John Travolta brought a breath of fresh air to the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.
At the premiere of his directorial debut, “Propeller Night Bus,” on Friday, he looked unrecognizable in a scruffy cream-colored wool beret and glasses.
The 72-year-old looked dapper in a classic black suit over a knit vest, white shirt and tie.
He walked the red carpet and posed for photos with his 26-year-old daughter Ella. Ella appeared in a movie with her father and looked glamorous in a black dress and diamonds.
The pair were joined by their 11-year-old co-star Clark Shotwell and Travolta’s co-producer Jason Berger.
Just before the film’s screening at the Debussy Theater, Travolta was surprised to receive an honorary Palme d’Or.
“This is more than an Oscar,” an emotional Travolta, who was nominated for Best Actor in 1977’s “Saturday Night Fever” and 1994’s “Pulp Fiction,” said while accepting the award from director Thierry Frémaux in Cannes, Variety reported.
As the crowd cheered, Travolta continued, “I can’t believe it. This is the last thing I expected. It’s unbelievable.”
“When you said this was going to be a special night, I didn’t think you meant it,” he told Fremaux.
The “Grease” star called the honor “humble” and thanked Fremaux for winning the Palme d’Or, which Peter Jackson and Barbra Streisand have also won at this year’s festival.
“When I met you in November, I had no expectation that my film would be received,” Travolta told Frémaux. “And when Thierry said that this film not only was accepted, but that it made history because it was the first film to be accepted so quickly, I couldn’t believe it and cried like a baby.”
Frémaux revealed that Travolta’s directorial debut, based on the children’s book he published in 1997, has been selected as the first film to screen at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.
He also called Travolta “one of the greatest artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.”
According to Variety, “Propeller One-Way Night Bus” tells the story of Jeff (Shotwell), an airplane enthusiast, and his mother (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett) who take a one-way cross-country trip to Hollywood.
Ella plays a flight attendant in the movie.
Travolta welcomed Ella in April 2000, along with his late wife Kelly Preston, who died of breast cancer in 2020 at the age of 57.
The couple also had two sons, Ben (15) and Jett, who tragically passed away at the age of 16 in January 2009 after suffering a seizure during a family trip to the Bahamas.
Ella has made a name for herself in the fashion world, appearing on the cover of Hardcopy Magazine’s Fantasia issue last November.
She made her acting debut in the 2009 Disney comedy film Old Dogs, which starred her parents.
“Propeller Night Bus” will premiere on Apple TV on May 29th.
