We just finished reading Movies Rock magazines "Fever Pitch," an absolutely fascinating book about the making of Saturday Night Fever.Once I started reading the 17-page piece by writer Sam Kashner, I couldnt put it down. Here are just some of the highlights:Hairspray apparently wasnt the first time John Travolta did drag on film. At the end of the Saturday Night Fever shoot, cast and crew thought theyd have some fun with Paramount executives, who didnt have much faith in the disco flick. "Travolta and members of the crew filmed a mock wedding at the disco-for laughs-with John dressed as the bride and one of the grips appearing as the groom," Kashner writes.But when the execs saw it, "They didnt see the humor in it...Im sure they burned it," remembers Tom Priestley, a camera operator on the movie.Paramount also wasnt happy with one scene in which Tony Manero (Travolta) is getting ready in front of a mirror wearing just his bikini briefs and a gold chain around his neck. "We got all kinds of hassle," director John Badham says. "We were letting some man walk around in his underwear, showing his body off." Production designer Charles Bailey, Kashner writes, hung a Farrah Fawcett poster in Maneros bedroom to deflate any possible homoerotic tension.While Deney Terrio was the first to work with Travolta on his dancing, it was choreographer Lester Wilson, an Emmy-winning legend in gay nightclubs, who many believe gave Travolta his star-making moves-or at least the inspiration for them. "Im the kind of dancer who needs thought and construction, an idea, before I dance," Travolta says. "I need an internal story. Lester would put on some music, and he would say, Move with me, motherf--ker, move with me! " (FYI: Yes, Terrio is the same guy who went on to host TVs disco-competition show Dance Fever.)Travolta hints that, despite his newfound fame, he found it lonely at the top. "I had the field to myself," he remembers. "A few years later, [Tom] Cruise would come along, and Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson, but for a long time there was no one else out there. It was like Valentino-style popularity-an unimaginable pinnacle of fame. Its not that I wanted competition. I just wanted company."
Movies Rock debuts as a supplement that will accompany subscriber issues of 14 Condé Nast magazines beginning Nov. 1. And as I reported yesterday, the Movies Rock concert takes place Dec 2. at the Kodak Theatre. It will air five nights later on CBS.
'E' Marc Malkin for FemaleFirst
Tagged in John Travolta