A first film and an honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival: John Travolta, a man in seventh heaven on the Croisette

She had to be “special”. But the evening was rather very special for John Travolta. Already delighted with the selection of his first feature film by the Cannes Film Festival, “the most personal thing” that he does not have “never done”, the American actor and producer was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or before the screening on Friday May 15. With his white beret, Travolta became the hero of what could be the Cannes remake of Saturday Night Fever, and Friday Night Fever on the Croisette.

This fever was perceptible among the festival-goers the moment the actor walked through the doors of the packed Debussy room, where the screening took place. Night flight to Los Angeles (Propeller One-Way Night Coach). Adapted from his illustrated book published in 1997, Propeller One-Way Night Coach : A Fable for All Ages, his feature film describes the wonder of the 8-year-old child that he was, passionate about aviation and aeronautics, during an air crossing of the United States with his mother. An actress, the latter decided that her little family would settle in Hollywood to give new impetus to her career. Little John’s alter ego is called Jeff and is played by a lively Clark Shotwell and his mother, by Kelly Eviston-Quinnett.

Narrated by John Travolta, the story is a vivid reconstruction of these experiences which forever mark a life. The immense red and white corridor which led the two passengers aboard TWA Flight 393, in December 1962, heralded a unique experience. The perspective adopted by this shot gives the sensation that they are alone in the world. Travolta’s staging mischievously plays with spaces like Jeff running everywhere in this plane. Between his seat, the cabin corridors or his bunk bed, he discovers with wonder a space that has always fascinated him. But above all he meets the kind and pretty Doris, a flight attendant played by Travolta’s daughter, the graceful Ella Bleu Travolta.

Night flight to Los Angeles reminds us of what we love most on a plane: being pampered. And Jeff will be by his first “crush” (favorite): Doris, obviously. Even if the closest thing she has to her favorite dish is only a cordon bleu. Travolta’s omnipresent voice regularly gives relief to the plot: the summary of the apotheosis of little Jeff’s journey made more than one laugh at Debussy and will certainly have the same effect on those who see the film on Apple TV when it is released on May 29. In short, Travolta signs a candid work, reminiscent of a bygone era when one could push the door. from the cockpit of an airplane like you open the one in your bedroom.

Travolta makes a touching appearance in the feature film but the audience at the Palais des Festivals was able to see him again on the big screen thanks to the trailer for his filmography. “It’s my life”, Travolta said, reacting to the widely acclaimed images. Particularly when the extracts from Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease (1978), Pulp Fiction (1994), which won the Palme d’Or at CannesBlow Out (1981)Mad City (1997)The red line (1998) or even Hairspray (2007) ont été projetés. “I have been making films for 85% of my life”, will later say the man who brought the whole world onto a dance floor without giving up his love of planes. “I was able to do both,” he replied to Thierry Frémaux, the general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, when he asked him if he did not regret not being a career pilot. “It’s a Wonderful Life”, a renchéri John Travolta. “I had the chance to practice the magnificent art of theater, film, singing, dance, comedy as well as the art of the sky.”

His longevity in the seventh art is today crowned with a Palme d’Or which moved him greatly.“You told me it would be a special evening but I didn’t know it would be like this”, declared John Travolta, showing the trophy and addressing Thierry Frémaux. “When I met you in November [2025]I didn’t know if my film would be accepted.” And addressing the room, he continued: “When Thierry told me that it was historic because it was the first film selected so early in the history of the Festival, I cried like a baby. I was already happy to be there, I didn’t expect that”. His work was the first film chosen by the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival.

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“It’s ironic that this symbol reflects my taste in cinema. It’s beyond the Oscars”insisted the actor and now American director. Black Orpheus or A man and a womane, films which are in the artist’s cinematic pantheon, have all won the Palme d’Or. We also find the famous music from Claude Lelouch’s feature film in the soundtrack of the Night flight to Los Angeles which is a concentration of emblematic titles.

Night flight to Los Angeles East “a glimpse of what it was like to be me as a child”, Travolta announced before the festival-goers, who were lucky enough to have a seat at Debussy, discovered the film. “I hope you enjoy it”, he added. The answer was yes to the applause meter in a room where someone shouted (customary during the Festival), just before the credits began of the film: “John, we love you.”