By Erin Free
Since Quentin Tarantino relaunched his career with Pulp Fiction in 1994, seventies superstar, John Travolta, has been a decidedly dicey proposition. While he’s appeared in strong films and given excellent performances (Get Shorty, Face/Off, A Civil Action, Savages), he’s also been roped into big screen sludge (Wild Hogs, The Punisher, Basic), and has lately been a disturbingly regular fixture in direct-to-home-entertainment like Criminal Activities and I Am Wrath. On top of that, he’s also been involved in a number of oddball off-screen incidents, like his bizarre celebration of Idina Menzel at the Oscars.
The renowned Scientologist’s biggest cinematic slur, however, remains 2000’s wrongheaded sci-fi epic, Battlefield Earth. When all of Hollywood’s major studios turned down this big budget adaptation of Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard’s 1982 novel, Travolta stumped up a big wad of his own cash, and teamed with production company, Franchise Pictures, to make it happen. “Battlefield Earth is the pinnacle of using my power for something,” Travolta told The Los Angeles Daily News. “I told my manager, ‘If we can’t do the things now that we want to do, what good is the power? Let’s test it and try to get the things done that we believe in.’”
Telling of the oppression of the future Earth’s populace by the evil alien Psychlos, Battlefield Earth was blasted by critics (“It’s not merely bad; it’s unpleasant in a hostile way,” screeched Roger Ebert) and crumbled at the box office under the weight of the negative response. Because of its obvious links to Scientology, the film also kicked up a huge stink, with rumours that it contained subliminal messages spruiking the religion, and claims that it was little more than a recruitment piece. “It’s designed to introduce L. Ron Hubbard to a whole new generation of kids,” railed anti-Scientology journalist, Mark Bunker. “It’s there to plant a favorable seed in children’s minds.” These claims were denied by Travolta, his Scientology bigwig buddies, and Warner Bros., who took a hit distributing the film. Battlefield Earth was embroiled in further controversy when Franchise Pictures was later sued by its investors, and then bankrupted in 2004 after it emerged that it had fraudulently overstated the film’s budget by $31 million in an effort to retain more of the meagre profits.