Movies that were supposed to launch franchises (but didn’t): Battlefield Earth

https://lebeauleblog.com/2020/05/10/movies-that-were-supposed-to-launch-franchises-but-didnt-battlefield-earth/

Twenty years ago John Travolta was still enjoying a career resurgence that started off with Pulp Fiction and continued through hits like Get Shorty and Face/Off. After decades of high highs and low lows, Travolta’s career had plateaued. For the first time in his long career, the actor had enough cache to make his passion project a reality.

Travolta cashed in his Hollywood clout to adapt a sci-fi novel written by the founder of his religion. Travolta hoped to launch a popular science fiction franchise that would make audiences view Scientology in a sympathetic light. Instead, Battlefield Earth was considered the Worst Picture of the Decade by the Golden Raspberry Awards.

Going Clear
We can’t discuss Battlefield Earth without talking about about L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. The movie is based on a novel written by Hubbard, a sci-fi writer who also founded the controversial Church of Scientology. Hubbard was a fascinating figure whose life is shrouded in mystery. To his followers, he was nothing short of the savior of the human race. To most of the rest of us, he was a charismatic con-man who founded a cult to avoid paying taxes.

For our purposes, there are a couple of aspects of Hubbard’s life and career that I want to focus on as relates to Battlefield Earth. In 1950, Hubbard released a self-help book titled Dianetics. In the book, Hubbard outlined a method of therapy called “auditing”. This text was the foundation on which Hubbard built his religion.

Hubbard saw Dianetics as a revolutionary new form of psychoanalysis. However, it was not based on scientific research. Although the book was initially popular with the public, actual psychologists rejected Hubbard’s work as unscientific. Hubbard would remember this slight. Within the Church of Scientology, there is no greater evil than a psychologist.

I find Hubbard and Scientology to be endlessly fascinating subjects. These days, the odds are pretty good that you have at least a passing familiarity with the organization and its founder thanks to some high profile defections that resulted in best-selling books, documentaries and TV shows.

Fast forward to the last years of Hubbard’s life. Hubbard went into hiding to escape legal entanglements and criminal charges. Following conviction in a French court, Hubbard lived in a recreational vehicle. During this time, he returned to writing science fiction novels like Battlefield Earth and the ten-part series, Mission Earth.

Enter Travolta
John Travolta shot to super-stardom in the later 1970’s. It seemed like he went from an actor on a sitcom to the biggest movie star in the world almost overnight. You would be hard pressed to find a more precipitous rise to fame and Travolta credited that success to Scientology.

While he was making his first movie, the forgettable The Devil’s Rain, actress Joan Prather gave him a copy of Dianetics and introduced him to the practice of auditing.

When Battlefield Earth was published in 1982, Hubbard sent Travolta an autographed copy. He hoped that as a devoted Scientologist, Travolta would use his star power to get a movie made. Unfortunately, Travolta’s career was stalling out. For much of the eighties, Travolta starred in one flop after another. He was in no position to get a project like Battlefield Earth made.

In the late eighties, Travolta had a rare hit with the high-concept comedy, Look Who’s Talking. But that comeback was short-lived. By the second sequel, Look Who’s Talking Now, most of Hollywood had once again written Travolta off. The one gut who didn’t was Quentin Tarantino who fought to cast Travolta in Pulp Fiction.

Pulp Fiction kicked off one of the greatest career resurgences in Hollywood history. Travolta was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor which he lost to Tom Hanks who won for Forrest Gump. But the momentum he gained from Pulp Fiction carried him through the rest of the decade and into the early aughts. If there was ever a time for Travolta to make his passion project, this was it.

Ghost Writer
During early development, there was a lot of excitement for a science fiction tent-pole movie starring John Travolta. Metro-Goldwyn Mayer negotiated a deal to distribute Battlefield Earth with Travolta as producer and star. J.D. Shapiro was hired to write the screenplay.

Shapiro later recounted his involvement in Battlefield Earth in a humorous column for the New York Post. According to Shapiro, he got the job because he visited the Celebrity Center in Los Angeles. Shapiro insisted that he was not interesting in Scientology, but he had read an article which indicated that the facility was a good place to meet women.

The Celebrity Center didn’t help Shapiro’s romantic life, but he was introduced to Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston.