John Travolta flies his own plane to Cannes before debuting daring new look

Key Points

• John Travolta shared a video of himself piloting a plane to France on Instagram.

• The Grease actor embarked on a trip to Cannes for the premiere of his directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach.

• Travolta wore multiple berets after arriving in France.

John Travolta has taken to the skies once again.

The Saturday Night Fever star and lifelong aviation fanatic shared a video of himself piloting his own plane to attend the premiere of his directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival.

In the video, Travolta donned a blue velvet jacket and a striking blue beret, presumably to blend in with the French, or to celebrate his status as a director — or both! He’s also sporting a chin-strap beard and an accompanying mustache, so his overall look is quite distinct from his usual on-screen appearance.

The Pulp Fiction star begins the video with an introduction in French: “Aujourd’hui j’ai pilotée mon avion dans la Festival du Cannes,” which roughly translates to “Today I piloted my plane at the Cannes Film Festival.”

Travolta stands in front of a small airplane alongside his daughter, Ella, and says, “We’re going for the premiere of Propeller One-Way Night Coach. Ella and I are really excited about this. So we’ll see you there.”

The video then shows Travolta in the cockpit of the plane addressing his passengers over the intercom — and, crucially, he’s still wearing the beret despite also wearing massive headphones.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Our flying time tonight to Nice, France, is eight hours and 45 minutes,” he says. “Sit back, enjoy the flight, and the champagne is on me.”

It’s not immediately clear how many passengers were on the plane, so it’s possible Travolta was only addressing his daughter in the intercom moment captured on video. (Entertainment Weekly has reached out to Travolta’s representatives for further information.)

Upon landing in France, Travolta celebrated his arrival in another video clip. “So here we are, we’ve arrived safely, beautiful flight, and now off to the premiere,” he says in the post.

At the premiere, Travolta wore a black three-piece suit with a white shirt and a white tie. He also switched to a white beret and added glasses to the ensemble. His look at the premiere prompted comparisons to Ed Harris’ director character Christof from The Truman Show as well as “LL Cool J hosting something”.

Cannes director Thierry Frémaux presented Travolta with a surprise honorary Palme d’Or, the festival’s equivalent to a lifetime achievement prize, at the premiere.

“Surprise complétement!” Travolta said upon receiving the award, per Variety. “I can’t believe this. This is the last thing I expected.”

Addressing Frémaux, Travolta added, “You said this would be a special night, but I didn’t know it would mean this. This is a humbling moment. This is beyond the Oscar.”

Inspired by Travolta’s first experience on an airplane as a child, Propeller One-Way Night Coach stars Clark Shotwell as a young boy who accompanies his mother on a cross-country flight from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles in 1962.

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“It’s really a movie about a child’s viewpoint of hopefulness,” Travolta told EW of the film in an interview. “When you’re young, that’s what you see in yourself or feel in yourself, and that’s what you see in other people as well. So, it’s that, along with the ambiance of the mid-century, which is permanently in my mind; I can’t shed it. The music, the visuals are just embedded in my DNA. It’s what gave me that hope. The architecture of the time, the music of the time, the way people dressed — it was this new, fresh, hopeful thing that was happening.”

Propeller One-Way Night Coach will debut on Apple TV on May 29.

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