Two Of A Kind - Tribute

The Supreme Being has decided that the mortal world is irrevocably corrupt and a second flood is the only solution.

A group of guardian angels led by Charlie (Charles Durning) propose a test to prove mankind's worthiness. As their guinea pigs, they suggest using Zack (John Travolta), a would-be inventor who runs afoul of loan sharks when his creations fail to turn a profit, and Debbie (Olivia Newton-John), a bank teller and aspiring actress who becomes involved with Zack after he stages an amateurish robbery at her teller's window.

If Zack and Debbie succeed in performing a great sacrifice for each other, that miracle would convince Him to spare the Earth's inhabitants.

The guardian angels are given one week.

JOHN TRAVOLTA... (Zack Melon)

John Travolta generally maintains a low profile, surfacing only to promote a new film. He would rather spend time on his ranch of 17 fertile acres, nestled at the foot of the mountains in California.

The land is not just a retreat; the avocado crop pays the taxes on the property. There are also orange, lemon and lime groves that produce more than enough for Travolta and his small staff.

Along with the produce, Travolta has had luck raising Koi, a fancy Japanese carp. There were only four fish when he bought the ranch, but loving care has resulted in rapid reproduction. For the two-legged swimmers, there is a small swimming pool at the far end of the courtyard.

Travolta's garage holds two Mercedes and two 1955 classics-a black T-bird convertible and a soft yellow Cadillac Coupe de Ville, both under protective covering. He also owns a little black quarter horse named Ebony and a 10-year-old Palomino.

Los Angeles is only 15 minutes away by jet. Travelling to Tinsel Town for business is not a problem. He is licensed to fly his own jet.

Travolta was born in Englewood, N.J., the youngest of six children. His mother was a former actress and his father ran the Travolta Tire Exchange. He grew up watching his sister on stage in Gypsy and Irma La Douce and used to sing all his sister's roles when he was just a kid.

When he was a teenager, he took tap dancing from Gene Kelly's brother Fred and learned the basics.

Encouraged by his parents, Travolta dropped out of high school at 16 to pursue theatre. His first break came when he landed a spot in the national touring company of Grease. He made his debut on Broadway in Over Here before heading to California where he landed the role of sweathog Vinnie Barbarino in the TV series Welcome Back Kotter and had his first taste of success and stardom.

When he was working on the TV series, he made A Boy in a Plastic Bubble, his first movie for television. It was the story of a youth born without natural immunities who had to live in a purified environment.

Carrie was his first feature film and then he was launched into superstardom as Brooklyn disco-king Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever. He received an Oscar nomination for the role. Everyone imitated him and the white suit he wore in the film became the mandatory dress for discos. He captured the imagination of the world and he was only 23 at the time.

Seven months later, he scored a second hit in Grease and the combined box office grosses of Fever and Grease came to more than $500 million and made him one of the hottest properties in show business.

He made Urban Cowboy and started an international country-western craze. Then he starred in Staying Alive, with Sylvester Stallone directing. Because of the film, he began a rigid regime of body building and now has one of the greatest bodies in showbusiness.

During Olivia Newton-John's national concert tour, Travolta made several unannounced onstage appearances with her. It was then that he first suggested that they re-team for Two of a Kind. They were both delighted with the prospect of working together again and began to arrange their hectic schedules so they could start the film in the spring of 1983.

Diana Hyland still remains his most serious love affair. She was 18 years older but he found her an intelligent woman with a beauty and perceptiveness he hadn't found in anyone else. They started to live together and she had a tremendous calming influence on him. Unfortunately she died of cancer in 1977 and he went through one of the most difficult periods of his life.

His name has been linked with many stars but he has seen actress Marilu Henner off and on for 12 years. They met on Nov. 28, 1972 and became lovers on July 15, 1973 - at a TraveLodge in San Francisco. During their on and off relationship, Henner surprised him by marrying Freddie Forrest, but the marriage lasted only a short time.

Travolta's name was also linked with anyone from Debra Winger to Brooke Shields during the same period. At this writing, the Henner-Travolta relationship is on again, but who knows, by the time the ink is dry, it may be off again.

Travolta can tolerate a man not being bright or ambitious, but not a woman. He says it began with his mother and sisters. He has an innate understanding of what women do because he grew up around women who were colorful, exciting and inspiring.

He says he has such a high opinion of women that it makes his expectancy level high. He wants women to be intelligent and career-oriented even though they might also want a family. He says that would be fine, but feels that the family should not mean that they have to give up their goals in life. He wants women to be mentally stimulating.

That is the type of woman he says he wants, and also admits that he is always more open, loving, complimentary and adoring to the person who comes with built-in barriers. He likes the challenge of someone that's not easy to get close to.

A complex man.

OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN...(Debbie Wylder)

Music isn't Olivia Newton-John's only love. She also loves animals - her biggest expense and joy. Her California spread is home for five horses, eight dogs and four cats. Some were gifts from fans and associates. Her two coyote-dogs were adopted when she found them beside a highway.

It is a good thing she does well because every month she has two tons of hay delivered to feed a thoroughbred and four quarter horses. One refrigerator is stocked with special food for the dogs, two of them Great Danes. When a Great Dane she had owned for seven years died, she had him cremated and his collar bronzed.

Olivia rides her horses for hours in the hills surrounding her luxurious but rustic two-bedroom home-or she walks there with her dogs.

Dolphins have concerned her ever since the issue was raised about Japanese tuna fisherman killing them. In her album Physical, released in 1982, she included The Dolphin Song, a song she had written. And when she was in Hawaii posing for the album cover, she spent several days swimming with the dolphins at Sea Life Park.

She found that they had a great sense of humor, that they would come charging at her, then leap over or dive under. She says they had as much fun as she did and that they are very intelligent. Imagine what we could learn from the knowledge they have in their minds.

Though her grandfather was the German Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born, she did not take to formal education. She was younger than most in her class, was shy and often felt left out. She never wanted to compete in sports because she was afraid of coming in last.

Newton-John was traumatized by her parents' divorce when she was eleven years old and took to music for solace. By the time she was 14, she was singing in coffee houses and on local TV shows. At 16, she won a trip to London in a talent contest and loved the city so much that she moved there in 1964.

Lee Kramer, the manager-boyfriend who helped guide her to seven platinum albums, eight gold singles, three Grammys and a slew of other awards during their six years together, is out of the picture now.

Musically, the man who influences her is John Farrar, who writes, produces and arranges her records and plays most of the back-ups. But she wants to write more material - such as The Dolphin Song - herself.

She moved on to another boyfriend, Matt Lattanzi, who was 23 at the time. She obviously likes younger men because her name has been linked recently with Canadian impressionist Jim Carrey, who is only 21.

The lissome 5'6', 110-pound soprano exudes health and keeps in shape by swimming in her pool three or four times a week, playing lots of tennis, water skiing in the summer and skiing on the slopes in winter. She also watches her diet - eating lots of steamed vegetables and staying away from too much red meat.

Her first big hit was If Not For You in 1971. After several more Top 10 hits such as I Honestly Love You, she moved to Hollywood, and the big time, in 1974.

In 1978, she co-starred with John Travolta in the musical Grease, which grossed $180 million. She had a percentage of the film and though it was small, it turned out to be very lucrative.

She has taken care that she will never have to worry about security by investing her money. She has extensive real estate investments, including an 80-acre sugar-cane-and-avocado plantation in Australia and her multimillion-dollar Malibu estate.

One of her wishes came true when she was finally cast in a movie made in Australia. The film Kangaroo is adapted from a story by D.H. Lawrence. It is set in the 1920's and 1930's and co-stars Bryan Brown of Breaker Morant. Editor's note - unfortunately this film never happened

Newton-John keeps her Australian heritage much in evidence. In Grease, she insisted upon retaining her accent. The Australian press is very supportive of her, which is something. Most American entertainers find the Australian press offensive and aggressive.

But she is not loved by everyone in that part of the world. The Japanese are still angry with her because she cancelled a tour to protest the killing of dolphins.

The song The Promise didn't please the Japanese either it's a plea to the world to stop killing dolphins. But she is not concerned only with dolphins she is concerned about sea life everywhere and wildlife in the United States. And she doesn't mind using her high profile as an artist to help force change.

Recently, Newton-John was named America's Favorite Pop/Rock Female Vocalist at the American Music Awards. Her recent national concert tour was a standing room only success and Heart Attack, from her best-selling collection of Greatest Hits, Volume II, went gold.

OLIVER REED (Beazley)

Oliver Reed plays the role of the villainous Beazley in Two of a Kind.

Reed, who gets as much press for his outrageous behavior in real life as he does for his starring roles in theatre and films, has been in and out of one scandal or another for years usually for fighting and drunkenness.

He came into showbusiness legitimately. He is the nephew of famous film director Sir Carol Reed and is related to two other English theatrical greats-Sir Herbert Tree and Sir Max Beerbohm.

He is one of the few English actors who hasn't left his homeland because of taxes. He says he loves England but might think seriously of leaving if a socialist government was elected again.

He has already decided to sell his 63-room mansion, his horses, cars etc. because he is tired of keeping up all the trappings of a star.

Reed's father is sports journalist Peter Reed and he has inherited his father's writing talent. He has written an autobiography- Reed All About Me - and wants to do more writing.

When Reed returned to civilian life after being drafted into the Royal Army Medical Corps, he became a film extra. He went on to play small parts in BBC plays and in feature films.

He began an association with Hammer Films in the starring role in The Curse of the Werewolf and made The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, Pirates of Blood River,Captain Clegg, The Scarlet Blade, Paranoiac and The Damned with that film company.

In 1962, director Michael Winner changed the Reed image by giving him the romantic lead in The System (The Girl Getters in America). They have since successfully collaborated on several other films.

Reed's portrayal of the composer Debussy in Ken Russell's BBC television documentary began his second important partnership with the director. He had worked with Russell in the films Tommy and Women in Love.

After making The Trap in Canada with Rita Tushingham, Reed portrayed Bill Sykes in the Oscar-winning musical Oliver! His other film credits are: The Assassination Bureau, The Hunting Party, Sitting Target, Royal Flash, The Three Musketeers, The Four Musketeers, And Then There Were None, Burnt Offerings, Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday, Tomorrow Never Comes, The Class of Mrs. MacMichael, Touch of the Sun and David Cronenberg's The Brood. His most recent movies include Lion of the Desert, Venom and The Sting II.

Reed, true to form, has left $25,000 in his will to be spent, not on his funeral, but on an elegant wake at his favorite haunt, The White Elephant in Mayfair. One clause states that his attorneys are to allow only those who are crying real tears to drink.

CASTULO GUERRA (Gonzales)

Castulo Guerra, who plays Gonzales in Two of a Kind, is multi-talented. He speaks English, Italian and Spanish fluently. He enjoys horseback riding and fencing and plays the piano, flute, accordian, guitar and drums.

He has been seen on television in the NBC movie Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number and in the daytime series Search for Tomorrow, One Life to Live, The Guiding Light and The Doctors.

CHARLES DURNING (Charlie)

Charles Durning, cast as Charlie in Two of a Kind, scored for his performance in the box-office smash Tootsie and for his role as the Governor in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, that won him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Durning, who was born in Highland Falls, New York, was 12 years old when he decided to become an actor. When he graduated from high school, he ran away to Buffalo to work as a second banana in burlesque.

The U.S. Army took him away from showbusiness. He served in Korea for three years and earned the Silver Star. But he was wounded very badly and spent three years in hospitals.

He suffered from psychological problems due to his leg injuries. For a short time, he was blind and also talked with a bad stutter. When he finally got out of the hospital, he took dance lessons to strengthen his legs and went to a drama school for speech therapy.

It took Durning about 25 years to make a living in showbusiness. Trying to make it cost him his wife who left him when she grew tired of trying to raise three children on $8,000 a year and dreams.

He was finally recognized as a first-rate character film star when director George Roy Hill cast him as the crooked policeman in The Sting, and has been showing his talents ever since in movies such as Tootsie and The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas.

Durning has received Emmy nominations for his roles in Queen of the Star-dust Ballroom, Attica, The Best Little Girl in the World and The Cop and the Kid. But he hasn't stayed away from his first love the theatre. He has appeared in The Au Pair Man, The Happiness Cage and Knock, Knock.

Durning and his second wife, Marian, divide their time between residences in New York and Los Angeles.

BEATRICE STRAIGHT (Ruth)

Beatrice Straight, who plays Ruth in Two of a Kind, has been honored with an Academy Award for her performance as the neglected wife in Sidney Lumet's Network and with a Best Actress Tony Award for her work in Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

Besides her award-winning performance in Network, Straight's other screen appearances include The Nun's Story, Pat-terns, The Formula, Endless Love and Poltergeist.

She has also appeared on many TV programs, both in Los Angeles and in New York. She played Mrs. Thacker on the series Beacon Hill and appeared in the TV film The Dain Curse. She also starred in the ABC series King's Crossing.

SCATMAN CROTHERS (Earl)

Scatman Crothers portrays Earl in Two of a Kind. He was born Sherman Crothers but was tagged with the name Scatman on a radio show in Dayton, Ohio, when the program director wanted to bill him with a name snappier than the one he owned.

He has an impressive list of credits in both film and TV. His films include the Oscar-winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Lady Sings the Blues, The Cheap Detective, The Shining and Twilight Zone.

He was featured in the epic mini-series Roots and worked for four years as a regular on the popular Chico and The Man televison series.

Crothers first appeared on TV in 1948 in Dixie Showboat. He later appeared in The Colgate Comedy Hour, Beulah and in continuing roles on One of the Boys. He played Sam, the piano player, in the NBC Casablanca series.

PRODUCTION...

Ever since the production of the enormously successful Grease, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John have remained great friends. Because of this friendship, the film industry kept looking for a vehicle for them to star in together again.

When Travolta read John Herzfeld's script of Two Of A Kind, he liked it. He agreed to do the project and talk to Olivia Newton-John about involving herself in the contemporary romantic comedy.

Travolta considers himself a romantic at heart and was attracted to the idea that love builds and gets stronger in the movie and wins out in the end because people remain true to one another.

When Olivia and Travolta perform together they always look out for one another. They are not only concerned with the scenes they play together, but offer each other guidance on individual takes. The director John Herzfeld ultimately decides what is best but Travolta and Olivia usually agree on what works for the other.

Before Two of a Kind started filming on location in Manhattan on May 9, 1983, Herzfeld and his cast spent two weeks in rehearsal at 20th Century-Fox in Los Angeles. In New York, the company used such colorful locations as Central Park, the South Street Seaport, Wall Street and Soho before returning to Los Angeles for the completion of principal photography.

However, most of the location filming was done on the streets in New York.

Extras were called in from a casting office and things went as smooth as silk. The only problem they ran into was the weather it rained them out a couple of times. Then it was back to Los Angeles for all the interior filming at Fox Studios.At times they combined location and interior films. In the movie there's a bank robbery; the exterior was done in New York, but the interior in Los Angeles.

This type of action was made possible because of a fairly new process-introvision. Introvision allows part of the frame to stand still while the other part moves. It also allows you to move forward or backward while the other stays put.

The process has been used a great deal with animation and was relatively easy. It's more difficult using live actors but the effect is great and the result is similar to the one you get with animation.

There were no major problems making the medium sized budget film, much to the producers delight.

COSTUMES...

Costume designer Thomas Bronson gave John Travolta an entirely different look than he had in his last movie Staying Alive. It's a contemporary look-his hair is standing up a little more than he's worn it before more of a 50's look, says Bronson.

Travolta is still in great shape and is working out all the time and looks fine he says in the T-shirts, shirts and two new suede jackets and black cotton fitted jeans he designed. The clothes are very tight fitting and show up his new body.

Bronson thinks the jackets and the black jeans are going to start a trend in clothes-he's already had inquiries from manufacturers regarding a line of clothes based on some of his designs.

He's given Olivia Newton-John a completely different look from the one she's used to having for her live performances. I designed an army field jacket with fireman snaps and hooks on it that I feel can be merchandized successfully, says Bronson. "Olivia was very happy about it all. She's expecting to use some of the styles I designed for her performing concerts.

Bronson designed a dress for her to wear at the premiere and she's hoping to get the dress and the army jacket she wore to sell in her boutique in Los Angeles.

The designer says he had a great time dressing Oliver Reed. He made him very stylish and did a lot of unique things with linings, matching carnations and roses that contrasted with walking sticks and vests. He even had him wear a derby but doesn't think any of the Reed styles will hit the stores.

The Production

JOHN HERZFELD (director/writer)

Two of a Kind is the first feature film John Herzfeld has ever directed. He also wrote the script.

He wrote the script for Voices, the MGM film starring Michael Ontkean and Amy Irving, and he won an Emmy, as well as the Scott Newman Foundation Award, for his afternoon special Stoned, which he wrote and directed.

His other television credits include Media's Child for CBS and the Afterschool Special Run, Don't Walk. He is also a playwright and wrote Becky Tillman, a play that was presented for PBS by New York Public Television.

Herzfeld was raised in Newark and West Orange, New Jersey. After studying drama at Memphis State University and at the University of Miami, he travelled through Europe for a year. Then he mov-ed to New York City where he supported himself through a series of jobs while continuing to write.

He moved to California and guest-starred in the movie-of-the-week Some Kind of Miracle besides working in several TV series - Kojak, Baretta and Starsky and Hutch.

His first break came when Joe Wizan bought Voices, his love story about a musician and a hearing-impaired dancer, and produced the film.

He next moved into television where, in addition to his work on the Afterschool Specials, he wrote an adaption of Splendor in the Grass, starring Melissa Gilbert and Ned Beatty.

JOE WIZAN (producer)

Joe Wizan has been the president of 20th Century-Fox Productions since January 1983.

Wizan became an independent motion picture producer in 1970 and for the next 10 years was responsible as producer or executive producer for the films Jeremiah Johnson, Junior Bonner, Voices, Audrey Rose, The Last American Hero.... And Justice For all and Best Friends as well as the television movies The Night of the Scarecrow, Desperate Voyage and The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan.

Wizan was president of the CBS Theatrical Film Division from 1981 to April 1982 when he returned to independent production in September of that year as a film producer at 20th Century-Fox. His first project Unfaithfully Yours starring Dudley Moore, Nastassia Kinski, Armand Assante and Albert Brooks will be ready for release in February 1984.

ROGER M. ROTHSTEIN (producer)

Roger Rothstein was executive producer on Fox's Max Dugan Returns before co-producing Only When I Laugh with Neil Simon. He was executive producer on Simon's I Ought To Be in Pictures, Seems Like Old Times and Chapter Two. He was also an associate producer on The Sunshine Boys, Serpico, The Turning Point and The Goodbye Girl.

A native New Yorker, Rothstein began his career with television commercials in 1953. He has worked in executive capacities on more than 20 motion pictures, including Serpico, Panic in Needle Park, Play It As It Lays, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds; Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams; Play It Again, Sam and The Turning Point.

ALBERT BRENNER (production designer)

Albert Brenner has been nominated three times for Academy Awards for art direction California Suite, The Turning Point and The Sunshine Boys. His other films include The Summer of '42, Dirty Harry, Scarecrow, The Goodbye Girl, Only When I Laugh and Max Dugan Returns. Brenner has just completed the upcoming Fox release Unfaithfully Yours, starring Dudley Moore and Nastassia Kinski.

The Makers

THOMAS BRONSON (costume designer)

Costume designer Thomas Bronson had just completed the costume designs on Staying Alive, starring John Travolta and directed by Sylvester Stallone, before starting work on Two of a Kind. He had worked before with actor/director Stallone on Rocky II, Nighthawks, Victory, Rocky III and First Blood.

Bronson's other credits include Slap-shot, Who'll Stop the Rain, Brubaker and director Walter Hill's last three films: The Long Riders, Southern Comfort and 48 Hours. In television, Bronson won three Emmy nominations for the made-for-TV movies Fear on Trial, Ruby and Oswald and The Execution of Pvt. Slovik.

JACK HOFSTRA (film editor)

Jack Hofstra's credits as film editor include Richard Rush's acclaimed film The Stunt Man, starring Peter O'Toole, and director Tobe Hooper's atmospheric thriller The Fun House.

FRED KOENEKAMP, A.S.C. (director of photography)

Fred Koenekamp won an Academy Award for his work on the disaster epic The Towering Inferno. He was also nominated by the Academy for his contributions to Islands in the Stream and Patton.