John Travolta shakes almost too many hands at the premiere of The Forger

John Travolta shakes almost too many hands at the premiere of The Forger

By Chris Hampton | September 15, 2014

By Chris Hampton | 09/15/2014

TIFF 2014 Red Carpet: The Forger — (Image: Kayla Rocca)

With 10 days of red carpets behind us, we can’t help but pick up on patterns. For instance, the fact that it’s the biggest stars who tend to give the most attention to their fans and the press, while actors like Dax Shepard and Anna Kendrick, who aren’t yet household names, never fielded a single question as far as we could tell. (Did they mistake the red carpet for lava?)

For fans of John Travolta, Friday’s Roy Thomson Hall opening of The Forger was an all-you-can-eat buffet—the guy arrived a full hour before showtime, and his handlers couldn’t peel him off the crowd barricade. The Philip Martin-directed caper stars Travolta as a man sprung from jail to spend time with his terminally ill son, except he has to commit an art heist to repay the mobsters who arranged his release. While Christopher Plummer was shepherded by with the same quiet dignity afforded the crown jewels or some other literal national treasure, Martin jawed on about Travolta’s preparation. The actor apparently interviewed real art counterfeiters and got serious about learning to paint. “His art’s great,” Martin said. “By the end of filming he’d produced what he calls ‘an impression of an impressionist,’ and it’s rather lovely.” For costar Travis Aaron Wade, Travolta was an inspiration. His favourite takeaway? “If you want to become as successful as you possibly can,” Wade recounts, “you never say no to a photograph or an autograph for a fan. And in my time with him, I’ve never seen him say no. Like, look—he’ll be out there forever.”

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