This John Travolta Sci-Fi Box Office Flop Has Haunted Its Writer For Years

John Travolta will always be a legend, not only for his beloved performances but for those that didn't quite resonate in the same way. In a career that spans six decades, Travolta has made a full seven movies that have garnered a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score. How does one man manage to make so many stinkers? It's a difficult and fascinating question, as is the question of how "Battlefield Earth" somehow isn't on that list of zero-percenters (which, for those in the know, is surely even more shocking than the Travolta oeuvre itself).

Yes, 25 years ago, Travolta starred in one of the worst movies ever made: a $73 million sci-fi disaster based on a book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The movie grossed just $29.3 million at the box office, but that doesn't quite convey the scale of its failure. Despite it not being on the list of Travolta's lowest-rated movies (it has a 3% RT score, for those interested), "Battlefield Earth" is frequently cited as one of the worst films of all time — a fact all too familiar to its writer, J.D. Shapiro, who has been doing his best to disown and distance himself from what remains an awe-inspiring blunder ever since the movie's debut. But despite his best efforts to shake off that "Battlefield Earth" stink, Shapiro has found himself consistently associated with the film, to the extent that he's still haunted by it a quarter century later.

"Battlefield Earth" opened in theaters in 2000, the year after "The Matrix" had rewritten the rules of sci-fi cinema. "Battlefield Earth," however, seemed designed to undo all the progress made by the Wachowskis' seminal effort. Everyone hated this film, which isn't all that surprising considering its writer, J.D. Shapiro, has described it as "the suckiest movie ever." John Travolta played Terl, the leader of an alien race known as the Psychlos. Just like in L. Rob Hubbard's novel, the Psychlos have ruled the Earth for a millennium, but in the year 3000, Barry Pepper's Jonnie "Goodboy" Tyler leads a human uprising. It doesn't necessarily sound like the basis for one of the worst movies ever made, but in 2010, "Battlefield Earth" won the Razzie for "Worst Movie of the Decade," and Shapiro was there in-person to accept the award.

He followed that up by penning what was essentially one long "Battlefield Earth" apology, seeking absolution for having ever been involved with the project in the first place. In his apology, published in the New York Post, he recalled the process by which he became involved, researching Scientology, taking a few classes, and even spending some time on the organization's cruise ship, the Freewind. He then read the original "Battlefield Earth" novel and penned a script, which he claimed was "very, VERY different than what ended up on the screen." According to Shapiro, his screenplay was "darker, grittier and had a very compelling story with rich characters" (if he does say so himself) and came without "slow motion at every turn, Dutch tilts, campy dialogue, aliens in KISS boots, and everyone wearing Bob Marley wigs."

According to the writer, he was given notes by the studio that went beyond anything he'd ever experienced before. "I thought it was a joke," he wrote. "The notes wanted me to lose key scenes, add ridiculous scenes, take out some of the key characters." As Shapiro recalled it, when he pressed the studio on the matter, it transpired that Travolta and his Scientology buddies were behind the demands. Shapiro then claimed he was fired for refusing to incorporate their suggestions. The screenwriter penned his apology 10 years after the movie actually came out. Another decade passed and Shapiro once again spoke to the New York Post, and it seems he was still haunted by Travolta's love letter to the founder of Scientology.

John Travolta never really recovered after the box office flop that was "Battlefield Earth," as evidenced by the fact that most of his 0%-rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes are post-"Battlefield Earth" projects. But it wasn't just Travolta that struggled in the wake of the movie. It also cast a shadow over the careers of pretty much everyone involved (Forest Whitaker, who played Terl's assistant, Ker, notwithstanding).

Speaking to the New York Post in 2020, J.D. Shapiro revealed that 20 years after "Battlefield Earth" premiered, he still couldn't shake off its wretched legacy. The writer recounted being at a party in Los Angeles, where he was talking to another writer. "Well, I wrote the worst script ever," Shapiro told him. "'You didn't write the worst script ever," the reply came. "You didn't write 'Battlefield Earth,' come on!'" As Shapiro remembered it, the writer then paused before realizing, "Hey! This is the a**hole who wrote 'Battlefield Earth!'"

According to the Post, Shapiro was forced to write movies under pseudonyms following the release of "Battlefield Earth," which, given the film's uniquely terrible reputation as one of the greatest misfires in movie history, doesn't seem all that unbelievable. This is, after all, a movie that Roger Ebert called "unpleasant in a hostile way" and The Guardian dubbed "one of the worst movies ever made." Still, it's been a quarter century, and Shapiro clearly doesn't stand by the finished product. In other words, Travolta and his Scientology cohorts are the only ones that should be shouldering the blame in this case.