Battlefield Earth writer sort of blames John Travolta ‘camp’ and ‘ridiculous’ Scientology movie

(HMG) – Battlefield Earth, which was based on a novel by the Scientology founder L Ron Hubbard, starring  John Travolta, was very recently named worst film of the decade at last month’s Razzie Awards. In response the scriptwriter behind the panned film has written a personal apology to everyone who saw the “camp” and “ridiculous” movie.  In an article titled “I penned the suckiest movie ever – sorry!”, JD Shapiro described the 2000 film as a train wreck, adding that the comparison “isn’t really fair to train wrecks”.

Battlefield Earth, which is set in the year 3000, chronicles the human rebellion against a nefarious alien race called the Psychlos who have taken over Earth. It cost an estimated $44 million to make and flopped at the Box Office after being panned by critics.

In his humorous mea culpa featured in the NY Post,  Shapiro said that he first became involved with the Church after reading a magazine article which reported that its “Celebrity Center” in Los Angeles was a good place to meet women.  He agreed to adapt L Ron Hubbard’s novel after meeting John Travolta, and said that he spent time on board the Church’s private cruise ship “walking around in a robe, sandals, smoking Cuban cigars and drinking fine scotch” as part of his research.

“I took a few courses, including the Purification Rundown, or Purif. You go to CC [Celebrity Center] every day, take vitamins and go in and out of a sauna so toxins are released from your body. You’re supposed to reach an “End Point.” I never did, but I was bored so I told them I had a vision of L. Ron. They said, “What did he say?” “Pull my finger,” was my response. They said I was done.”

Shapiro whose previous credits include Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights, claimed that transformed his gritty and compelling screenplay into something “very different”.

He wrote:

“What my screenplay didn’t have was slow motion at every turn, Dutch tilts, campy dialogue, aliens in KISS boots, and everyone wearing Bob Marley wigs”.

When Shapiro got a new batch of notes, he said:

“I thought it was a joke. They changed the entire tone. I knew these notes would kill the movie. The notes wanted me to lose key scenes, add ridiculous scenes, take out some of the key characters. I asked Mike Marcus, the president of MGM, where they came from. He said, “From us.” But when I pressed him, he said, “From John’s camp, but we agree with them.”

Shapiro was fired for refusing to accept the lengthy list of alterations attributed to Travolta, and has only seen the finished movie on one occasion, at the premiere, and that this was “was one too many times”.

Shapiro goes on to say:

Once it was decided that I would share a writing credit, I wanted to use my pseudonym, Sir Nick Knack. I was told I couldn’t do that, because if a writer gets paid over a certain amount of money, they can’t. I could have taken my name completely off the movie, but my agent and attorney talked me out of it. There was a lot of money at stake.  Now, looking back at the movie with fresh eyes, I can’t help but be strangely proud of it. Because out of all the sucky movies, mine is the suckiest.