Travolta trains with Ocala electrical for
upcoming movie
“Life On The Line”

John Travolta shakes hands with Billy Caruthers of the City of Ocala on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014.
Courtesy photo

By Dave Schlenker
Entertainment editor
Published: Friday, September 19, 2014 at 4:19 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, September 19, 2014 at 4:19 p.m.

On Tuesday morning, John Travolta’s limo was a big ole bucket truck.
A crew of electrical linemen from the city of Ocala drove the truck to the actor’s Anthony home and pulled into a side lot near his Boeing 707. The two-time Oscar nominee greeted them and then reported for duty. Within an hour, the actor — one of the most famous people in the world and a Marion County resident for more than a decade — was wearing a hard hat, elbow-length rubber gloves and safety goggles.

He was hoisted 40 feet in the air to the top of a power pole in a city bucket truck, where he was face to face with an electrical cross arm.
Several important notes here: (1) The pole’s cross arms and surrounding electrical fixtures were de-energized. In other words, there was no juice pulsing through any of the equipment. (2) Therefore, if you had any power outages Tuesday, the man who played dim Sweathog Vinny Barbarino was not to blame. (3) Travolta was under the watchful eye of four city electrical workers whose combined experience tops 70 years.
Travolta joined the Ocala crew to train for his upcoming movie “Life on the Line,” in which he will play an electrical lineman left to care for his niece. He worked with the local linemen Tuesday at the Ocala training facility on Baseline Road. Travolta leaves for Houston soon for additional lineman training, and then it’s off to Vancouver, where he expects to film through Oct. 31. The movie will be directed by David Hackl.
Travolta is known for his substantial film preparation. For his upcoming film “The Forger,” he studied with artists in Hong Kong and the United States; he also painted a copy of Claude Monet’s “Woman With a Parasol.”
He has flown to other continents to study accents. He has ridden shotgun in squad cars (including with Marion County deputies). He has trained with firefighters.
Recently, a city employee read in a trade magazine that Travolta was slated to play an electrical lineman, so local workers decided to invite him to their training grounds, said Gary Wilson, manager of strategic initiatives with Ocala’s electrical utility services.
The challenge, Wilson said, was figuring out how to reach Travolta. Ultimately, they succeeded the small-town way: relying on “people who knew people who knew people.”
Travolta was glad they found him.
“I was so thrilled by it,” he said Wednesday.
Travolta said he was fascinated by the experience and asked tons of questions, from the history of the profession to what happens when squirrels get zapped. He is a stickler for accuracy and authenticity in his films. “I took copious notes and sent them to the director,” he said.
“He’s a studious type of person,” Wilson said. “He was very interested in how the training was 30 years ago and how it has progressed.”
Travolta was scheduled for two hours in the training field but stayed an extra half hour. The crew had him change out parts on the pole and, among other things, undo electrical flow.
“It wasn’t easy work by any means,” Wilson said.
Travolta said he was most impressed by how “intricate” the work is amid potentially dangerous conditions. Every move they make could be a risk, so proper and extensive training is vital, he said.
Imagine, Travolta noted, diving into such intricate work during severe weather conditions.
The other line crew members who helped train the actor were Billy Caruthers, John Glenn and Mike McCleary. Wilson said the crew was not really starstruck, mainly because Travolta was down to earth, easy to talk to and interested in what they did.
However, Wilson, 62, said the encounter did prompt him to take his first cellphone selfie, one with Travolta in the background. Apparently, his lack of selfie experience was evident.
“My son,” Wilson said with a laugh, “said it was the ugliest selfie he had ever seen.”