John Travolta has explained the reasoning behind his distinctive look at the Cannes Film Festival, where he wore round glasses and a series of berets. The 72-year-old actor, promoting his directorial debut Propeller One-Way Night Coach, said he was channelling the style of old-school film directors.
In an interview with CNN, Travolta stated: “I said, ‘I’m a director this time. You’re an actor, play the part of a director, look like an old-school director.’” He added that he researched images from the 1920s to the 1960s, noting that many directors from those eras wore berets and glasses. “I’m doing an homage to being a director,” he explained.
Travolta also revealed that the distinctive outfits—which included black, white, navy, and brown berets—would help him remember the event in future. “I’ve been around for over 50 years doing movies, but I can’t tell, when I look back, the difference between the events,” he said. “Now I’ll know—‘Oh, that was Propeller One-Way Night Coach, that was Cannes, that’s when I won the Palme d’Or.’”
The festival’s artistic director, Thierry Frémaux, surprised Travolta with an honorary Palme d’Or ahead of the film’s world premiere. Wearing a white beret, Travolta said: “This is beyond the Oscar. I can’t believe this. This is the last thing I expected.”
The film, which Travolta wrote, directed, and co-produced, is based on his 1997 children’s novel. It stars his 26-year-old daughter Ella Bleu Travolta as a flight attendant. Travolta, a flying enthusiast who has held a pilot’s licence since age 22, flew his own plane to the premiere while wearing a navy beret.
