October 19, 1995
Web posted at: 1:40 a.m. EDT
From Correspondent Sherri Sylvester
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- John Travolta is on a roll in a new role. He's traded in his greasy pony tail and bargain basement hit man threads of "Pulp Fiction" for Italian suits and a loan shark gig in his new movie "Get Shorty." But it took some arm-twisting to get him into the mind and character of Chilli Palmer.
Travolta plays a loan shark turned movie producer in the new film. But the real producer and co-star, Danny Devito, is betting that, once again, Travolta has picked a winner. Devito produced "Pulp Fiction" as well.
Devito, with the help of director Quentin Tarantino, persuaded the actor to make this one. "He couldn't convince me at first because I wasn't familiar with the book, and then he had Quentin call me," Travolta says. He then read the book, on the advice of Tarantino and Devito. "There were a lot of parts of the book that needed to be in the script, and when they corrected that and added them, I said yes."
The book was a best-seller and its author, Elmore Leonard, came to the set to watch filming. The cast learned that Travolta's character is based on a real person.
"Elmore Leonard sent me a picture of Chilli putting his gun in his dresser," Devito says. But he says the real Chilli is a good guy.
"There is a real Chilli Palmer who was sort of a low level mobster and he became Elmore Leonard's researcher, but the real Chilli never came to Hollywood, never became a movie producer," director Barry Sonnenfeld says. (340K AIFF sound or 340K WAV sound)
Movie-goers who look closely can spot the real Chilli in a restaurant scene between Travolta and actor Dennis Farina. "In the opening of the film, when I'm talking to Ray Bones, Chilli is on the right, the real Chilli Palmer, and he's nothing like my interpretation, but there are some small things that are like him," Travolta says.
Travolta's Chilli is one part mobster, one part movie buff. In one scene a man holds a gun on Chilli and tells him that he's not joking around. "This time it ain't no John Wayne or Dean Martin shooting bad guys in 'El Durado,'" he threatens. Travolta, as Chilli, walks up to the man with gun, eager to correct the hit man's casting faux pas. "That was 'Rio Bravo.' Robert Mitchum played the drunk in 'El Durado.' Dean Martin played the drunk in 'Rio Bravo.'"
"This was this guy's passion," Devito says. "He sat in movie theaters when he probably was supposed to make collections and break some knees or something."
The film shoots holes in the movie star myth, taking comic aim at Hollywood. Is this the real Tinsel Town, or is it jacked up for comedy? Travolta says that the essence of "Get Shorty's" characters can be found anywhere in Hollywood.
Co-star Rene Russo says that she's worked with people just like the characters in the film. "I work with a lot of actors and you can see that they're just a little off, they're just a little crazy," she says.
And at times, the film's Hollywood realism even fooled those who should know better. A fake billboard was erected on Sunset Boulevard advertising a fake film starring Martin Weir, Devito's character. "People actually called me and said, 'You know, there's somebody using your likeness and they've changed the name.'" Devito says he brought his kids to the site. They posed and took pictures in front of it.
The real picture, "Get Shorty," opens October 20 on big screens everywhere.
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