JOHN TRAVOLTA PROMOTES THE BATTLEFIELD EARTH MOVIE TO A STANDING ROOM ONLY CROWD AT MAJOR SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION, STARFEST 2000

As the Rocky Mountains and Denver provide the dramatic setting for the much-anticipated science fiction film adaptation of L. Ron Hubbard's bestseller Battlefield Earth, it was a natural when John Travolta attended Starfest 2000, held at the Denver Holiday Inn Convention Center, and appeared before a standing room only crowd of about 4,000 cheering fans.

Following a presentation of the movie trailer, John Travolta spoke to the audience about bringing the SF epic – in which he stars as the evil alien security chief, Terl, as well as being a co-producer of the movie – to the screen. He took the fans behind the scenes of the film-making process and gave an overview of the production, spending more than an hour showing early design sketches, stills from the set, answering questions from the audience and talking about the creative team who combined their talents and energy to make a memorable science fiction movie.

Travolta talked about how he relished the opportunity Battlefield Earth gave him to work in the science fiction genre and to play the character of an alien. His aim was to make the science fiction real, rather than fantasy, and he felt that this has definitely been achieved. To prepare for his role in the movie, he took the characters he played in Pulp Fiction, Broken Arrow and Face/Off and combined them all into one, in order to pull off the consummate villain performance as Terl. He briefed the fans that the movie definitely captures the spirit of L. Ron Hubbard's book and promised them, "the film is not going to let you down," while also assuring them that parts of it are "funny as hell!"

Prior to Travolta's presentation, a line of six hundred fans snaked through the lobby of the hotel, past shops and the restaurant and down the hallway connecting to the convention center, waiting to get the actor's autograph. He spent over an hour signing memorabilia ranging from Welcome Back Kotter and Grease photos to videos of Pulp Fiction and copies of the newly released movie tie-in paperback edition of Battlefield Earth and the Warner Bros. Battlefield Earth movie poster.