In The Fanatic, John Travolta transforms into a mega movie fan, Moose, who will go to extreme measures to gain recognition from his favorite stars.
At the movie’s Egyptian Theater premiere, Travolta told THR the one star he would fan over: “Pitbull, because I love him so much as a performer,” he said. “He has such a sense of humor and such a tongue-in-cheek, wink-wink thing about performing that I get such a kick out of it.” Travolta can be seen dancing in Mr. 305’s “3 to Tango” music video.
The actor also spoke of his encounters with stalker fans, echoing the themes in the film. “There is a girl in England named Sharon who changed her name to my name — Sharon Travolta — and she even got a tattoo of me. She’s always been utterly loving and utterly wonderful,” he said of one of his mega fans. “But the ‘Moose’ that is reflective of this character would be more like the people that invaded my house, and a girl that hid in a closet and a guy who came into a family dinner,” Travolta added of more drastic occurrences.
Unlike his vicious character in The Fanatic, he assured THR that the home invaders were not a threat, nor is he mad, “They were not ill-intended. I’m in love with my fans because I identify with them.”
The film, written and directed by Fred Durst, also stars Devon Sawa and Ana Golja. Durst told THR that it was inspired by a real-life stan. “There’s a guy I met, he’s an autograph collector, and he’s nothing like the ‘Moose’ in the movie but he was kind of quirky and different and really obsessive and outrageous,” he revealed. “He was way more aware and clearly not a killer or anything, but I just always thought he was interesting. I took an interest in him and befriended him. I saw how he operates and he inspired me to write this character in this movie.”
Both Travolta and Durst said the film highlights the difference between being a good person and being a bad celebrity. Durst said, “There’s an interesting contrast between celebrity and fan in the social media age. I’ve met a lot of celebrities who are really good people but really bad celebrities.”
What makes a good celebrity and a bad one according to Durst? “If you’re a celebrity and if you have fame and you want to live a normal life where people aren’t approaching you and bothering you or inconveniencing you in any way then you can’t go to certain places and do certain things. You have to sacrifice, but if you do go out, I think you have to just be selfless and I think you’ve got to be the good celebrity — I do believe that there is an obligation there.”
The Fanatic is set to hit theaters on Aug. 30.
