Newsweek January 15, 1999

Travolta's New Tunes

He may be better known for his dance moves, but John Travolta is looking to prove he can still sing, too. The 44-year-old actor, whose most memorable on-screen vocals came as Danny Zuko in 1978's "Grease," will step to the mike again as Jimmy Roselli, an actual Sinatra-era lounge act targeted by the mob. This time, instead of "Summer Nights" and "Greased Lightning," Travolta will be crooning the standards. "He'll be the 'Raging Bull' of lounge singers, but with the humor John brings to the role," Travolta's manager, Jonathan Krane, told Thursday's Variety. The new film, titled "Standing Room Only," is slated to begin production in mid-March with director Gus Van Sant ("Psycho") at the helm. Travolta, whose current movie "A Civil Action" has continued a recent winning streak, reportedly has several other projects lined up as well. Looks like he's got plenty of reason to sing.

 

• INTERLIGHT TO BACK ``STANDING''

  HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Interlight Pictures will finance and co-produce the $70 million John Travolta-starrer ``Standing Room Only,'' the biopic of crooner Jimmy Roselli whose rejection of the Mafia turned him into a target. Gus Van Sant is directing the picture, which co-stars Travolta's wife Kelly Preston. Shooting begins on April 26th and is set for a Christmas 1999 release in the U.S. through Disney's Touchstone Pictures, which has taken domestic rights.

• LONDON (BBC News January 26,1999) John Travolta is teaming up with his wife Kelly Preston in a movie about the life of the singer Jimmy Roselli. The crooner who was a favourite of the Mafia until he rejected them. Standing Room Only will be first time the star couple have worked together since they met while making The Experts 12 years ago. "It's the movie I've been waiting to make for 20 years," says Travolta. "It's the kind of movie no-one does any more a gritty, realistic musical."

  HOLLYWOOD (EW Daily June 16, 1999) Earlier this year it finally looked like the rarity had become a possibility with ''Standing Room Only,'' a biopic musical about New Jersey lounge singer Jimmy Roselli. Director Gus Van Sant had signed on for the project along with Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, who was set to play her hubby's onscreen spouse, Donna Roselli. But, just before shooting was slated to begin this spring, the movie was unceremoniously bumped to October. Producers placed the blame on a scheduling conflict with Travolta's upcoming action adventure ''Battlefield Earth,'' but sluggish presales for ''Standing'' had some wondering if the film might be indefinitely shelved.

  While Travolta isn't positive that the film will take flight this fall as planned, he's willing to wait a while to play Roselli, whom he describes as ''a singer who was in the shadows of Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra. As long as you have the script, you can postpone it until whenever the time is right.''

  But the star, who hasn't had much of an opportunity to croon since bumping and grinding his way through ''Greased Lightning,'' admits to some eagerness to get back behind the microphone. ''When it's a good character, and I get to express myself through singing and dancing too, I feel full-bodied,'' he explains. Uh, no word on whether the sometimes weight-challenged star will be looking full-bodied as well.