John Travolta’s Biggest Career Regrets: Three Roles He Passed Up
John Travolta opens up about the three major film roles he turned down, reflecting on how these missed chances shaped the careers of other stars and left him with lasting regrets.
Most actors would be stoked to have a list of rejected roles as impressive as John Travolta’s. Over the years, the bloke from Battlefield Earth has been pretty choosy about his projects, sometimes with mixed results. He famously knocked back Days of Heaven, only to say yes to Phenomenon. Like any big name, he’s got a few decisions he’d probably like to take back. Burt Reynolds once admitted he should’ve played Han Solo, and Will Smith realised too late that The Matrix was a better bet than Wild, Wild West. But Travolta’s got more than his fair share of what-ifs.
One of the biggest sliding doors moments in his career came when he decided not to do An Officer and a Gentleman, after already passing on American Gigolo and Days of Heaven. Richard Gere, who ended up with those parts, can thank Travolta’s choices for a good chunk of his own success. It’s hard to picture anyone else in those roles now, but it’s fair to say Travolta didn’t do himself any favours by letting them go. Maybe if he’d leaned into the heartthrob image, he could’ve dodged the career dip he copped in the ‘80s. Instead, he went for a Saturday Night Fever sequel and a wild aerobics drama with Jamie Lee Curtis called Perfect, which managed to be unintentionally campy and not in a good way.
Three Films That Got Away
Travolta could probably fill a book with all the scripts he’s turned down, but he’s singled out three in particular that still play on his mind. In a 2008 chat, he admitted that the ones he regrets most are Chicago, An Officer and a Gentleman, and The Green Mile. Talking about Chicago, he said,
“I wasn’t all that into the stage show. It was a lot of women who hated men, and I like women who like men.”
He was up for the role of Billy Flynn, the slick lawyer who gets women off murder charges. As usual, Gere swooped in after Travolta passed, and ended up nabbing a Golden Globe. The film itself cleaned up at the Oscars, taking home six trophies. Travolta later admitted that while the stage version felt a bit harsh, the film had more warmth to it.
Missed Chances and What Might Have Been
When it comes to An Officer and a Gentleman and The Green Mile, Travolta was even more upfront, saying,
“I probably should have said yes.”
The Green Mile role went to Tom Hanks, who’d just won an Oscar for another part Travolta had turned down—Forrest Gump. It’s tough to imagine Travolta in either of those films, since Hanks brings his own steady, down-to-earth style to every role.
To his credit, Travolta doesn’t seem too bitter about it all. He’s got a pretty relaxed attitude, saying,
“I gave Richard Gere and Tom Hanks a career. What you turn down can be a gift to someone else. There is enough to go around.”
That sort of generosity isn’t something you see every day in the film industry, especially considering Hanks ended up becoming a bigger star. Luckily for Travolta, when Quentin Tarantino came calling with Pulp Fiction, he was ready to say yes for a change.