John Travolta praises Hollywood

LONDON - Hollywood actor John Travolta says Hollywood has changed for the better since he first broke into the acting industry in the ’70s.

The 56-year-old star, whose breakthrough role came in 1977 with “Saturday Night Fever”, thinks studios were previously “intimidating and threatening”, leading to actors becoming insecure, but now he believes people in the film industry are keen to see their peers succeed.

“Hollywood is more friendly now than it’s ever been. When I started out in the ’70s, the business side of Hollywood was dominant,” contactmusic.com quoted him as saying.

“Books on the techniques of business intimidation were really popular at the time. I forget the titles now, but they were all about intimidation and making a person feel threatened so they could be manipulated.”

“The artists were made to feel insecure, the studios got more powerful and no one wanted each other to do well. Those were the old days,” Travolta recalled.

“I don’t find that now: artists hang out with other artists, and the business people no longer rely on intimidation as a part of their modus operandi.”