Travolta Explains Why He's So Crazy in From Paris with Love
Posted 01.31.10 by reelz
John Travolta is a total wild man in From Paris with Love. His foul-mouthed CIA agent Charlie Wax isn't prepared to give anyone any respect and has a decided preference for resolving any situation in the most violent way possible. It's an over-the-top character that even the actor, himself, thinks needs some justifying, as is evident in an interview over at Trailer Addict.
He starts off by offering up the standard Jack Bauer line on extra-legal violence:
He's one of those guys who, because he's so good at what he does, he can afford to be a little unethical. Only because he delivers a product of excellence up and above your average CIA agent.
Then things start to get more interesting, and more amusing, as he makes what you might call a well-tailored excuse for why Wax is so rude to the French, most notably in a dispute in Customs over a can of soda.
He's giving the Customs a hard time, with a lot of foul language, and a lot of threatening ideas and prejudices, and he's not letting up at all. And if I were to be more normally dressed, and normal in my attitude, it would be more … not as appealing. But when you are dressed the way I am.... If I were in a three-piece suit, it would be offensive. You would say, "What's a guy like that talking like this?" But shaved head ... kinda gruff, it's not as offensive.
To be fair to Wax though, there is another explanation for why he is giving them such a hard time. In a new clip from the movie we find out that there really was something in that soda can he was trying to distract attention from with that outburst of chauvinism. Still, that doesn't completely explain why he seems to be enjoying the confrontation so much.