Just before Saturday Night Fever made him a mega-star, John Travolta’s management decided he needed to be shot by a rock & roll photographer.
“John came to my studio for a session just prior to the production of Saturday Night Fever,” photographer Norman Seeff recalled. “He was releasing an album at the time and I also understood that his managers wanted him to do a session with a ‘rock’ photographer. Actors and dancers have a different approach to musicians. The good ones, like John, explore the outer fringes of emotion and it can be very powerful. John was simply magnificent to work with and was willing to explore everything I asked of him, with little or no resistance.”
For this shoot, the management doused a willing Travolta with a bucket of water. At one point, Travolta discussed his upcoming dancing role. “He said, ‘What do you think of this pose?’” Seeff remembered. “And he put his arm up and, thank God, I said, ‘Oh, I think that’s great.’”
(Photos by © Norman Seeff)
