The unrecognisable Travolta

Travolta said he worried that if he didn't look that way, he wouldn't be believable, 'and that's more frightening to an actor than looking good.'

In A Love Song for Bobby Long, Travolta plays a former literature professor whose life has taken an alcohol-fueled nosedive. He sits on the front porch of a dilapidated house outside New Orleans, drunk all day on cheap vodka. Scarlett Johansson also stars in the film.

Travolta, nominated for best-actor Oscars for Pulp Fiction and Saturday Night Fever, said he doesn't have to live the experiences of his characters to be credible on the screen. 'I was never a heroin addict or a hit man, either,' the 50-year-old actor told.