Travolta happy to have `Earth' in his hands

If John Travolta had his druthers, he would have flown himself toChicago to do two days of press interviews for his new film,"Battlefield Earth." After all, the actor also is known as a crackpilot and owns a couple of jets he loves to fly where and when hewants.

But even superstars can be grounded by reality_especially when itcomes to safety.

"Warner Bros. (the film's distributor) is supplying the jet thistime," Travolta said Thursday. While one of his jets "was available,it's the smaller one. The larger one is in its 12-year maintenanceprogram, which takes six months to complete."

Anyway, Travolta was in a jovial mood as he explained his passionfor "Battlefield Earth," opening May 12. It's based on the best-selling novel by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church ofScientology, of which Travolta is an outspoken disciple. He pointedout that the movie has nothing to do with his or the late Hubbard'sphilosophy.

"(Hubbard) was more more famous for his science fiction and hisfiction writing in general than he was for the philosophy (ofScientology)," Travolta said. "Most literate people know that. Ithink when you see (the movie), you'll see it doesn't have anythingto do with anybody's philosophy. This is pure entertainment."

Travolta laughs about the long time it took him to get"Battlefield Earth" produced. "When we started out, I was not goingto play the villain, I was going to be Johnny `Good Boy' Tyler. But Iwas younger then and shorter in the tooth.

"But thanks to the success of `Face/Off' and `Broken Arrow' (whereaudiences accepted Travolta as a bad guy), I thought it was the righttime to move into the role of the villain."

YOU NEVER KNOW . . . Don't be surprised if Liza Minnelli drops byto catch her collaborator, Billy Stritch, when the talented music manplays two gigs at Davenport's, 1383 N. Milwaukee, in between his workin "Minnelli on Minnelli" at the Shubert. He is slated to followKaren Mason beginning at 11:30 p.m. May 5 and will accompany JimCaruso at 9:30 p.m. May 7.