supplies into Haiti and was able to keep his promise to members of his medical team that the supplies would not be dispersed but stay with them. "Yesterday and today, I got full reports that the supplies did stay with them ... and it was all fresh, all very user-friendly ... so it's a satisfying feeling to know not just that you send things but that there was an end product that was successful." There's a marked contrast between this low-key, soft-spoken celebrity and his lethal, foul-mouthed rogue agent Charlie Wax in From Paris With Love. Charlie is first glimpsed brawling with French customs officials -- and initially he's unrecognizable as John Travolta. Totally bald, with a Fu Manchu moustache and beard, scruffy leather jacket, thick hoop earring, thickening waist line, clanking pectoral cross, manic gleam in his eyes, plus hefty portions of swagger, attitude and smouldering violence -- this is the sort of guy you would cross the street to avoid. Travolta had a ball playing him, but the assignment was exhausting. In fact, there were times when he wondered openly to director Pierre Morel -- the French filmmaker responsible for last year's suspense thriller Taken -- whether he could pull it off. "The whole thing was challenging. I said: ‘Do you really want me to do these stunts? I mean, I'm going upside down on a pole and shooting with two guns and rolling down buildings and jumping off. I'm an old man. And they said - so what?' "The oddest thing was that there was such confidence that I could do it that I decided - hell, I'm going to live up to their expectations. And I went and did it, and am really proud that I attacked it in that full-bodied way. It really paid off because I've never done this much action in a movie. Even though I've been in two John Woo movies, this is the most running and jumping and fighting and slipping - and the body's still able to do it!" Within hours of arriving in Paris, Charlie Wax creates mayhem in a Chinese restaurant, where he complains about the quality of his egg fu yung, and minutes later mows down a mob of terrorists with illegal weaponry, capping it all off by shooting holes in the restaurant ceiling and releasing a cascade of cocaine. The horrified witness to this carnage is a young, ambitious U.S. Embassy aide, played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who has been assigned to partner with this happy sociopath in his violent spree through the Paris underworld. The result is a blood-spattered variation on the buddy movie, and Travolta says he couldn't have had a better co-star. "Jonathan is just this amazingly talented, gorgeous guy who can do anything." But it seems Travolta is also determined to prove he can do anything. He's joked in the past that he sustains his career by reinventing himself every few years -- the adolescent charm of Welcome Back Kotter, Saturday Night Fever and Grease; his astonishing comeback as a cement-brained hit man in Pulp Fiction; his ventures into philosophical whimsy (Michael, Phenomenon), into full-scale villainy (Broken Arrow, Face-Off) and drag (Hairspray); and now the infernal, bazooka-wielding Charlie Wax. So yes, with From Paris With Love, Travolta figures he's delivering another reinvention. "I would have to say that it might be," he laughs. "Because it's pretty extreme, and I don't think anyone's seen me quite this way." He decided that as long as he was allowed to play the character in "the full-bodied way" in which he was written, he could deliver "something entertaining and effective." Charlie may have many of the trappings of a villain, but Travolta points out that he's different from the bad guys he portrayed in Pulp Fiction and last year's The Taking of Pelham 123. "I could define it in three different ways. The villain in Pulp Fiction is misguided. The villain in Pelham 123 is just ... criminal. And the villain in this is not really a villain. He's a good guy who has unorthodox methods. He is a rogue, so even though he does things we do not agree with, he solves the problem and is so good at what he does that he gets away with being a little naughty. You can take that liberty when you're that good." Travolta's sense of humour doesn't desert him when discussing the movie, but there's a tinge of sadness when he talks about what he remembers as his personal highlight filming in Paris in late 2008. It's a family memory, having to do with coming back to the hotel late after a long day of shooting and taking his daughter and the son he would tragically lose out for a midnight pizza and cocoa. "At 2 a.m., we're sitting at the plaza having hot cocoa. They thought this was a whole universe of lifestyle. So that was one of my highlights -- the kids in the middle of the night in Paris." Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=2528959#ixzz0enDiPwbL The National Post is now on Facebook. Join our fan community today.
Âåëüâåò: What do you get when you team up two American undercover agents with opposite personalities and put them in Paris to fight terrorism? You get John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in "From Paris With Love." The action film stars Travolta as a hot-tempered rogue CIA operative named Charlie Wax, who is reluctantly paired with a straight-laced, naïve junior partner named James Reese (played by Irish actor Rhys Meyers). The two agents inevitably clash with each other, but they must learn how to work together to prevent a terrorist attack. "From Paris With Love" was directed by Pierre Morel and is based on a story by Luc Besson, one of the film’s producers. (The two French filmmakers were also behind the 2009 sleeper hit "Taken.") At the New York City press conference for "From Paris With Love," Travolta, Rhys Meyers, Besson, Morel and Kasia Smutniak (who plays James’ girlfriend Caroline in the movie) gathered to share behind-the-scene stories of making the film. Travolta also talked about his favorite memories of filming in Paris, and he opened up about how he’s been doing emotionally since the tragic, sudden death of his 16-year-old son, Jett, who died in 2009 of a seizure. [SPOILER ALERT: In this interview, members of the cast discuss major plot points. If you don’t want to know about these spoilers, than skip reading the parts of this interview where any spoiler alerts are indicated.] John Travolta in "From Paris With Love" John, what did you do to prepare for this role? Travolta: Between Pierre [Morel], Luc [Besson] and myself, there were lots of discussions about this guy [Charlie Wax]. It was beautifully written, so he was easy to fill because the verbiage was so ideal for me to attack. The look was very important in this movie. We saw Soldier of Fortune covers where these guys are suddenly, I don’t know why, but very glamorous-looking with scarves, shaved heads and goatees. It was brave to take it all off and all that, but I think we decided that was the only way it would work is to be bold with it and go all the way. That was some of what we did. And, of course, I hung out with some undercover guys in my hometown. They were kind enough to let me hang out with them. So I’d spend the night guarding parts of Ocala [in Florida], going into these different areas that were trouble, and see what these guys do. It was like a microcosm of where it is all over the world. How close is the Charlie Wax character to you in real life? Travolta: I don’t know if he’s anything like me at all, but I sure liked [playing him]. John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in "From Paris With Love" John, can you describe the chemistry you had with Jonathan Rhys Meyers? Travolta: Jonathan is a miracle! Jonathan is an amazingly talented, gorgeous guy who can do anything. If you look at his history, he just approaches a role so full-bodily. We communicated well. Jonathan is easy to read, and Pierre is the same way. There was no stone unturned, as far as discussing the possibilities of our characters together. We approached it from a good perspective — the "spirit of play" type of thing. Jonathan, did you ad-lib at all? Rhys Meyers: No, it was pretty much there in the script. But also we’re making a film where I’m playing an American guy in Paris, so if I didn’t have someone like John there, I’m not quite sure it would’ve worked for me, because I had to have a true American. I had to have somebody there that I could play off of. You know, that was a happy accident. I met Pierre and I met Luc [in] London, and they said, "We think the chemistry in this movie is going to be fantastic." I was shooting "The Tudors" on a Tuesday, and I arrived in Paris on a Wednesday. So the first time John and I really got face time with each other was on screen in that scene where I go and bust him out of the customs office. So that’s an extraordinary reaction. I’ve seen John in many films, but I hadn’t seen John like that! So I didn’t know what to expect. And of course, when James [Reese] meets this character [Charlie Wax], he expects a sophisticated, elegant, worldly James Bond to turn up. And when he gets is a biker boy, minus the Harley-Davidson, but pretty much everything else. And so it’s that jarring reaction is what you expect. You see, James has dreams. He dreams that this is what a spy is going to be like. He dreams that this is what a sophisticated undercover life is. But the reality of it is it’s a dirty job. James doesn’t have the cynicism that Wax has, but James has the naivety that Wax enjoys. He enjoys seeing [James] be confused. He enjoys [James] get a punch. He enjoys [James] being shot at the shooting — because there’s only one way to train somebody, and that’s to throw him in the deep end. John Travolta in "From Paris With Love" John, what was it like when you first looked in the mirror after shaving your hair off? Travolta: Pierre and I did a superimposed-type. What do you call it …? Morel: We did a Photoshop thing. We tried to erase John’s hair, we did different types of goatees. We did a little chemistry before. Travolta: Then we had to get approval from Luc, of course! Morel: Did we? Travolta: And Luc loved it right away, but, you see, you’re right. Film is a visual medium, and I remember with "Pulp Fiction," it was my idea to do that kind of Dutch boy thing because [Vincent Vega, my "Pulp Fiction" character] had spent time in Holland and I thought this would be this Eurotrash look. I remember Quentin [Tarantino, the writer/director of "Pulp Fiction"] and the producer just thinking it was not a good idea and I said, "Well, can we just test it?" And then the next day when they did a screen test on it, I made sure it worked, and then they loved it. But it was iconic, meaning it was a signature of the character. So when you design these things for the screening, they’re very important and not to be looked at as superficial at all. Luckily, you have a nice head! Travolta: Oh, yeah! Well, no bumps, no bumps. [He laughs.] John Travolta in "From Paris With Love" What’s the difference between bad as Charlie Wax and being bad as a villain? And how would you compare Charlie Wax to your "Pulp Fiction" character Vincent Vega? Travolta: I would define it in three different ways. The villain in "Pulp Fiction" is misguided. The villain in, let’s say, "[The Taking of] Pelham 1 2 3" is just out and out criminal. And then the villain in this [Charlie Wax in "From Paris With Love"] is not really a villain. He’s a good guy who has unorthodox methods. He is a rogue, and so even though he does things that we don’t agree with, he solves the problem. And he’s so good at what he does that he gets away with being a little naughty. You can take that liberty when you’re that good. There are distinctive differences in these types of characters, believe it or not. Do you have a preference for which type of character you like to play? Travolta: I just like it to be well-written and full-bodied. And what it is in this movie ["From Paris With Love"] is you’re free to blow it out and do what you think. In my first day of shooting when I [as Charlie Wax] is telling French customs off, and in one of the takes, I thought, "I’ve got to do this!" and Jonathan puts the seal [on Wax’s luggage] and I go [Travolta makes the sexual thrusting move that Wax does in the film], and I go, "Oh, that worked so well!" And then I looked at [Pierre Morel], and he said, "OK. I don’t know. Let’s do one take without you humping." And of course, we did five more takes with me humping, and then I did the one take without it. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Katia Smutniak in "From Paris With Love" [SPOILER ALERT] Jonathan, your character wants to be spy and he has a live-in relationship with his girlfriend Carolyn, but he doesn’t know anything about her work or her family. How is that possible? Rhys Meyers: Well, you know, love is blind. Really, how much do you know about your partner? He knows that she makes dresses, he knows that she’s into fabric, but he’s a naive guy anyway. It’s not like he’s being specifically naïve, because she’s so fantastically beautiful, yet it’s jarring, and that’s the reason why she’s there. These guys know what they’re doing, so for us to have a challenge in the movie, these other guys have to be smart, and they’re smart enough to know that this guy will go for this girl and he’ll go for her blindly because the beauty, the charm, the elegance, he’s living in Paris. This is the dream. This will all sort of divert him from what’s actually happening and I think it’s a great ruse. If you want to hide something, hide it in plain sight — and they do. Do you think you’d fall for it in real life? Rhys Meyers: Absolutely! 100 percent! Hook, line and sinker! Travolta: We all fell for her! [He laughs.] Smutniak: It shows how the guys are. They can play cool but in the end, they’re like this. They get lost in their love! Travolta: She’s so spectacular. She’s just amazing. [END OF SPOILER ALERT] Jonathan Rhys Meyers and John Travolta in "From Paris With Love" Where did you get the idea to pair up John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers? Besson: We had this idea in the story and we tried not to get bothered by the money by the principal, by everything. But with this story, we thought maybe this person would be good to play it, and then we go with our heart first and see what’s possible. I always wanted to work with John. I loved Jonathan, and I seen him in a few things. And then the idea comes, "What about John Travolta? Let’s try him!" … It was very honest and very liberating. Did any other filmmakers influence the style of "From Paris With Love"? Besson: No, the influence, honestly, I’m listening to rap music and eating sushi. I’m probably one of a few generations where we eat every type of culture of food and saw American films and music from the world. It’s part of my culture now. I love and I cry in front of a lot of American films, French films too, Japanese films too … I totally assume the fact that this multicultural thing, the more the people are mixed, the less we’ll have war. Jonathan Rhys Meyers in "From Paris With Love" What do you think are the basic elements to turn an action thriller into a classic? Besson: Oh my God, if we knew that we’d be like … [He sighs.] Morel: Is there a recipe for that? Rhys Meyers: Can I jump in for a sec? I think it’s chemistry. I think that separates an action movie from a classic movie is the chemistry between the actors doing it. Why does "Lethal Weapon" work? Because Danny Glover and Mel Gibson work with each other and you can see the energy. They play off each other very well. You get some partnerships in life that just mean more. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," if that had been Robert Redford and Warren Beatty, would it have been the same movie? Who really knows, but it’s their energy that carries it ... It’s about the humans. It’s extraordinary. Sometimes I’ll see some films from Pixar that are extraordinary with no human [characters] in it, but it’s those spontaneous elements of a human being that are worth more than any explosion. If you can get that one little moment where two people understand and they share a joke on screen or share a nice emotional moment, that makes the movie. That makes a classic action movie to me. However, I may be wrong. Travolta: I’m not going to disagree with him. Besson: It’s also the amount of risk that you can take in the story. Sometimes, you know, if you say, "OK, you know what, let’s shoot the girl at the table." And most of the people will say, "No, no, no. You can’t do that." "F*ck yeah I can, I just did." You also have to take some risk in the directing, in the script when you talk about the movement. You say, "Checkmate, motherf*cker," you take the risk. You need to have to take risks; otherwise, you stay at the good level, you make a nice film, but you don’t have a chance to stay. Do you see "From Paris With Love" turning into a franchise with sequels? Besson: They [John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers] had so much fun together, that yeah, I’d love it. John Travolta and Pierre Morel on the set of "From Paris With Love" What did you like most about filming in Paris? Travolta: [Jonathan Rhys Meyers] being a single man, his joys may have been different than my joys. [He laughs.] I think Luc and I enjoyed the food of France. Jonathan may have enjoyed something different. Rhys Meyers: We watched a lot of movies, myself and Kasia [Smutniak]. Look, Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, and I was staying at a beautiful hotel, the [Hotel De] Crillon, which is where Marie Antoinette learned how to play the piano. Travolta: And [it’s where] I got married to my wife. Rhys Meyers: And John got married to his wife. So you’re in an extraordinary elegant living museum, because I’m right at the end of Place [de la] Concorde, so I walk out and I see the Paris that everybody dreams of. I also saw the Paris that is the living nightmare of an economic First World Western country, which is there are tons of people in Paris from different cultures all over the world trying to make a living, trying to make a life. So you get to see those many elements. I became much closer to Paris. Good experiences, bad experiences, all experiences I had there just promoted the city to me as one that has immense beauty and immense culture, but it’s got an immense heart, and sometimes that heart gets broken. So I liked seeing that element of Paris that I didn’t see [before]. I wasn’t the tourist coming in, going to Champs-Élysées, going to La Dorée and having macaroons. I was going out to these areas where people actually live, and that type of Paris is not seen. Luc can show it to you, Pierre can show it to you, but I could never find it myself. So it’s great. It made it a real city to me and not just this Disneyland fantasy. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (pictured at far left) in "From Paris With Love" Smutniak: Hey! I was going to La Dorée. Rhys Meyers: But you’re elegant and beautiful and you live in Rome! Smutniak: I knew Paris before, so I have some friends there. It’s a beautiful city. We were working a lot, so I didn’t have a chance to go back home. Travolta: I came home from work around midnight one night and I said to my daughter and my son, who had a couple of friends with them, "How would you like to go to downtown Paris where Pino Pizza on the Champs-Élysées is open? And we will have pizza and then we’ll go to the Plaza Athénée and have hot cocoa." They said, "At this time of night?" I said, "Yes, believe it or not." So we went downtown and we had pizza and then at 2 a.m., we’re sitting at the Plaza Athénée and having hot cocoa and they thought … this is a whole universe of lifestyle. That was one of my highlights. John Travolta at the New York City press conference for "From Paris With Love" John, you’re an airplane pilot. Do you have any plans to be a part of any projects that incorporate your passion for flying? Travolta: I was the first guy to develop the Howard Hughes script. I’ve even written my own airplane script. But I haven’t found the definitive aviation script. I wish I could. I haven’t had much luck finding it. John, what do you think when you look back and see yourself in "Welcome Back, Kotter" or "Saturday Night Fever"? Travolta: I see a little boy. I thought I was very advanced and mature in those days, and maybe I was, but I was so young but proud of myself. I had a great start. I started in this industry with a bang. "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease" back to back. I got my first Academy Award nomination. I couldn’t have had a better start at 22 years old. John, you like to reinvent yourself in your movies. Is "From Paris With Love" one of your reinventions? Travolta: I would have to say it might be. [He laughs.] It’s pretty extreme, and I don’t think anyone’s seen me quite this way … As long as Pierre and Luc would allow me to do this in the full-bodied way in which it was written, then I knew I could do something entertaining and effective — and they beautifully allowed me to do that. John Travolta (pictured second from left) in "From Paris With Love" Is that what inspired your Fu Manchu look in "From Paris With Love"? Travolta: Soldier of Fortune inspired me to look like this. It’s very glamorous nowadays, if you look at the cover of some of these magazines. They have scarves and parachute pants and cool jackets. They’re very high-end guys. I don’t know quite get how this fits with this war talk, but it was pretty empirical. We saw endless photos of these beautiful-looking, stylish guys with their guns and shaved heads and goatees This movie is the epitome of entertainment, but do you want the audience to walk away with a certain message? Travolta: Well, oddly enough, I said this to Luc when the movie was over, "Strangely enough, this is the most authentic movie about terrorism that’s ever been made." Because in a very light way, we’re not making a statement or giving a message, but there’s a truth that availed a thing that says, "Wow, this is really the crux of it." It’s about misguided religion and misguided concepts and how things work in that terrorist world and yet we’re having fun disguising it almost. But I don’t think we intended for any particular message. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Katia Smutniak in "From Paris With Love" [SPOILER ALERT] What about the blind faith that Caroline has? Smutniak: We weren’t saying what kinds of terrorists they are … For me, that was a challenges: to understand what happens in the head of a person who decides to do something like that. Rhys Meyers: My character is willing to ignore a lot of things because of love. She’s willing to blow herself up; that’s how strong it is — whether it’s a love for religion or a love for a human being. At the same time, when I read the script, I thought, "It has cocaine and it has terrorism. Now these things are only used to fuel the action, because if you don’t give that subject it’s due, then you’re in trouble." If you’re going to make a film about terrorists, you make a film about terrorists, and you make sure concentrate and give it its time. [END OF SPOILER ALERT] Rhys Meyers: For us, this was definitely about the relationships. I made a film about war in China a few years ago called "The Children of Huang Shi," and what’s extraordinary is that every move that is encompassed in war, terrorism and all the horrible things that exist in our world today come down to very, very small human choices, very tiny human emotions. All wars end up being so small, because the father loses the son, the wife loses the husband, the mother loses the child. These are the essential elements of war. This is who suffers. So it’s very individual stories. And even when [you see them] shooting the terrorists, all of these guys are nervous, scared guys who don’t know what they’re doing. Smutniak: Because they’re still human. Rhys Meyers: Because they’re still human, and they’re scared. Travolta: He’s so smart! John Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, at the New York City premiere of "From Paris With Love" John, was that your family we saw in the background of the scene at the Eiffel Tower? Travolta: You win the award for observation! That’s absolutely true. That was my wife and my daughter. We were shooting at the Eiffel Tower. My daughter hadn’t yet seen the Eiffel Tower, and we were shooting in the middle of the day, and I said, "Hey, you should come up and visit while we’re shooting there." And then I asked Pierre if they could be the extras in that scene, and Pierre graciously agreed, and there you have it. Morel: By the way, shooting the Eiffel Tower was the most challenging thing for us because the Eiffel Tower is a nightmare to shoot in, actually. It’s a beautiful place. I love it, but it’s the most visited monument anywhere in the world. There are millions of people coming every year to visit and there is no way to shut it down. Nobody’s privatized that, so you have to deal with like thousands of people peeping and trying to look at what you’re doing. We had to block people and try to get the crowds around while still enjoying the Eiffel Tower, because that’s what they came for. Rhys Meyers: Actually, I think it’s become one of the most difficult monuments to shoot in the world, because now they charge you for shooting it because there’s blue lights on it and it’s privatized. So, if you want the blue lights on the Eiffel Tower in the background of your shot, it’s like 20 grand or something. It’s expensive! It’s really expensive so you kind of got to do this and make sure that you pan off before you reach the Eiffel Tower. John Travolta, Melissa Mars and Jonahan Rhys Meyers in "From Paris With Love" Can you talk about the physicality of your roles? Was there a scene that was particularly challenging or fun for you to do? Travolta: Well, for me the whole thing was challenging because I said to Pierre, "You really want me to do all of these stunts?" I mean, I’m going upside down on a pole and shooting with two guns and rolling down buildings and jumping off, and I said, "I’m an old man!" Morel: I said, "So what?" Travolta: And the odd thing was there was such a confidence in that I could do it that I decided that, "Well hell, I’m going to live up to their expectation," and I went and did it and I really was proud that I attacked it in that full-bodied way. And it really paid off, because I’d never done this much action in a movie. Even though I’ve been in two John Woo movies, this was the most running and jumping and fighting and flipping — and the body’s still able to do it! Now [Jonathan Rhys Meyers is] a young whippersnapper, so his body is made to do this kind of thing. How was it for you, Jon? Rhys Meyers: Truthfully, OK. Physically, OK. Yeah, it was OK. Except I don’t like heights and I have to go up these steel stairs and I’m not a good height guy, and I drop the vase of cocaine, going up the stairs. Pierre kind of liked it because I dropped the cocaine and I was like "Oh, f*ck! The coke!" — in the middle of the shot. And I could hear Pierre laughing from like three floors below and John’s still running. He’s like three floors ahead of me. And then we’re like "Cut!" And it’s like I got to go all the way back down and I’m scraping the coke in and it was just awful. And this vase, of course, the physicality with me is I’ve got to hold this vase, which became a teddy bear. It’s like this blankie at one point. And I kind of felt sad when I had to drop it. It was my buddy for the movie. It was like, "This is what protects me from the whole world is this vase of washing-up powder." John, how are you doing emotionally in the past year? Travolta: It’s been a rough year. I’m not going to say it’s not been, but we’ve been working very hard every day at healing, and we still are, but it’s working. We’ve worked with our church, and we’ve worked with each other and our friends and our family. It’s been a tough one, and it’s going to be, but at least we have help and it’s working. Thanks for asking. Luc Besson at the 2009 Stockholm International Film Festival Luc, what elements do you look for when you’re working with directors such as Pierre Morel? Besson: It’s very complicated. I smell it. It’s the character first. He’s an interesting, easy guy. He says, "Yeah, why not? Let’s try it." First, it’s an attitude. Technically, I’ve known [Pierre] for a long time, so that’s the easy part to get … And then you have to take the risk … You just have to believe and be honest. How do you think "From Paris With Love" will do at the box office, compared to your movie "Taken," which was a big hit in 2009? Besson: I don’t know. It’s so different. ["From Paris With Love"] is a fun buddy movie … It’s really not the same. "Taken" was a big surprise. You know, you always say that it takes three years to make a good film and three minutes to make a bad one. I was surprised by "Taken" [doing so well at the box office], but it’s the same honesty in both films. Will there be a sequel to "Taken"? Besson: Yeah, I finished the script. Richard Durden and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in "From Paris With Love" Jonathan, can you talk about speaking Chinese in "From Paris With Love"? Rhys Meyers: I spoke Mandarin and Japanese a few years ago in a film I did called "The Children of Huang Shi," and because I had sort of already been involved in doing that language, it became so much easier. I had a really nice girl [translator], who was actually in "From Paris With Love" played] the prostitute when I walk into the German guy — the girl who is engaging in paid fellatio is actually the girl who taught me how to speak Chinese. We were practicing the Chinese, not the other [activity]. Speaking a language is very difficult, because there are just some words you’re not going to get. It’s impossible for you, because our tongue doesn’t go to those places. So I did the best I could, and I worked it out with her, which is the best way for me to say it. And I said to the guy afterwards, to the man whom I was speaking to [in Chinese], "Did you understand what I said?" He said, "Yes." It seemed OK. That’s Level 2. If you were Level A Cambridge, I would’ve been a disgrace. It would’ve been dreadful Mandarin. But you know, it worked out fine. The thing about that is to try to make it as natural. I had to sound natural speaking. You’ve got to speak at that speed that they [the Chinese] do, and sometimes when people do different languages, it becomes so slow, because they’re trying to get all the words, all the feeling. It’s best to run through it, because they understand what they’re saying. It worked out fine. It was another one of those happy accidents. We had tons of happy accidents. If you put out energy that’s good, if you put out energy that’s positive: "We can do this. We can make a good film, we can make an entertaining film, we can have a good time, we can learn this language, we can do those stunts" — if you put that energy out there, the world will conspire that you shall have what you need. Pierre Morel at the New York City premiere of "From Paris With Love" How did you deal with balancing the comedy and the drama? Travolta: I think that’s in the writing. Morel: I think that was the whole point. It had to be. That’s what I was looking for when I read the script the first time, when Luc gave me the script. I had fun because the characters were written like that. Travolta: In all fairness, I think Pierre was the balancing act. He knew when something was too funny or too serious, and I think Pierre could modulate this beautifully for us because sometimes my instinct — I’m a comedian too — so my instinct is to go really funny and he’d sometimes pull me back and then sometimes he’d say, "You’re free now; you can make it funny," and I’d go all the way, so I think Pierre orchestrated that as well as a beautiful script. Morel: Every single scene we did, we call it "Chinese menu." Travolta: We call it "Chinese menu." I actually got that from Meryl Streep, and she gives tons of choices, and I decided that I had always done that but now there’s a name to it. Chinese menu is you give the director as many choices as he can handle, and then in the editing room they pick the choice they like, if you trust the director and the editor. So I said to Pierre, "We’re going to do Chinese menu. I’m going to give you funny, straight, dramatic and as many styles as you want." And it works! Morel: And you can play with it in the editing room. There are some things you can trim. Travolta: I give blue-plate specials! John and Jonathan, what’s next for you? Travolta: I’m still taking some time off. I’m promoting this film, and I’m going to wait for the great next one. I did three in a row and this ["From Paris With Love"] is my third. Rhys Meyers: I have a film with Julianne Moore called "Shelter" that’s going to come out. John Travolta at the New York City press conference for "From Paris With Love" John, do you plan to go back to Haiti to help the earthquake victims? Travolta: In a nutshell, what happened in Haiti was I had the privilege to fly my big Boeing there, because it was sitting there, empty. And I felt a duty and a responsibility to fill it with doctors and to fill it with supplies and food and medicine. The cool thing that I found was that when we arrived, we unloaded seven tons of supplies, I promised the doctors on board that the supplies would be brought and stay with them, so it wouldn’t be dispersed among all the others [that may be contaminated]. And I got full reports that the supplies did stay with them, they very successfully [treated] hundreds of patients, and it was all fresh and very user-friendly. And that was a very satisfying feeling. That was my second plane that I sent down. I sent down a plane the week before as well. So it’s been a good, satisfying feeling to know, not just to send things, but that there was an end product that was successful. http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-3767-Celebrity-QA-Examiner~y2010m2d5-John-Travolta-and-Jonathan-Rhys-Meyers-deliver-action-and-comedy-in-From-Paris-With-Love
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