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Every actor has their own methodological approach to the art of acting. There are those who will coil their nervous energy, pacing up and down trailers like big cats on the prowl until that energy is taut and ready to release on an unsuspecting co-lead. Others refuse to leave the bounds of their character's universe, refusing to bathe for weeks on end or, even more extreme, pulling out teeth and slashing their faces in the search for the authentic experience . John Travolta just decides that, if his character's a bad guy, he'll smoke a cigarette.
Show all 5 1 /5How to smoke like a bad guy, according to John Travolta How to smoke like a bad guy, according to John Travolta Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction (1994): the 'cool and casual' Blog Movies, Films, and Netflix has offered us some fascinating insight into the methodology of an actor. Because when Travolta wants to play a bad guy, he smokes; and yet the very art of his smoking serves as a surprisingly revelatory character tool. Vincent Vega, for example, is all about the effusion of cool. The casual switch between smoking styles: from the cigarette naturally resting between thumb and pointer finger to it resting between the pointer and middle finger in a scissor style. Yet, like Tarantino's own work, there's a level of self-consciousness there. Vega's a kind of showman, and his smoking reflects how he controls his own self-image. When he wants to intimidate, he'll smoke with a little more flair; he's far more relaxed when he's in the disarming presence of Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman).
How to smoke like a bad guy, according to John Travolta Vic Deakins in Broken Arrow (1996): the 'enthusiast' Travolta's smoking here is an almost constant attribute of his character, there's a rarely a point at which he's seen without that little tendril of smoke unfurling upwards. And, with his cigarette jammed in the scissor style between his pointer and middle fingers, it's a testament to Deakins' own roughshod ways. He smokes when he's just evaded death, he smokes when he's just committed some murder; there's no occasion too sacred for a quick puff.
How to smoke like a bad guy, according to John Travolta Castor Troy in Face/Off (1997): the 'renegade' Considering this scene takes place post face-swap, this might just be Travolta taking a stab at how Nic Cage smokes. Whatever the case, it works perfectly. Troy's manner here is oozing psychotic confidence; in the carelessness with which he offers his own supposed daughter a cigarette, or the way he lets it hang listlessly from his mouth as he leans back in his chair and mutters "I am the king."
How to smoke like a bad guy, according to John Travolta Gabriel Shear in Swordfish (2001): the 'baffling' Why is he holding that cigarette like a nicotine lollipop? No idea. Makes as much sense as that goatee.
How to smoke like a bad guy, according to John Travolta Howard Saint in The Punisher (2004): the 'old-fashioned' Probably just an attempt to give one of the dullest villains in Marvel history some ounce of interest.
And, yet, as blog Movies, Films, and Flix's illuminating investigations into the subject have uncovered ; Travolta's art of smoking actually serves as a surprisingly revelatory character tool, as revealed in five of his meanest, cruellest characters to hit the big screen.
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