Travolta Pursued Aviator Role For Years

GREASE star John Travolta is having a bittersweet time watching the acclaim and award nominations The Aviator has been receiving - because he pursued the lead role in the movie for years.

The GOLDEN GLOBE-nominated movie, directed by Martin Scorsese, stars LEONARDO DiCAPRIO as film-maker and aviator Howard Hughes, and Travolta admits it was a project he very much wanted to be a part of.

Travolta, himself an avid aviator, says, "I pursued it for years, and twice I had tried to get that project off the ground.

"As a matter of fact (Hughes' ex-wife) Terry Moore had a script written (for me) two years ago, and I had my own script written in 1984.

"But until you get Scorsese attached, you're not going to get something like that done."

This isn't the first major movie regret for Travolta: He had turned down the opportunity to star in the hit musical Chicago as crooked lawyer BILLY FLYNN - a role which later earned Richard Gere a Golden Globe Award.