It’s a John Travolta kind of day. How long has it been since we said THAT? All kinds of exciting things are happening in Travolta-land and none of them include Battlefield Earth or weird allegations of sexual misconduct! First, there’s the announcement that Joe Johnston will direct Travolta in the Gotti biopic. Now we have news that the star will playing a very different type of criminal in Philip Martin’s heist movie The Forger.
The Forger is all about Ray Cutter (Travolta), an art prodigy turned petty thief who buys his way out of prison in order to spend time with his ill son. Things go wrong, of course, and he’s forced to do ‘one last big job’ for the guys that helped him get out of prison.
The story sounds pretty standard, but the proof will always be in how it’s carried out. Travolta has some pretty good backing behind the camera. Director Philip Martin has pretty much been a British TV guy, directing episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Wallander (with Kenneth Branagh) and the final installment of Prime Suspect – the latter garnering him an Emmy. He’s also won a BAFTA for Mo, starring Julie Walters as a Labour politician. No big deal.
The script was written by Richard D’Ovidio (The Call, Thir13en Ghosts). All of that means that Travolta will be the big name draw for The Forger, particularly in the United States. The question becomes: can the Comeback Kid stage yet another comeback?
He’s done it before. Despite some of the less savory aspects and rumors surrounding his personal life, John Travolta has made some fairly good film choices of late (Savages springs to mind). With Gotti in the pipeline, and now The Forger, he’s making a good foray back into mainstream and non-Scientology-related cinema.
The Forger will begin shooting later this year, presumably not at the same time as Gotti.