John Travolta will always be a legend, not only for his beloved performances, but for those who have not quite resonated in the same way. In a career that extends over six decades, Travolta made seven complete films that have collected a rotten score. How does a man manage to do so many stinks? This is a difficult and fascinating question, as is the question of how “Battlefield Earth” is in a way on this list of zero centers (who, for those who know, are surely even more shocking than the work of Travolta itself).
Yes, 25 years ago, Travolta played in one of the worst films ever made: a 73 million dollars science fiction disaster based on a book by the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard. The film only reported $ 29.3 million at the box office, but that does not quite transmit the extent of its failure. Although he is not on the list of the lowest films of Travolta (he has a 3%RT score, for those interested), “Battlefield Earth” is frequently quoted as one of the worst films of all time – a fact too familiar to his writer, JD Shapiro, who has done his best from the start and the distance. But despite his best efforts to shake off this “battlefield” puree, Shapiro has always been associated with the film, insofar as he was still haunted a quarter of a century later.
According to his writer, Battlefield Earth started his life as a very different film
“Battlefield Earth” opened its doors in theaters in 2000, the following year “The Matrix” rewritten the rules of science fiction cinema. “Battlefield Earth”, however, seemed designed to cancel all the progress made by the fundamental effort of the Wachowskis. Everyone hated this film, which is not so surprising given that his writer, JD Shapiro, described it as “the most sweet film of all time”. John Travolta played Terl, the leader of an extraterrestrial breed known as Psychlos. As in the novel by L. Rob Hubbard, the psychlos governed the earth for a millennium, but in the year 3000, Jonnie “Goodboy” by Barry Pepper, Tyler, leads a human uprising. This does not necessarily resemble the basis of one of the worst films never made, but in 2010, “Battlefield Earth” won the raid for “Worse Movie of the Decade”, and Shapiro was there in person to accept the price.
He followed this by writing what was essentially a long excuse “Battlefield Earth”, seeking absolution for having been involved in the project in the first place. In his apologies, published in the New York Post, he recalled the process by which he got involved, looking for Scientology, following a few courses and even spending time on the organization’s cruise ship, The Freewind. He then read the original novel of “Battlefield Earth” and wrote a script, which, according to him, was “very, very different from what was found on the screen”. According to Shapiro, his scenario was “darker, more grumpy and had a very convincing story with rich characters” (if he says it himself) and came without “slowing down each turn, Dutch inclinations, Campy dialogue, extraterrestrials in kissing boots and all those who wear Bob Marley wigs.”
According to the writer, he received notes from the studio that exceeded everything he had ever known before. “I thought it was a joke,” he wrote. “The notes wanted me to lose key scenes, add ridiculous scenes, take out some of the key characters.” As Shapiro recalled, when he pressed the studio in the matter, it turned out that Travolta and his Scientology friends were at the origin of the requests. Shapiro then said he was dismissed for refusing to incorporate their suggestions. The screenwriter wrote his apologies 10 years after the film was released. Another decade has passed and Shapiro spoke again at the New York Post, and it seems that it is always haunted by the love letter from Travolta to the founder of Scientology.
John Travolta is to blame for Battlefield Earth
John Travolta has never really reappeared after the box office flop which was “Battlefield Earth”, as evidenced by most of his 0% films on Rotten Tomatoes are post-“Battlefield Earth” projects. But it was not only Travolta who fought in the wake of the film. He also threw a shadow on the career of almost all the people involved (Forest Whitaker, who played the assistant of Terl, Ker, despite).
Addressing the New York Post in 2020, JD Shapiro revealed that 20 years after the premiere of “Battlefield Earth”, he still could not shake his miserable heritage. The writer said he was at a party in Los Angeles, where he spoke to another writer. “Well, I wrote the worst script of all time,” said Shapiro. “‘You did not write the worst script of all time,” came the answer. “You did not write ‘Battlefield Earth’, ‘Go!'” As Shapiro remembered it, the writer then stopped before realizing: “Hey! It was the hole ** who wrote” Battlefield Earth! “”
According to the post, Shapiro was forced to write films under pseudonyms after the release of “Battlefield Earth”, which, given the unique reputation of the film, as one of the greatest failures in the history of cinema, does not seem so incredible. After all, it is a film that Roger Ebert called “disagreements in a hostile way” and the Guardian nicknamed “one of the worst films ever made”. However, it was a quarter of a century, and Shapiro clearly does not hold next to the finished product. In other words, Travolta and his cohorts of Scientology are the only ones who should assume the blame in this case.
