Pakistan, May 17 — The Hollywood actor John Travolta received an unexpected lifetime achievement award at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday during the debut of the first film he has ever directed.
A man who became a symbol almost overnight through “Saturday Night Fever” was clearly emotional while receiving the honorary Palme d’Or before the showing of “Propeller One-Way Night Coach,” a film adapted from a children’s book he authored.
“I simply can’t accept it. This goes far beyond an Oscar,” he remarked while receiving the honorary Palme d’Or.
My most cherished films throughout my life have consistently been those that have received the Palme d’Or.
Travis – who has never received an Academy Award – rekindled his declining career with his memorable performance as assassin Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction,” which was awarded the festival’s highest honor, the Palme d’Or, in 1994.
Numerous reviewers praised it as his finest acting, a moment that has become part of film legend.
Cannes had concealed the award until Travolta appeared on stage for the premiere.
In addition to the award, Travolta, 72, expressed that he was extremely taken aback by the acceptance of his first film as a director, which features his daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, at the most renowned film festival globally.
He mentioned that when the director, Thierry Fremaux, informed him in November that “it would be the first film ever accepted that early,” he cried like a baby.
“I didn’t expect my movie to be accepted,” he added.
A devoted airplane enthusiast, “Propeller One-Way Night Coach” is a personal story set during the heyday of air travel.
It recounts the story of a young aviation enthusiast embarking on a one-way journey to Hollywood alongside his mother.
Everyone who was in the film is sitting in the audience right there, my family.
“And that’s why this movie was made and why I am an artist, thanks to those people over there,” he said, pointing to his family and team.
