Hollywood icon John Travolta has spoken candidly about how he continues to find hope and positivity in life following the devastating losses of his son Jett and his wife Kelly Preston, revealing that his new film is a heartfelt dedication to those he has loved and lost.
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Travolta, 72, said that while “life has certainly tested me,” his instinct has always been to seek the light rather than surrender to grief. “I’m not made to remain absorbed in the darkness,” he said. “I can look at the darkness, but I don’t choose to die in that darkness.”
The actor has endured profound personal tragedy in recent years. His son Jett died in 2009 at the age of 16 after suffering a seizure that caused a fatal fall. Eleven years later, in 2020, his wife, Kelly Preston, passed away at 57, two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
Travolta has channelled that grief into his latest project, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, which he dedicated to Kelly, Jett, his parents, and his siblings.
“They are the model from which this film was born,” he said.
The semi-autobiographical film is based on Travolta’s own first flight as a child and inspired by his 1997 children’s book of the same name. Set in 1962 America and told through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy named Jeff, the family film touches on weighty historical themes, including Nazi concentration camps, while remaining anchored in a child’s perspective.
Travolta’s daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, 26, also stars in the film, making it a deeply personal project for the family.
