John Travolta leans on the love and support of his fans at "Old Dogs" World premiere
As I got ready to leave my place in the Hollywood Hills, I knew this was going to be a much different premiere than the 12 I’ve covered in the last nine months. On this night, was the World Premiere of Walt Disney Pictures 'Old Dogs' at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. This is not a Blog, about an event, it’s about an experience.
As many of you might know the three stars of the film are John Travolta, Kelly Preston and their daughter, Ella Bleu. On Monday, they made their first red carpet appearance since the death of their son and brother Jett. Even though, I may not agree with his religious beliefs, I can not ignore that we live in a place where everyone is free to believe what they want to. When I heard the news about Jett’s death, my heart went out to the family. No parent should ever have to bury a child.
As I waited with several others crowding both sides of Hollywood BLVD., long after fellow stars including co-star Robin Williams arrived, people in the crowd were debating if Travolta, and family were going to make an appearance. As I’m changing my batteries I notice security getting even tighter.
A few minutes later, a long white limousine pulls up about 5 feet in front of me. The door opens from the back of the passenger’s side. I see a young girl and knew it had to be Ella Bleu Travolta. As she gets out of the car we see Kelly Preston, but no John. Then like a scene out of a movie, Travolta gets out from the drivers side and looks at all the people across the streets. As fans are screaming we see Travolta not head straight to the red carpet, he headed across the street into rush hour traffic to say hi and sign autographs across the street.
After doing that for several minutes it appeared that the family, was headed to the red carpet. Instead John headed to the area next to it where I was with a bunch of fans and paparazzi. For the first time on a shoot a brought a friend of mine who has lived in LA his entire life but had never been to a red carpet event before. As I grabbed my camera I starting taking shots, but kept getting peoples hands and and items they wanted signed in the shots. As John got closer, people were touching him and he was signing autographs. My friend asked him to sign a autograph on a receipt he had in his pocket. I thought this would be my money shot, but as before, people got in the way. Travolta then appeared to be heading towards me. Having nothing to sign, my camera was in my hand. He pauses and looks or poses for me. I started to take a step back to get a better shot. But as I did I saw him reaching out to touch me. At that point I realized that he was reaching out to the fans as much as they were to him. It looked like a religious moment. The fans were part of his healing process. I started thinking as him not as the actor, but as someone who was trying to come out of darkness and into the light. Because of this, I ended up letting him have his moment and not shooting a flash off in his face. Some people can get caught up in the celebrity scene out here that it tends to dehumanize them and forget they are human. Until next time, “Speak the Truth”.
